English

Noun

wind up ‎(plural wind ups)

1. Alternative form of wind-up

Verb

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

1. (literally) To wind completely.

   I wound up the spool of rope.

2. To end up; to arrive or result.
   • 2013 January 1, Brian Hayes, “Father of Fractals”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, page 62:

     Toward the end of the war, Benoit was sent off on his own with forged papers; he wound up working as a horse groom at a chalet in the Loire valley. Mandelbrot describes this harrowing youth with great sangfroid.

   I followed the signs, and I wound up getting nowhere.

3. To conclude, complete, or finish.

   Even though he had bad news, he tried to wind up his speech on a positive note.

4. To tighten by winding or twisting.

   Your pocket watch will run for a long time if you wind up the spring all the way.

5. To put (a clock, a watch, etc.) in a state of renewed or continued motion, by winding the spring, or that which carries the weight.
   • 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

     Their feet padded softly on the ground, and they crept quite close to him, twitching their noses, while the Rabbit stared hard to see which side the clockwork stuck out, for he knew that people who jump generally have something to wind them up. But he couldn't see it. They were evidently a new kind of rabbit altogether.

6. To excite.

   Try not to wind up the kids too much right before bedtime.

7. (Britain) To play a prank, to take the mickey or mock.

   Twenty quid? Are you winding me up?

8. To dissolve a partnership or corporation and liquidate its assets.
9. (baseball) To make the preparatory movements for a certain kind of pitch.

Derived terms

• wind up one's bottoms

Translations

Anagrams

• upwind