Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Wind

Wind

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Wound
(wound)
(rarely
Winded
);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Winding
.]
[OE.
winden
, AS.
windan
; akin to OS.
windan
, D. & G.
winden
, OHG.
wintan
, Icel. & Sw.
vinda
, Dan.
vinde
, Goth.
windan
(in comp.). Cf.
Wander
,
Wend
.]
1.
To turn completely, or with repeated turns; especially, to turn about something fixed; to cause to form convolutions about anything; to coil; to twine; to twist; to wreathe;
as, to
wind
thread on a spool or into a ball
.
Whether to
wind

The woodbine round this arbor.
Milton.
2.
To entwist; to infold; to encircle.
Sleep, and I will
wind
thee in arms.
Shakespeare
3.
To have complete control over; to turn and bend at one’s pleasure; to vary or alter or will; to regulate; to govern.
“To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus.”
Shak.
In his terms so he would him
wind
.
Chaucer.
Gifts blind the wise, and bribes do please
And
wind
all other witnesses.
Herrick.
Were our legislature vested in the prince, he might
wind
and turn our constitution at his pleasure.
Addison.
4.
To introduce by insinuation; to insinuate.
You have contrived . . . to
wind

Yourself into a power tyrannical.
Shakespeare
Little arts and dexterities they have to
wind
in such things into discourse.
Gov. of Tongue.
5.
To cover or surround with something coiled about;
as, to
wind
a rope with twine
.
To wind off
,
to unwind; to uncoil.
–
To wind out
,
to extricate.
[Obs.]
Clarendon.
–
To wind up
.
(a)
To coil into a ball or small compass, as a skein of thread; to coil completely.
(b)
To bring to a conclusion or settlement;
as,
to wind up
one's affairs; to
wind up
an argument
.
(c)
To put in a state of renewed or continued motion, as a clock, a watch, etc., by winding the spring, or that which carries the weight; hence, to prepare for continued movement or action; to put in order anew.
“Fate seemed to wind him up for fourscore years.”
Dryden.
“Thus they wound up his temper to a pitch.”
Atterbury.
(d)
To tighten (the strings) of a musical instrument, so as to tune it.
“Wind up the slackened strings of thy lute.”
Waller.

Wind

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To turn completely or repeatedly; to become coiled about anything; to assume a convolved or spiral form;
as, vines
wind
round a pole
.
So swift your judgments turn and
wind
.
Dryden.
2.
To have a circular course or direction; to crook; to bend; to meander;
as, to
wind
in and out among trees
.
And where the valley
winded
out below,
The murmuring main was heard, and scarcely heard, to flow.
Thomson.
He therefore turned him to the steep and rocky path which . . .
winded
through the thickets of wild boxwood and other low aromatic shrubs.
Sir W. Scott.
3.
To go to the one side or the other; to move this way and that; to double on one's course;
as, a hare pursued turns and
winds
.
The lowing herd
wind
[GREEK]lowly o'er the lea.
Gray.
To wind out, to extricate one's self; to escape.
Long struggling underneath are they could
wind

Out
of such prison.
Milton.

Wind

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

Wind

(wĭnd, in poetry and singing often wīnd; 277)
,
Noun.
[AS.
wind
; akin to OS., OFries., D., & G.
wind
, OHG.
wint
, Dan. & Sw.
vind
, Icel.
vindr
, Goth
winds
, W.
gwynt
, L.
ventus
, Skr.
vāta
(cf. Gr.
ἀήτησ
a blast, gale,
ἀῆναι
to breathe hard, to blow, as the wind); originally a p. pr. from the verb seen in Skr.
vā
to blow, akin to AS.
wāwan
, D.
waaijen
, G.
wehen
, OHG.
wāen
,
wājen
, Goth.
waian
. √131. Cf.
Air
,
Ventail
,
Ventilate
,
Window
,
Winnow
.]
1.
Air naturally in motion with any degree of velocity; a current of air.
Except
wind
stands as never it stood,
It is an ill
wind
that turns none to good.
Tusser.
Winds
were soft, and woods were green.
Longfellow.
2.
Air artificially put in motion by any force or action;
as, the
wind
of a cannon ball; the
wind
of a bellows.
3.
Breath modulated by the respiratory and vocal organs, or by an instrument.
Their instruments were various in their kind,
Some for the bow, and some for breathing
wind
.
Dryden.
4.
Power of respiration; breath.
If my
wind
were but long enough to say my prayers, I would repent.
Shakespeare
5.
Air or gas generated in the stomach or bowels; flatulence;
as, to be troubled with
wind
.
6.
Air impregnated with an odor or scent.
A pack of dogfish had him in the
wind
.
Swift.
7.
A direction from which the wind may blow; a point of the compass; especially, one of the cardinal points, which are often called the four winds.
Come from the four
winds
, O breath, and breathe upon these slain.
Ezek. xxxvii. 9.
☞ This sense seems to have had its origin in the East. The Hebrews gave to each of the four cardinal points the name of wind.
8.
(Far.)
A disease of sheep, in which the intestines are distended with air, or rather affected with a violent inflammation. It occurs immediately after shearing.
9.
Mere breath or talk; empty effort; idle words.
Nor think thou with
wind

