Lie-to

To stop the progress of a vessel through the water by reducing sail and keeping her so close to the wind that she will make little or no headway. The helm is generally lashed to leeward on a sailing vessel so as to prevent the ship from falling off too much, and the after-sail set prevents her from coming up too close to the wind; thus she is kept continually see-sawing through two or three points of the compass. Steamships generally lie-to under steam, just turning the engines over fast enough to keep steerageway on the vessel. Some steamships lie-to head on, and others take the seas on the bow.