wind

plural winds · alternative obsolete winde

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

   The winds in Chicago are fierce.

   5 more examples

   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.

   There was a sudden gust of wind, on which spores were borne away.

   The window was banging in the wind.

   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.

   2013 June 29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29

2. countableuncountableAir artificially put in motion by any force or action.

   the wind of a bellows

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   the wind of a cannon ball

3. countableuncountableThe ability to breathe easily.

   The fall knocked the wind out of him.

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   After the second lap he was already out of wind.

4. countablefigurativelyuncountableNews of an event, especially by hearsay or gossip.

   to catch wind of something

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   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. countablefigurativelyuncountableA tendency or trend.

   the wind of change

   1 more example

   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 Far Right Means Going Forward”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

6. countableuncountablealchemyOne of the four elements of the ancient Greeks and Romans; air.

   Synonyms: breeze

7. countableuncountableOne of the five basic elements in Indian and Japanese models of the Classical elements.
8. colloquialuncountableFlatus.

   to pass wind

   Synonyms: gas

9. countableuncountableBreath 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; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

10. countableuncountableentertainmentThe woodwind section of an orchestra. Occasionally also used to include the brass section.
11. countableuncountableentertainmentA woodwind instrument. Occasionally also used to describe a brass instrument.
12. countableuncountableA direction from which the wind may blow; a point of the compass; especially, one of the cardinal points.

    the four winds

    3 more examples

    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, London: Macmillan and Co., page 98

    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.

    1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

13. countableuncountableTypes of playing-tile in the game of mah-jongg, named after the four winds.
14. countableuncountableA disease of sheep, in which the intestines are distended with air, or rather affected with a violent inflammation. It occurs immediately after shearing.
15. countablefigurativelyuncountableMere breath or talk; empty effort; idle words.

    Nor think thou with wind / Of airy threats to awe.

    1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

    1 more example

    Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

    1946, George Orwell, Politics and the English Language

16. countableuncountableA bird, the dotterel.
17. countableslanguncountableboxingThe region of the solar plexus, where a blow may paralyze the diaphragm and cause temporary loss of breath or other injury.
18. countableironicslanguncountable(usually as the wind) Something irrelevant; something that can be explained away.

    I don't know, man, must've been the wind.

    1 more example

    Zack be blaming the wind with this one...😭🙏

    2026 June 23, @CaitlynShellshock, Comment on How They Simulated A Nuclear Blast In Terminator 2 by @zackdfilms

19. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of wind power (“source of electricity”)

    Invest in wind for example through the municipality's energy company

    2019 November 18, Landström, Mariko, Tynkkynen, Oras, Leinonen, Tatu, Peljo, Janne, Nordic Green to Scale for Cities and Communities: How far could we go simply by scaling up already proven climate solutions?, Nordic Council of Ministers, →ISBN, page 43

    2 more examples

    In China, onshore wind is cheaper than gas-fired power, at $77 per MWh versus $113, but it is much more expensive still than coal-generated electricity, at $44, while solar PV power is at $109.

    2019 October 17, K. R. Rao, Wind Energy for Power Generation: Meeting the Challenge of Practical Implementation, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 383

    And a rapid move to solar and wind is being achieved by taking the fossil fuel companies out of the energy equation

    2021 June 29, Cynthia Kaufman, The Sea Is Rising and So Are We: A Climate Justice Handbook, PM Press, →ISBN

present singular third person winds · participle present winding · participle past winded · past winded · participle past proscribed wound · past proscribed wound · alternative obsolete winde

1. transitiveTo blow air through a wind instrument or horn to make a sound.

   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

   2 more examples

   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], transl., The Chase, and William and Helen: Two Ballads, from the German […], Edinburgh: […] Mundell and Son, […], for Manners and Miller, […]; and sold by T[homas] Cadell, Jun. and W[illiam] Davies (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell) […], →OCLC, stanza I, page 1

   "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 Susan's Horn," said Caspian.

   1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia

2. transitiveTo 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. UKtransitiveTo cause a baby to bring up wind by patting its back after being fed.
4. UKtransitiveTo turn a boat or ship around, so that the wind strikes it on the opposite side.
5. transitiveTo expose to the wind; to winnow; to ventilate.
6. transitiveTo perceive or follow by scent.

   The hounds winded the game.

7. transitiveTo rest (a horse, etc.) in order to allow the breath to be recovered; to breathe.
8. transitiveTo turn a windmill so that its sails face into the wind.

present singular third person winds · participle present winding · participle past wound · past wound · participle past winded · past winded

1. transitiveTo turn coils (of a cord or something similar) around something.

   to wind thread on a spool or into a ball

   3 more examples

   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 Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   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.

   1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC

   After letting the singles rest overnight, I wound one of the bobbins into a center-pull ball.

   2026, Stefanie Johnson, “Speckles and Tonals”, in Spin Off, volume L, number 1, page 52

2. transitiveTo tighten the spring of a clockwork mechanism.

   Please wind that old-fashioned alarm clock.

3. transitiveTo 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 Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]

4. intransitiveTo travel or follow a path with numerous curves.

   Vines wind round a pole.  The river winds through the plain.

   4 more examples

   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. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Company] for Cadell and Co., […]; London: Simpkin and Marshall, […], →OCLC

   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: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], published 1753, →OCLC

   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.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

   The long and winding road / That leads to your door / Will never disappear.

   1969, Paul McCartney, The Long and Winding Road

   Synonyms: twine

5. transitiveTo 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, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]

   2 more examples

   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 Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], →OCLC

   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. transitiveTo 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 Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]

   1 more example

   '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. transitiveTo cover or surround with something coiled about.

   to wind a rope with twine

8. transitiveTo 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. transitivenauticalTo turn (a ship) around, end for end.

plural winds

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

1. A surname