wind

Real or perceived movement of atmospheric air usually caused by convection or differences in air pressure.

Noun

  1. 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.
  2. Air artificially put in motion by any force or action.
    • the wind of a cannon ball
    • the wind of a bellows
  3. The ability to breathe easily.
    • After the second lap he was already out of wind.
    • The fall knocked the wind out of him.
  4. News of an event, especially by hearsay or gossip.
    • to catch wind of something
    • Steve caught wind of Martha's dalliance with his best friend.
    • Police got wind of the lottery, tried to track it down. - 1953 August 6, Jet, volume 4, Johnson Publishing Company, →ISSN, page 22:
  5. A tendency or trend.
    • 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. - 2023 July 24, Jason Horowitz, “What the Collapse of Spain’s...
  6. One of the four elements of the ancient Greeks and Romans; air.
  7. One of the five basic elements in Indian and Japanese models of the Classical elements.
  8. Flatus.
    • to pass wind
  9. 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. - 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […],...
  10. The woodwind section of an orchestra. Occasionally also used to include the brass section.
  11. A woodwind instrument. Occasionally also used to describe a brass instrument.
  12. A direction from which the wind may blow; a point of the compass; especially, one of the cardinal points.
    • the four winds
    • Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 37:9:
    • At daylight I found we were; in a beautiful little harbour, formed by a coral reef about two hundred yards from shore, and perfectly secure in every wind. - 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II,...

Origin

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”). Cognates Cognate with Yola weend, wyeene (“wind”), North Frisian win, winj (“wind”), Saterland Frisian Wíend (“wind”), West Frisian wyn (“wind”), Alemannic German wend, wind, winn, wénn (“wind”), Bavarian bint, Wind (“wind”), Cimbrian and Mòcheno bint (“wind”), Dutch wind (“wind”), German and German Low German Wind (“wind”), Luxembourgish Wand (“wind”), Yiddish ווינט (vint, “wind”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish vind (“wind”), Faroese and Icelandic vindur (“wind”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌳𐍃 (winds, “wind”), Latin ventus (“wind”), Welsh gwynt (“wind”), Sanskrit वात (vā́ta, “wind”), Russian ве́тер (véter,...

Forms

winds winde

Synonyms

breeze draft gale gas wind

Hypernyms

anabatic wind baffling wind Bohemian wind break wind broken wind calm wind crosswind custard wind cut wind dead wind Diablo wind downwind driving wind east wind fair wind fall wind foul wind gradient wind gravity wind head wind headwind hot wind interstellar wind ionic wind

Hyponyms

gust breeze light air gale storm thaw wind hurricane air drainage gravity wind anabatic wind katabatic wind westerly easterly souther norther easter wester northeaster northwester southeaster southwester chinook foehn ghibli

Related

blizzard breeze cyclone dust devil gale gust high wind hurricane nor'easter northeaster northwester sou'easter southeaster southwester sou'wester storm tempest tornado twister typhoon zephyr draft eddy flatus

Derived

Alabama wind chime a sheet in the wind as the wind blows a straw shows how the wind blows bag of wind between wind and water blow wind up someone's skirt blow with the wind break-wind burn-the-wind by-the-wind sailor candle in the wind cast caution to the wind catch wind of close to the wind don't pee in the wind and tell me it's raining don't piss in the wind and tell me it's raining down the wind fart in a wind storm fart in the wind finger in the wind finger to the wind floating wind turbine follow the wind

Noun Entry 2

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

Origin

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.

Forms

winds

Synonyms

wind

Hyponyms

gust breeze light air gale storm thaw wind hurricane air drainage gravity wind anabatic wind katabatic wind westerly easterly souther norther easter wester northeaster northwester southeaster southwester chinook foehn ghibli

Related

draft eddy flatus breath updraft ventilation hydrometeor

Verb Entry 3

  1. To turn coils (of a cord or something similar) around something.
    • to wind thread on a spool or into a ball
    • Whether to wind / The woodbine round this arbour. - 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias...
    • 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...
  2. To tighten the spring of a clockwork mechanism.
    • Please wind that old-fashioned alarm clock.
  3. To entwist; to enfold; to encircle.
    • Sleep, and I will wind thee in arms. - c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True...
  4. To travel or follow a path with numerous curves.
    • 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. - 1829 May 2, [Walter Scott], Anne of Geierstein; or, The Maiden of the Mist. […],...
    • The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea. - 1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London:...

    Synonyms: twine

  5. To have complete control over; to turn and bend at one's pleasure; to vary or alter at will; to regulate; to govern.
    • to turn and wind a fiery Pegasus - 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard,...
    • Gifts blind the vviſe, and bribes do pleaſe, / And vvinde all other witneſſes: […] - 1648, Robert Herrick, “To his Conscience.”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and...
    • Were our legislature vested in the person of our prince, he might doubtless wind and turn our constitution at his pleasure. - 12 October 1710, Joseph Addison, The Examiner No. 5
  6. To introduce by insinuation; to insinuate.
    • You have contrived[…]to wind / Yourself into a power tyrannical. - c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First...
    • 'Tis pleasant to see what little arts and dexterities they have to wind in such things into discourse - 1674, [Richard Allestree], The Government of the Tongue. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: At the Theater, →OCLC:
  7. To cover or surround with something coiled about.
    • to wind a rope with twine
  8. To cause to move by exerting a winding force; to haul or hoist as by a winch.
    • Quickly she slammed the door shut and panicking wound the window up as fast as her slippery fingers would allow. - 2012, Rural Affairs, Anna Hutton-North, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 33:
  9. To turn (a ship) around, end for end.

Forms

winds winding wound winded

Related

unwind wend

Derived

bewind rewind self-winding underwind unwind windable wind around one's little finger wind back wind back the clock wind down winder winding windlass wind off wind one's neck in wind somebody round one's finger wind-up wind up

Verb Entry 4

  1. To blow air through a wind instrument or horn to make a sound.
    • Earl Walter winds his bugle horn; / To horſe, to horſe, halloo, halloo! / His fiery courſer ſnuffs the morn, / And thronging ſerfs their Lord purſue. - 1796, Gottfried Augustus Bürger, “The Chase”, in [Walter Scott],...
    • 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 - 1913, Edith Constance Holme, Crump Folk Going Home, page 136:
    • "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...
  2. To cause (someone) to become breathless, as by a blow to the abdomen, or by physical exertion, running, etc.
    • The boxer was winded during round two.
  3. To cause a baby to bring up wind by patting its back after being fed.
  4. To turn a boat or ship around, so that the wind strikes it on the opposite side.
  5. To expose to the wind; to winnow; to ventilate.
  6. To perceive or follow by scent.
    • The hounds winded the game.
  7. To rest (a horse, etc.) in order to allow the breath to be recovered; to breathe.
  8. To turn a windmill so that its sails face into the wind.

Forms

winds winding winded wound winde