| 释义 |
▪ I. wind, n.1
(wɪnd, poet. also waɪnd)
Forms: 1– wind, 3–6 wynd, (4 wint, wynt, whynde, wend, Sc. vend), 4–6 wynde, Sc. vynd, 4–7 winde, (5 wende, wyind, wijnd, wyynd; Sc. 6–7 wound, 6–8 win, 9 win', wun).
[OE. wind = OFris., OS., (M)LG., (M)Du. wind, OHG., MHG. wint, wind- (G. wind), ON. vindr (Sw., Da. vind), Goth. winds:—OTeut. *windaz:—pre-Teut. *wentos, cognate with L. ventus, W. gwynt, Breton guent; orig. a pres. ppl. formation (*wēnto-) f. root wē- of OE. wáwan (see wowe), OHG. wâjan (G. wehen), Goth. waian to blow, waft, Lith. vė́jas wind, OSl. vějati blows, větrŭ wind, OIr. feth air, Gr. ἄησι (:—*ἄϝησι) blows, ἀήτης wind, Skr. vā́ti blows, vā́ta wind.
The normal pronunciation would be |waɪnd|, as in behind, bind, find, grind, hind, mind, rind, etc., and this pronunciation remains dialectally and in ordinary poetical usage. The pronunciation |wɪnd| became current in polite speech during the 18th c.; it has been used occas. by poets, but the paucity of appropriate rhyming words (such as sinned, thinned, dinned) and the ‘thinness’ of the sound have been against its general use in verse. The short vowel of |wɪnd| is presumably due to the influence of the derivatives windmill, windy, in which |ɪ| is normal.
1747Johnson Plan of Engl. Dict. 12 To fix the pronunciation of monosyllables, by placing with them words of correspondent sound..so that the words wound and wind, as they are now frequently pronounced, will not rhyme to sound, and mind.
The following quots. contain examples of the pronunciation |wɪnd| in modern poets:—
1855Lynch Rivulet lxxxi. (Jerusalem) iii, She hath sinned; Like ashes now her scattered sons Fly on the wind. 1866Swinburne Poems, A Litany 17 As the tresses and wings of the wind Are scattered and shaken, I will scatter all them that have sinned. 1885Tennyson Wreck vii, When her orphan wail came borne in the shriek of a growing wind, And a voice rang out in the thunders of Ocean and Heaven ‘Thou hast sinn'd’. 1913Bridges La Gloire de Voltaire 94 When sickening France adulterously sinned With Virtue, and went mad conceiving wind.]
I. The literal sense, in various applications.
1. Air in motion; a state of movement in the air; a current of air, of any degree of force perceptible to the senses, occurring naturally in the atmosphere, usually parallel to the surface of the ground.
a. In general or collective sense.
In the collective sense now always with the definite article.
(a) sing. Beowulf 1132 Holm storme weol, won wið winde. c897ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxxix. 285 Se ðe him ealneᵹ wind ondræt, he sæwð to seldon. a900Cynewulf Elene 1272 Winde ᵹeliccost, þonne he..hlud astiᵹeð. 971Blickl. Hom. 65 Ne biþ þær hungor, ne þurst, ne wind, ne ᵹewenn. c1200Vices & Virtues 47 Se ðe gadereð mihtes wiðuten eadmodnesse,..he is ilich ðo manne ðe berð dust amidewarde ðe winde. a1300Cursor M. 23667 Hat and cald and rain and wind. c1320Sir Tristr. 372 Þe wawes were so wode Wiþ winde. 1340–70Alex. & Dind. 92 Whan þe wind on þe watur þe wawus arereþ. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 72 A reede wawinge wiþ þe wynde. c1400Mandeville iii. (1919) I. 10 The eyr so cleer þat men may fynde no wynd þere. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 381 On a night whan hit was paisible of wynd & of storme. 1535Coverdale Ps. xvii[i]. 42, I will beate them as small as the dust before the wynde. ― Amos iv. 13 He maketh the mountaynes, he ordeneth the wynde. 1594Selimus C 2, Let our winged coursers tread the winde. 1609Dekker Ravens Alm. G, He seemed so chary ouer her, that it grieued him the winde should blowe on her. 1624Quarles Job Milit. ix. 4 A storme of wind. 1667Milton P.L. i. 231 As when the force Of subterranean wind transports a Hill Torn from Pelorus. 1697Dryden æneis i. 438 Bare were her Knees, and knots her Garments bind; Loose was her Hair, and wanton'd in the Wind. 1794Vancouver Agric. Cambridge 177 Water engines that go by wind. 1849James Woodman viii, Not a breath of wind crossed the heavens. 1887Field 10 Dec. 897 [He] kicked off..against both wind and sun. 1893Law Times XCV. 104/2 A gust of wind blew the plaintiff's mackintosh coat against the fence.