Of airy threats to awe.
Milton.
10.
(Zool.)
The dotterel.
[Prov. Eng.]
☞ Wind is often used adjectively, or as the first part of compound words.
All in the wind
.
(Naut.)
See under
All
,
Noun.
–
Before the wind
.
(Naut.)
See under
Before
.
–
Between wind and water
(Naut.)
,
in that part of a ship's side or bottom which is frequently brought above water by the rolling of the ship, or fluctuation of the water's surface. Hence, colloquially, (as an injury to that part of a vessel, in an engagement, is particularly dangerous) the vulnerable part or point of anything.
–
Cardinal winds
.
See under
Cardinal
,
Adj.
–
Down the wind
.
(a)
In the direction of, and moving with, the wind; as, birds fly swiftly down the wind.
(b)
Decaying; declining; in a state of decay.
[Obs.]
“He went down the wind still.”
L'Estrange.
–
In the wind's eye
(Naut.)
,
directly toward the point from which the wind blows.
–
Three sheets in the wind
,
unsteady from drink.
[Sailors' Slang]
–
To be in the wind
,
to be suggested or expected; to be a matter of suspicion or surmise.
[Colloq.]
–
To carry the wind
(Man.)
,
to toss the nose as high as the ears, as a horse.
–
To raise the wind
,
to procure money.
[Colloq.]
–
To take the wind
or
To have the wind
,
to gain or have the advantage.
Bacon.
–
To take the wind out of one's sails
,
to cause one to stop, or lose way, as when a vessel intercepts the wind of another; to cause one to lose enthusiasm, or momentum in an activity.
[Colloq.]
–
To take wind
, or
To get wind
,
to be divulged; to become public; as, the story got wind, or took wind.
–
Wind band
(Mus.)
,
a band of wind instruments; a military band; the wind instruments of an orchestra.
–
Wind chest
(Mus.)
,
a chest or reservoir of wind in an organ.
–
Wind dropsy
.
(Med.)
(a)
Tympanites.
(b)
Emphysema of the subcutaneous areolar tissue.
–
Wind egg
,
an imperfect, unimpregnated, or addled egg.
–
Wind furnace
.
See the Note under
Furnace
.
–
Wind gauge
.
See under
Gauge
.
–
Wind gun
.
Same as
Air gun
.
–
Wind hatch
(Mining)
,
the opening or place where the ore is taken out of the earth.
–
Wind instrument
(Mus.)
,
an instrument of music sounded by means of wind, especially by means of the breath, as a flute, a clarinet, etc.
–
Wind pump
,
a pump moved by a windmill.
–
Wind rose
,
a table of the points of the compass, giving the states of the barometer, etc., connected with winds from the different directions.
–
Wind sail
.
(a)
(Naut.)
A wide tube or funnel of canvas, used to convey a stream of air for ventilation into the lower compartments of a vessel.
(b)
The sail or vane of a windmill.
–
Wind shake
,
a crack or incoherence in timber produced by violent winds while the timber was growing.
–
Wind shock
,
a wind shake.
–
Wind side
,
the side next the wind; the windward side.
[R.]
Mrs. Browning.
–
Wind rush
(Zool.)
,
the redwing.
[Prov. Eng.]
–
Wind wheel
,
a motor consisting of a wheel moved by wind.
–
Wood wind
(Mus.)
,
the flutes and reed instruments of an orchestra, collectively.

Wind

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Winded
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Winding
.]
1.
To expose to the wind; to winnow; to ventilate.
2.
To perceive or follow by the scent; to scent; to nose;
as, the hounds
winded
the game
.
3.
(a)
To drive hard, or force to violent exertion, as a horse, so as to render scant of wind; to put out of breath.
(b)
To rest, as a horse, in order to allow the breath to be recovered; to breathe.
To wind a ship
(Naut.)
,
to turn it end for end, so that the wind strikes it on the opposite side.

Wind

,
Verb.
T.
[From
Wind
, moving air, but confused in sense and in conjugation with
wind
to turn.]
[
imp. & p. p.
Wound
(wound)
,
R.
Winded
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Winding
.]
To blow; to sound by blowing; esp., to sound with prolonged and mutually involved notes.
“Hunters who wound their horns.”
Pennant.
Ye vigorous swains, while youth ferments your blood, . . .
Wind
the shrill horn.
Pope.
That blast was
winded
by the king.
Sir W. Scott.

