Batten down the hatches
"To prepare for a difficulty or crisis."
A straightforwardly literal piece of seamanship. Before a storm, a ship's hatches, the openings in the deck, were sealed with wooden strips called battens and waterproof tarpaulins to stop waves from flooding the compartments below. The order to "batten down the hatches" prepared the ship for whatever was coming, and the phrase carried that same brace-for-impact meaning into everyday use.
Sources: Documented nautical usage from the 19th century, cited in the Oxford English Dictionary's entry for 'batten, v.'
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