(b) pl.c825Vesp. Psalter xvii[i]. 11 [10] Volavit super pinnas ventorum, fleᵹ ofer fiðru winda. 971Blickl. Hom. 51 Þas windas & þas reᵹnas syndon ealle his. a1300Cursor M. 22630 Windes on ilk side sal rise. 1390Gower Conf. I. 34 Right now the hyhe wyndes blowe. c1460J. Metham Wks. (1916) 157 [I]ff Crystemes day falle vp-on Moneday, yt schuld be a gret wyntyr, and fulle off wyindys. a1593Marlowe Ovid's Elegies ii. xi, Hither the winds blow, here the spring-tide roar. a1614J. Melvill Autob. & Diary (Wodrow Soc.) 261 The Lord of Armies, wha ryddes upon the winges of the woundes. 1638–56Cowley Davideis i. Notes, Wks. 1710 I. 357 The Matter of Winds is an Exhalation arising out of the Concavities of the Earth. 1748Gray Alliance 43 Command the Winds, and tame th' unwilling Deep. 1830Tennyson Ode to Memory 14 The dew-impearled winds of dawn. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. viii. 263 The lighter débris is scattered by the winds far and wide over the glacier.
b. In particularized use (see also 2).
c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 56 Bærn eal to somne on ða healfe ðe se wind sy. c1250Gen. & Ex. 3087 Ðis wind hem broȝte ðe skipperes. 13..Cursor M. 18919 (Gött.) Þar come a sune vte of þe air..Wid a wend at come wid-all And..fild all þat hall. c1400tr. Secr. Secr., Gov. Lordsh. 52 An hote wende. a1533Ld. Berners Huon xiv. 39 A small rayne abatyth a grete wynd. 1682Dryden Medal 252 The Climate, vex't with various Winds. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. v. v, And soon I heard a roaring wind. 1837Dickens Pickw. xxviii, There was just such a wind and just such a fall of snow, a good many years back. 1880Sutherland Tales of Goldfields 1 Hot winds and floods destroyed the crops. 1895S. A. Brooke in Jacks Life & Lett. (1917) II. 520 A low wind wandered about like a fairy.
c. A symbolical representation of the wind. (Cf. F. têtes de vents.)
1848Dickens Dombey xxxi, A cherub on a monument, with cheeks like a young Wind.
d. fig. (sometimes = ‘rage’): cf. whirlwind 2.
c1485Digby Myst. i. 45 Sle them all either for ffoo or ffrende: thus he commaundid in his furious wynde. 1787Beckford Italy (1834) II. 248 The wind is up in the archbishop's brain just at this moment, and by the least contradiction more would become a hurricane. 1876Hardy Ethelberta xi, Lady Petherwin crashed out of the room in a wind of indignation.
2. a. With specific reference to the direction from which it blows; usually qualified by the name of a point of the compass, or in pl. by a numeral, esp. four (hence sometimes transf. = points of the compass, directions).
c725–[see south a. 3]. c888ælfred Boeth. vi. §1 Se suðerna wind hwilum mid miclum storme ᵹedrefeð þa sæ. a1000Boeth. Metr. xii. 14 Ᵹif hine lytle ær stormas ᵹestondað & se stearca wind, norðan & eastan. c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 274 Ðas feower heafodwindas habbað betweox him on ymbhwyrfte oðre eahta windas. c1340–[see north a. 3]. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 14 Þis souþ-Westerne wynt. c1374Chaucer Boeth. i. met. iii. (1868) 9 Þe wynde þat hyȝt borias. 1377–[see south-west C. 1]. 1379Glouc. Cath. MS. 19. No. I. lib. 1. c. 4 lf. 12 b, The four wyndes, & thayre 8 wyndes. 1382Wyclif Ezek. xxxvii. 9 Fro four wyndys cum, thou spirit. c1425MS. Digby 233 lf. 224 b/2 Est wynde..hath tweyne syde wyndes oþer quarter wyndes. 1549Compl. Scot. vi. 61 The marynalis..hes..discriuit thretty tua sortis of vyndis. 1602Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 397 When the Winde is Southerly. 1610― Temp. i. ii. 254 To run vpon the sharpe winde of the North. 1625N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. vi. (1635) 151 One Rhumbe answers to two coasts or windes. 1651T. Barker Art of Angling (1820) 2 The Winde in the South, then that blows the Flie in the Trouts mouth. 1659Twysden S. Foster's Miscell. xiv. v. 27 Project these Azimuths or winds into the horizontal line. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 516 Toward the four winds four speedy Cherubim Put to thir mouths the sounding Alchymie. 1819Shelley Ode to West Wind i. 1 O, wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being. 1849Lever Con Cregan xviii, The wind was a nor'-wester. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. xxviii, The cousins disperse to the four winds of heaven.
b. Mah Jong. Any of the four compass-positions about the wall of tiles taken up by a player; the player who occupies this place. Also, any of sixteen tiles (four of each sort) representing one of the four winds used in the game.