Webster 1828 Edition

Wind

WIND

,
Noun.
[L., G. The primary sense is to move, flow, rush or drive along.]
1.
Air in motion with any degree of velocity, indefinitely; a current of air. When the air moves moderately, we call it a light wind, or a breeze; when with more velocity, we call it a fresh breeze, and when with violence, we call it a gale, storm or tempest. The word gale is used by the poets for a moderate breeze, but seamen use it as equivalent to storm. Winds are denominated from the point of compass from which they blow; as a north wind; an east wind; a south wind; a west wind; a southwest wind, &c.
2.
The four winds, the cardinal points of the heavens.
Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain. Ezekiel 37.
This sense of the word seems to have had its origin with the orientals, as it was the practice of the Hebrews to give to each of the four cardinal points the name of wind.
3.
Direction of the wind from other points of the compass than the cardinal, or any point of compass; as a compass of eight winds.
4.
Breath; power of respiration.
If my wind were but long enough to say my prayers, I would repent.
5.
Air in motion form any force or action; as the wind of a cannon ball; the wind of a bellows.
6.
Breath modulated by the organs or by an instrument.
Their instruments were various in their kind, some for the bow, and some for breathing wind.
7.
Air impregnated with scent.
A pack of dog-fish had him in the wind.
8.
Any thing insignificant or light as wind.
Think not with wind or airy threats to awe.
9.
Flatulence; air generated in the stomach and bowels; as, to be troubled with wind.
10.
The name given to a disease of sheep, in which the intestines are distended with air, or rather affected with a violent inflammation. It occurs immediately after shearing.
Down the wind, decaying; declining; in a state of decay; as, he went down the wind. [Not used.]
To take or have the wind, or to get wind, to be divulged; to become public. The story got wind, or took wind.
In the winds eye, in seamens language, towards the direct point from which the wind blows.
Between wind and water, denoting that part of a ships side or bottom which is frequently brought above water by the rolling of the ship, or fluctuation of the waters surface.
To carry the wind, in the manege, is when a horse tosses his nose as high as his ears.
Constant or perennial wind, a wind that blows constantly from one point of the compass; as the trade wind of the tropics.
Shifting, variable or erratic winds, are such as are changeable, now blowing from one point and now from another, and then ceasing altogether.
Stated or periodical wind, a wind that constantly returns at a certain time, and blows steadily from one point for a certain time. Such are the monsoons in India, and land and sea breezes.
Trade wind, a wind that blows constantly from one point, such as the tropical wind in the Atlantic.

Definition 2024

Wind

Wind

See also: wind

German

Noun

Wind m ‎(genitive Windes or Winds, plural Winde, diminutive Windchen n)

  1. wind; movement of air usually caused by convection or differences of air pressure

Declension

Derived terms

Low German

Etymology

From Old Saxon wind, from Proto-Germanic *windaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥ts ‎(“blowing”), present participle of *h₂weh₁- ‎(“to blow”). Compare German Wind, Dutch wind, English wind, Danish vind, Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌳𐍃 ‎(winds).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /wɪnt/

Noun

Wind m ‎(plural Winn or Winnen)

  1. wind; movement of air usually caused by convection or differences of air pressure

Derived terms

wind

wind

See also: Wind

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: wĭnd, IPA(key): /ˈwɪnd/
  • Rhymes: -ɪnd

Noun

wind ‎(countable and uncountable, plural winds)

  1. (countable, uncountable) Real or perceived movement of atmospheric air usually caused by convection or differences in air pressure.
    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.‎
    • 2013 June 29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29:
      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.
  2. Air artificially put in motion by any force or action.
    the wind of a cannon ball;  the wind of a bellows‎
  3. (countable, uncountable) The ability to breathe easily.
    After the second lap he was already out of wind.‎
    The fall knocked the wind out of him.‎
    • Shakespeare
      If my wind were but long enough to say my prayers, I would repent.
  4. News of an event, especially by hearsay or gossip. (Used with catch, often in the past tense.)
    Steve caught wind of Martha's dalliance with his best friend.‎
  5. (India and Japan) One of the five basic elements (see Wikipedia article on the Classical elements).
  6. (uncountable, colloquial) Flatus.
    Eww. Someone just passed wind.‎
  7. Breath modulated by the respiratory and vocal organs, or by an instrument.
    • John Dryden
      Their instruments were various in their kind, / Some for the bow, and some for breathing wind.
  8. A direction from which the wind may blow; a point of the compass; especially, one of the cardinal points, which are often called the "four winds".
    • Bible, Ezekiel xxxvii. 9
      Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:
      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.
  9. A disease of sheep, in which the intestines are distended with air, or rather affected with a violent inflammation. It occurs immediately after shearing.
  10. Mere breath or talk; empty effort; idle words.
    • John Milton
      Nor think thou with wind / Of airy threats to awe.
  11. A bird, the dotterel.
  12. (boxing, slang) The region of the solar plexus, where a blow may paralyze the diaphragm and cause temporary loss of breath or other injury.
Synonyms
  • (movement of air): breeze, draft, gale; see also Wikisaurus:wind
  • (flatus): gas (US); see also Wikisaurus:flatus
Derived terms
Translations
See also

