plain sailingn.adj.

1683 A. Martindale in J. Houghton Coll. of Lett. for Improvement of Husbandry & Trade II. i. 4 (heading) A Token for Ship-Boys, or Plain-Sailing, made more plain.

1699 W. Dampier Voy. & Descr. i. v. 90 2 Dollars..which I had gotten..by teaching some of our young Seamen Plain Sailing.

1701 T. Tuttell Descr. Math. Instruments in J. Moxon Math. made Easie (ed. 3) 15 Plain Scale..used by Seamen to solve their questions in Plain Sailing and to save their Gunter.

1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I Plain sailing, is the Art of finding all the Varieties of the Ships Motion on a Plain, where all the Meridians are made parallel, and Parallels at Right Angles with the Meridians, and the Degrees of each Parallel equal to those of the Equinoctial.

1756 R. Rolt New Dict. Trade Plain Sailing, in navigation, is the art of working the several cases and varieties in a ship's motion on a plain chart.

1756 N. Owen Jrnl. Slave-dealer (1930) 67 He is to be prefer'd..if he can take an observation and is acquainted with that part of navagation call'd plain sailing, without any of the practical part of seamanship.

1762 T. Smollett Adventures Sir Launcelot Greaves I. vii. 160 As for the matter of the sciences, to be sure, I know plain sailing and mercator; and am an indifferent good seamen.

1809 Ld. Byron Let. 25 June (1973) I. 208 Capt. Kidd our gallant..commander understands plain sailing and Mercator.

1796 F. Burney Camilla I. 73 The rudiments, which would no sooner be run over, than the rest would become plain sailing.

1827 H. Steuart Planter's Guide (1828) 493 It must be all ‘plain sailing’, as the seamen say, and no sudden turns, intricacies, or narrow passes.

1842 F. E. Paget Milford Malvoisin 209 So far all was plain sailing, as the saying is; but Mr. Till knew that his main difficulties were yet to come.

1860 S. Osborn Career, last Voy. & Fate Capt. Sir John Franklin iii. 45 If I can but get down there, my work is done; thence it's all plain sailing to the westward.

1916 G. B. Shaw Androcles & Lion Pref. p. xxiv Without the proper clues the gospels are, to a modern educated person, nonsensical and incredible... But with the clues, they are fairly plain sailing. Jesus becomes an intelligible and consistent person.

1955 Times 29 June 13/3 It is not all plain sailing. Difficulties have to be overcome, for example, in disposing of ‘contract’ vehicles because of the contract terms.

1993 Clothes Show Feb. 21/3 ‘What could have been a horrible struggle has turned out to be plain sailing,’ adds Graham.

1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 45 Tho' he guide others to Heaven by the plain-sailing Rules of the Gospel.

1807 A. Knox Let. Aug. in J. Jebb & A. Knox Thirty Years' Corr. (1834) I. 344 With all possible rectitude of heart, he has not a plain-sailing mind.

1887 H. R. Haggard Jess iv. 31 Happy, healthy, plain-sailing Bessie.

1911 G. B. Shaw Shewing-up Blanco Posnet Pref. in Doctor's Dilemma 303 But the plain-sailing tradesman who must be taken as the typical manager..is by no means equally qualified to judge whether a play is safe from prosecution or not.

1989 S. Bedford Jigsaw v. 284 It was Maria who made the appointment for a consultation. It was not as plain-sailing as that: the appointment was broken.