1922M. S. Rosenblatt Majong 2 There are 4 ‘Winds’..and there are 4 pieces of each ‘Wind’. 1925[see pung v.2, n.2, and int.]. 1938V. L. Cecil Maajh 2 Each player took the position of one of the four Winds. 1960R. C. Bell Board & Table Games vi. 152 The tiles are grouped into: Cardinal tiles... Winds... Honour tiles... Minor tiles. Ibid. 156 Each wind in turn becomes the wind of the round. The first round is East Wind's. 1979M. Hammer Learn to play Mah Jongg ii. 35 The next step is to evaluate which tiles are more prevalent—odds, evens, winds, singles, pairs.
3. a. In reference to navigation, as the means of propulsion of a sailing vessel.
Beowulf 217 Ᵹewat þa ofer wæᵹholm winde ᵹefysed flota famiheals. c900tr. Bæda's Hist. v. i, To þon ðætte..ᵹesyndᵹe windas..usic æt lande ᵹebrohte. c1205Lay. 236 He þonene iuatte forð aȝein mid þan winde. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 6827 Þe wind hom paide wel & to þe se hii come. 13..Propr. Sanct. in Herrig Archiv LXXXI. 112/83 Þe wynt wox þo contrarious. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints vi. (Thomas) 44 Þan vent þai to þe se.. &..gud vend þai had. c1425Engl. Conq. Irel. xxxiii. 80 As thay wer wynd abydynge. 1543–4Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VIII. 249 The saidis boittis witht artalȝe, quhilkis war seperat be ane gret wound. 1549Compl. Scot. vi. 40 Afoir the vynd. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 209 We sayled commonly with a fore wind, the winds being more constant in that sea. a1625H. Manwayring Seaman's Dict. (1644) s.v. Ride, To Ride betwixt wind and tide, is when the wind and tyde have equall power. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Provid. xxiii, The windes, who think they rule the mariner, Are rul'd by him, and taught to serve his trade. 1691Sir J. Ashby's Acc. Engagem. 15 If the Wind had stood, we should have had more fighting. 1726Swift Gulliver iii. i, I set up my sail, the wind being fair. 1792Mrs. P. L. Powys Passages fr. Diaries (1899) 268 [We] set off in our vessel for Ryde, with wind and tide both against us. 1879[see fair a. 13].
b. Naut. in various expressions referring to the direction or position of the wind in relation to the ship: hence also allusively.
e.g. to gain, get, or take the wind of, to get to windward of (another ship) so as to intercept the wind, to get the weather gage of: so to give, have the wind of. to keep one's (the, a good) wind, to keep close to the wind without falling away to leeward. to take the wind out of the sails of (fig.), to deprive of one's means of progress, put a check upon the action of, put at a disadvantage. to turn (the) wind, to turn so as to get on the other side of the wind. (For other phrases, as to haul one's wind, to hold a good wind, etc. see the verbs.)
14..Sailing Directions (Hakl. Soc.) 13 By turnyng wynde at an est south of the moone. 1563Gresham in Burgon Life (1839) II. 41 They did all they colde to tacke the wynde of us. 1600Hakluyt Voy. III. 198 All the three Biskainers made toward our ship, which was not carelesse to get the winde of them all. 1600Dallam in Early Voy. Levant (Hakl. Soc.) 97 We havinge the wynde of the Spanishe ships. 1629Wadsworth Pilgr. ii. 7 We..made all haste possible to gaine the winde of him. 1666Lond. Gaz. No. 74/2 The Zealand Admiral kept his wind, the Admiral of the Blew, with eight or ten more standing after him. a1687Petty Treat. Naval Philos. i. iii, What makes her [sc. a ship] Leeward or keep a good Wind. 1696tr. Du Mont's Voy. Levant xxvi. 350 They are oblig'd to take the Wind of us. 1704Lond. Gaz. No. 4054/1 The Wind shifted..to the Westward, which gave the Enemy the Wind of us. 1805Nelson 6 Oct. in Nicolas Disp. (1846) VII. 82 To keep the wind under three topsails and foresail for the night. 1822Scott Nigel ix, He would take the wind out of the sail of every gallant. a1828Young Allan vi. in Child Ballads viii. 379 My master has a coal-carrier Will take the wind frae thee. She will gae out under the leaf, Come in under the lee, And nine times in a winter night She'll turn the wind wi thee. 1849Blackw. Mag. LXV. 333, I felt the ship bring her wind a-quarter. 1883Harper's Mag. Feb. 339/2 A young upstart of a rival, Llanelly..which has taken a great deal of the wind out of the sails of its older neighbor.
