Etimology
From Middle English windowe, from Old Norse vindauga (“window”, literally “wind-eye; wind-hole”), equivalent to wind + eye. Cognate with Scots windae and windock, Faroese vindeyga, Norwegian vindu, Danish vindue, archaic Swedish vindöga, Elfdalian windog and older German Windauge. Displaced native Old English ēagþȳrel (literally “eye hole”) (the rare direct descendant is eyethurl (“window, pupil, etc.”)). The “windows” among early Germanic peoples were just unglazed holes (eyes) in the wall or roof that permitted wind to pass through (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?).
noun
window (countable and uncountable, plural windows)
An opening, usually covered by one or more panes of clear glass, to allow light and air from outside to enter a building or vehicle.
An opening, usually covered by glass, in a shop which allows people to view the shop and its products from outside; a shop window.
(architecture) The shutter, casement, sash with its fittings, or other framework, which closes a window opening.
(figurative) A period of time when something is available or possible; a limited opportunity.
(figurative) Something that allows one to see through or into something
A restricted range.
(graphical user interface) A rectangular area on a computer terminal or screen containing some kind of user interface, displaying the output of and allowing input for one of a number of simultaneously running computer processes.
A figure formed of lines crossing each other.
(medicine) The time between first infection and detectability.
(military, historical, uncountable) Synonym of chaff (“strips of material intended to confuse radar”)
(signal processing) A function multiplied with a signal to reduce spectral leakage when performing a Fourier transform.
Examples
But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶ […] The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, […].
A window is an opening in a wall to admit light and air.
Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime.
There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. […] Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place. Pushing men hustle each other at the windows of the purser's office, under pretence of expecting letters or despatching telegrams.
launch window
window of opportunity
You have a two-hour window of clear weather to finish working on the lawn.
But rescuers have a dwindling window of opportunity, with forecasters predicting the return of heavy monsoon rains in the coming days, effectively sealing off the cave until October.
Now she'll be thinking about fleeing. provides a window for potential flight....if she has not fled already.
An extensive period of trial running will then take place in the first quarter of 2020. The full opening of the Elizabeth Line is still planned to be within a six-month window between October 2020 and March 2021.
“The Russian military command is likely aware of the closing window before more western aid arrives and is trying to secure offensive gains before the window closes,” it said in a briefing on Monday.
His journal provides a window into his otherwise obscure life.
In this case, a band-pass filter using a range or window of frequencies is appropriate to isolate the frequency or the group of frequencies that characterize a specific cycle.
till he has windows on his bread and butter
Related words
coordinate terms
door
related terms
eye
wind
verb
window (third-person singular simple present windows, present participle windowing, simple past and past participle windowed)
(transitive) To furnish with windows.
(transitive) To place at or in a window.
(transitive, signal processing) To apply a window function to (a signal).
Examples
Wouldst thou be windowed in great Rome and see / Thy master thus with pleach'd arms, bending down / His corrigible neck?