Word definition: wind

Etimology


From Middle English wynd, wind, from Old English wind (“wind”), from Proto-West Germanic *wind, from Proto-Germanic *windaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥tos (“wind”), from earlier *h₂wéh₁n̥ts (“wind”), derived from the present participle of *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).

noun


wind (countable and uncountable, plural winds)

(countable, uncountable) Real or perceived movement of atmospheric air usually caused by convection or differences in air pressure.

Air artificially put in motion by any force or action.

(countable, uncountable) The ability to breathe easily.

(figurative) News of an event, especially by hearsay or gossip.

(figurative) A tendency or trend.

(philosophy, alchemy) One of the four elements of the ancient Greeks and Romans; air.

One of the five basic elements in Indian and Japanese models of the Classical elements.

(uncountable, colloquial) Flatus.

Breath modulated by the respiratory and vocal organs, or by an instrument.

(music) The woodwind section of an orchestra. Occasionally also used to include the brass section.

A direction from which the wind may blow; a point of the compass; especially, one of the cardinal points.

Types of playing-tile in the game of mah-jongg, named after the four winds.

A disease of sheep, in which the intestines are distended with air, or rather affected with a violent inflammation. It occurs immediately after shearing.

(figurative) Mere breath or talk; empty effort; idle words.

A bird, the dotterel.

(boxing, slang) The region of the solar plexus, where a blow may paralyze the diaphragm and cause temporary loss of breath or other injury.

Examples


The wind blew through her hair as she stood on the deck of the ship.

As they accelerated onto the motorway, the wind tore the plywood off the car's roof-rack.

The winds in Chicago are fierce.

There was a sudden gust of wind.

Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.

the wind of a cannon ball

the wind of a bellows

After the second lap he was already out of wind.

The fall knocked the wind out of him.

to catch wind of something

Steve caught wind of Martha's dalliance with his best friend.

the wind of change

But many of those issues failed to draw Spanish voters, or even scared them, and the country’s election results went contrary to Europe’s political winds.

to pass wind

Eww. Someone just passed wind.

Their instruments were various in their kind, Some for the bow, and some for breathing wind.

the four winds

Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain.

When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.

Nor think thou with wind Of airy threats to awe.

Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

Related words


synonyms

(movement of air): breeze, draft, gale; see also Thesaurus:wind

(flatus): gas (US); see also Thesaurus:flatus

verb


wind (third-person singular simple present winds, present participle winding, simple past and past participle winded or (proscribed) wound)

(transitive) To blow air through a wind instrument or horn to make a sound.

(transitive) To cause (someone) to become breathless, as by a blow to the abdomen, or by physical exertion, running, etc.

(transitive, Britain) To cause a baby to bring up wind by patting its back after being fed.

(transitive, Britain) To turn a boat or ship around, so that the wind strikes it on the opposite side.

(transitive) To expose to the wind; to winnow; to ventilate.

(transitive) To perceive or follow by scent.

(transitive) To rest (a horse, etc.) in order to allow the breath to be recovered; to breathe.

(transitive) To turn a windmill so that its sails face into the wind.

Examples


Earl Walter winds his bugle horn; / To horſe, to horſe, halloo, halloo! / His fiery courſer ſnuffs the morn, / And thronging ſerfs their Lord purſue.

Something higher must lie at the back of that eager response to pack-music and winded horn — something born of the smell of the good earth

"If your Majesty is ever to use the Horn," said Trufflehunter, "I think the time has now come." Caspian had of course told them of this treasure several days ago. […] "Then in the name of Aslan we will wind Queen Susan's Horn," said Caspian.

The boxer was winded during round two.

The hounds winded the game.

Etimology


From Middle English wynden, from Old English windan, from Proto-Germanic *windaną. Compare West Frisian wine, Low German winden, Dutch winden, German winden, Danish vinde, Walloon windea. See also the related term wend.

verb


wind (third-person singular simple present winds, present participle winding, simple past and past participle wound or winded)

(transitive) To turn coils of (a cord or something similar) around something.

(transitive) To tighten the spring of a clockwork mechanism such as that of a clock.

(transitive) To entwist; to enfold; to encircle.

(intransitive) To travel in a way that is not straight.

(transitive) To have complete control over; to turn and bend at one's pleasure; to vary or alter at will; to regulate; to govern.

(transitive) To introduce by insinuation; to insinuate.

(transitive) To cover or surround with something coiled about.

(transitive) To cause to move by exerting a winding force; to haul or hoist, as by a winch.

(transitive, nautical) To turn (a ship) around, end for end.

Examples


to wind thread on a spool or into a ball

Whether to wind The woodbine round this arbour.

It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.

Please wind that old-fashioned alarm clock.

Sleep, and I will wind thee in arms.

Vines wind round a pole.  The river winds through the plain.

He therefore turned him to the steep and rocky path which […] winded through the thickets of wild boxwood and other low aromatic shrubs.

The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea.

Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.

The long and winding road That leads to your door Will never disappear.

to turn and wind a fiery Pegasus

Gifts blind the wise, and bribes do please And wind all other witnesses.The spelling has been modernized.

The spelling has been modernized.

Were our legislature vested in the person of our prince, he might doubtless wind and turn our constitution at his pleasure.

You have contrived […] to wind Yourself into a power tyrannical.

'Tis pleasant to see what little arts and dexterities they have to wind in such things into discourse

to wind a rope with twine

Quickly she slammed the door shut and panicking wound the window up as fast as her slippery fingers would allow.

Related words


related terms

unwind

wend

noun


wind (plural winds)

The act of winding or turning; a turn; a bend; a twist.

Data provided by Wiktionary