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To blow air through a wind instrument or horn to make a sound.
    • 1913, Edith Constance Holme, Crump Folk Going Home, page 136:
      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
  2. (transitive) To cause (someone) to become breathless, often by a blow to the abdomen.
    The boxer was winded during round two.
  3. (reflexive) To exhaust oneself to the point of being short of breath.
    I can’t run another step — I’m winded.
  4. (Britain) To turn a boat or ship around, so that the wind strikes it on the opposite side.
  5. (transitive) To expose to the wind; to winnow; to ventilate.
  6. (transitive) To perceive or follow by scent.
    The hounds winded the game.
  7. (transitive) To rest (a horse, etc.) in order to allow the breath to be recovered; to breathe.
  8. (transitive) To turn a windmill so that its sails face into the wind.[1]
Usage notes
  • The form "wound" in the past is occasionally found in reference to blowing a horn, but is often considered to be erroneous. The October 1875 issue of The Galaxy disparaged this usage as a "very ridiculous mistake" arising from a misunderstanding of the word's meaning.
Translations

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To turn coils of (a cord or something similar) around something.
    to wind thread on a spool or into a ball‎
    • John Milton (1608-1674)
      Whether to wind / The woodbine round this arbour.
    • 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., OCLC 580270828:
      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.
  2. (transitive) To tighten the spring of a clockwork mechanism such as that of a clock.
    Please wind that old-fashioned alarm clock.‎
  3. To entwist; to enfold; to encircle.
  4. (ergative) To travel, or to cause something to travel, in a way that is not straight.
    Vines wind round a pole.  The river winds through the plain.‎
    • Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
      He therefore turned him to the steep and rocky path which […] winded through the thickets of wild boxwood and other low aromatic shrubs.
    • Thomas Gray (1716-1771)
      The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
      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.
    • 1969, Paul McCartney
      The long and winding road / That leads to your door / Will never disappear.
  5. To have complete control over; to turn and bend at one's pleasure; to vary or alter or will; to regulate; to govern.
    • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
      to turn and wind a fiery Pegasus
    • Robert Herrick (1591-1674)
      Gifts blind the wise, and bribes do please / And wind all other witnesses.
    • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
      Were our legislature vested in the prince, he might wind and turn our constitution at his pleasure.
  6. To introduce by insinuation; to insinuate.
    • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
      You have contrived […] to wind / Yourself into a power tyrannical.
    • Government of Tongues
      little arts and dexterities they have to wind in such things into discourse
  7. To cover or surround with something coiled about.
    to wind a rope with twine‎
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: latter · fellow · hardly · #593: wind · drew · strength · opinion

Noun

wind ‎(plural winds)

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

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɪnt
  • IPA(key): /ʋɪnt/
  • Homophone: wint

Etymology 1

From Old Dutch *wind, from Proto-Germanic *windaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥ts ‎(“blowing”), present participle of *h₂weh₁- ‎(“to blow”). Compare German Wind, English wind, West Frisian wyn, Danish vind.

Noun

wind m ‎(plural winden, diminutive windje n)

  1. wind (movement of air)
    De wind waait door de bomen.‎ ― The wind blows through the trees.
  2. flatulence, fart (not informal)
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms

Etymology 2

Verb

wind

  1. first-person singular present indicative of winden
  2. imperative of winden

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *windaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥ts ‎(“blowing”), the present participle of *h₂weh₁- ‎(“blow, gust”). Germanic cognates include Old Frisian wind, Old Saxon wind, Dutch wind, Old High German wint (German Wind), Old Norse vindr (Swedish vind), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌳𐍃 ‎(winds). The Indo-European root is also the source of Latin ventus (French vent), Welsh gwynt, Tocharian A want, Tocharian B yente.

Noun

wind m

  1. wind
  2. flatulence

Derived terms

References

  1. ↑ Rex Wailes (1954) The English Windmill, page 104: “[I]f a windmill is to work as effectively as possible its sails must always face the wind squarely; to effect this some means of turning them into the wind, or winding the mill, must be used.”

Etymology

From Old High German wint, from Proto-Germanic *windaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥ts ‎(“blowing”), present participle of *h₂weh₁- ‎(“to blow”). Compare Dutch wind, English wind, Danish vind, Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌳𐍃 ‎(winds).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [vɪnt]
  • Rhymes: -ɪnt

Similar Results