4. As conveying scent, esp. the scent of a person or animal in hunting, etc.: in various phr., lit. and fig.
to take, have, get, gain the wind of, to scent or detect by or as by the wind; hence occas. to keep under observation. Conversely, to give (an animal) one's wind. to keep the wind, to keep the game on the windward side so as to scent it, or so that it does not scent one. † on one's wind, on one's trail or track. † to the wind, to windward. within wind of, near enough to be detected by.
c1330Arth. & Merl. 7956 Þis seiȝen þe sexten þousinde & comen swiþe on our winde. c1470Henry Wallace vii. 469 The stynk scalyt off ded bodyis.., The Scottis abhord ner hand for to byd; Ȝeid to the wynd. 1530Palsgr. 751/1, I take the wynde, as a dere dothe of a person... Let hym take good hede that they take nat the wynde of him. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. iv. ii. 133 My sonne and I will haue the winde of you. 1593― 3 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 14 Hee knowes the Game, how true hee keepes the winde? 1601― All's Well v. ii. 10 Clo. Truely, Fortunes displeasure is but sluttish if it smell so strongly as thou speak'st of..Prethee alow the winde. Par. Nay you neede not to stop your nose sir: I spake but by a Metaphor. 1602― Ham. iii. ii. 362 Why do you go about to recouer the winde of mee, as if you would driue me into a toyle? 1606Marston Parasit. ii. D 1, Peace the woolfes eare takes the winde of vs. Ibid. iii. F 1 b, We can take the winde, And smell you out. 1697W. Dampier Voy. I. 391 We could smell them out in the thick Woods if we had but the wind of them. 1850R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. xviii, I gave the large herd my wind, upon which they instantly tossed their trunks aloft. 1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xviii. ii. V. 36 For here are the Prussians within wind of us! 1883Stevenson Treas. Isl. x, We had run up the trades to get the wind of the island we were after. 1887Field 19 Feb. 251/3 A small troop of four rhebok, which had..got our wind shortly before. 1890S. W. Baker Wild Beasts II. 92, I have myself been hunted out of the jungle by two rhinoceroses which thus gained our wind.
5. In alliterative conjunction with weather: most freq., now always, wind and weather; formerly also weather and wind, also with the, or with one or both ns. in pl.
† (a) orig. connoting stormy inclement weather (cf. weather n. 1 g, h); (b) later, in neutral sense, atmospheric conditions as favourable or unfavourable for travelling; (c) now chiefly with reference to exposure to weathering influences.
a1225Juliana 72 Buldeð ower boldes uppon treowe staðele þat ne dredeð na wind ne na weder nowðer. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 444 Where þe wynde & þe weder warpen hit wolde, Hit saȝtled. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xvi. (Magdalen) 220 Bo[t] tholyt al þat haly rowte In wynd & wedyre ly þare-owt Of þare tempil. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. viii. 41 Like to þe grete wawes, Þat as wyndes and wederes walweth aboute. a1400Octouian 1237 Good wynd and wedyr þay hadde at wylle. 1455Rolls of Parlt. V. 335/1 At the next Wynde and Wedder that wille serve theym. 1513Sir E. Howard in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. I. 150 If wynde and wedour will serve. 1587Maitland Club Misc. (1840) II. 356 That he sould keip his hour wind and weddar servand. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. i. v. 255 Tis in graine sir, 'twill endure winde and weather. c1630Risdon Surv. Devon §330 (1810) 341 Wind and weather were ever against him, a proverb applied to the unfortunate. 1654Bramhall Just Vind. iv. (1661) 56 With what art..the Papacy..was tacked into the Church contrary to wind and weather. 1667Wellshure in Earl Orrery St. Lett. (1742) 293 If it should be my fortune to meet with prizes, I shall bring them here, if wind and weather will permit me. 1712Swift Jrnl. to Stella 17 June, If it did not come in due time, can I help wind and weather? 1848Dickens Dombey lix, It is a great house still, proof against wind and weather.
