get wind of

verb

To hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been kept confidential or secret.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbget wind of (third-person singular simple present gets wind of, present participle getting wind of, simple past got wind of, past participle (UK) got wind of or (US) gotten wind of)

present singular third person gets wind of · participle present getting wind of · past got wind of · UK participle past got wind of · US participle past gotten wind of · alternative catch wind of

  1. idiomatictransitiveTo hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been kept confidential or secret.

    [T]he secret was still a secret, except that you had got wind of it.

    1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter LI, in Great Expectations […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC
    4 more examples

    "It's no easy matter," said Inspector Weymouth, "to patrol the vicinity of John Ki's Joy-Shop without their getting wind of it."

    1917, Sax Rohmer, chapter 7, in The Hand of Fu-Manchu

    He asks that I don't identify his name and profession, saying he doesn't want colleagues to get wind of his habits.

    2001 June 4, Ginny Parker, “Dating Game”, in Time

    The ensuing snarknado also seemed to goose the TV ratings. Hundreds of thousands of viewers switched on the movie after it began, suggesting that they’d gotten wind through Twitter of the bananas spectacle that was unfolding.

    2023 July 10, James Poniewozik, “The Twitter Watch Party Is Over”, in The New York Times

    Fearing that if Mr. Altman got wind of their plan he would marshal his network against them, they acted quickly and secretly.

    2023 December 9, Tripp Mickle, Cade Metz, Mike Isaac, Karen Weise, “Inside OpenAI’s Crisis Over the Future of Artificial Intelligence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 風聞 /风闻
  • 風聞 /风闻 (fēngwén)To hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
Danish få nys om, få færten af
  • få nys omTo hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
  • få færten afTo hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
  • komme under vejr medTo hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
Dutch ergens lucht van krijgen
  • ergens lucht van krijgenTo hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
Finnish saada vihiä, päästä jyvälle
  • saada vihiäTo hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
  • päästä jyvälleTo hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
  • ei olla hajuakaanTo hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
French avoir vent de
  • avoir vent deTo hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
German von etwas Wind bekommen
  • von etwas Wind bekommenTo hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
Greek παίρνω χαμπάρι, παίρνω είδηση
  • παίρνω χαμπάρι (paírno champári)To hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
  • παίρνω είδηση (paírno eídisi)To hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
Japanese 嗅ぎ付ける, 聞きこむ
  • 嗅ぎ付ける (kagitsukeru)To hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
  • 聞きこむ (kikikomu)To hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
Polish wietrzyć, zwietrzyć
  • wietrzyćTo hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
  • zwietrzyćTo hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
Russian проню́хивать, проню́хать
  • проню́хивать (pronjúxivatʹ)To hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
  • проню́хать (pronjúxatʹ)To hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
  • чу́ять (čújatʹ)To hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
  • почу́ять (počújatʹ)To hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
Swedish få nys om
  • få nys omTo hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential
Cite this entry
APA

get wind of. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/get%20wind%20of

MLA

“get wind of.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/get%20wind%20of. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “get wind of,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/get%20wind%20of.

Source: get wind of on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.