6. As a thing devoid of sense or perception, or that is unaffected by what one does to it: in phrases usually expressing futile action or effort, as to beat the wind (see beat v.1 1 c), to speak to the wind, to spit against (or into) the wind.
c1330Arth. & Merl. 7072, xii hundred ogain fourti þousinde Ferd, so smoke ogain þe winde. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 90 b, In so doynge, it may not be sayd that we bete the wynde. 1569Blague Sch. Conceytes 261 He spake to the winde. 1577Grange Golden Aphrod. G iij, I see I swimme agaynst the streame, I kicke against a gode, I caste a stone against the winde. 1578H. Wotton tr. Yver's Courtlie Controversie ii. 109 Thou shalte be like him that spitteth againste the winde, whose slaver fleeth in his owne face. 1599Peele David & Bethsabe B iij b, He..makes their weapons wound the sencelesse winds. 1612Webster White Divel sig. E4, For your names, of Whoore and Murdresse they proceed from you, As if a man should spit against the wind, The filth returne's in's face. 1614J. Cooke Greene's Tu Quoque G 3, To strike Ayres, or buffet with the Winde, That playes vpon vs. 1622J. Taylor (Water P.) Shilling C 4, Like throwing feathers 'gainst the winde. 1697Dryden æneis v. 595 Entellus wasts his Forces on the Wind. 1713Swift Jrnl. to Stella 10 Apr., This I tell her, but talk to the winds. 1860C. M. Yonge Hopes & Fears I. 201 ‘Have you spoken to her?’ ‘As well speak to the wind.’ 1968Guardian 1 Oct. 8/5 The decision to withdraw our forces..was inevitable, and Mr Heath is spitting into the wind when he tells Australian audiences that a Conservative Government would go back. 1975Times 10 Nov. 12/4 To adopt a vivid barrack-room expression, it is no good spitting against the wind or shouting against thunder.
7. In comparisons, as a type of violence or fury († phr. wroth as (the) wind), swiftness, freedom or unrestrainable character, mutability or fickleness, lightness or emptiness (cf. 15).
13..E.E. Allit. P. C. 410 He wex as wroth as þe wynde towarde oure lorde. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 350, ‘I may no lenger lette’, quod he,..And went away as wynde. c1470Gol. & Gaw. 770 Schir Golograse for greif his gray ene brynt, Wod wraith as the wynd. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxvi. 27 Purpois dois change as wynd or rane. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 7 b, All dependeth of a thynge that is more lyght than is the wynde. c1585[R. Browne] Answ. Cartwright 83 A man of the winde, and false fellowe. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 94 About the wood, goe swifter then the winde. 1592― Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 100 Vaine phantasie..more inconstant then the wind. 1606― Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 253 Speake frankely as the winde. 1610― Temp. i. ii. 499 Thou shalt be as free As mountaine windes. 1785C. Wilkins tr. Bhagvat-Geeta vi. 66, I esteem it as difficult to restrain as the wind. 1855Longfellow My lost Youth i, A verse of a Lapland song..‘A boy's will is the wind's will’.
II. Transferred senses. (See also 1 c, 2.)
†8.
a. Air in general, as a substance or ‘element’. Obs. exc. as in b.
to take wind: to become tainted or corrupted by exposure to or access of air; also fig.
c1250Hymn in Trin. Coll. Hom. App. 258 Þu sscope eld & wind & water, þe molde is þet feorþe. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. x. 56 Witt and water, wynd and fuyr. c140026 Pol. Poems 101/19 In heuene, wiþ angels, aboue þe wynde. c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 34 Do hit in a barel þenne;..Stop wele þo hede for wynde. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 183 It hath tane to much wynde in the poudryng tubbe. c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. lv. ii, Then say I, O might I but cutt the wind Borne on the wings the fearfull dove doth beare. 1605Shakes. Macb. i. iii. 82 Whither are they vanish'd? Macb. Into the Ayre: and what seem'd corporall, Melted, as breath into the Winde. a1610Healey Theophrastus To Rdr. (1616) I 2, By powring it out of the Latin into the vulgar..it cannot but (by my vnskilfulnesse) it hath taken some wind. 1626Bacon Sylva §998 The Sword it selfe must be Wrapped vp Close, as farre as the Ointment goeth, that it taketh no Wind. 1685J. Chamberlayne Coffee, Tea, etc. 44 If it [sc. tea] takes wind, 'tis spoiled, and has no more strength then dead leven. 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 180 Settle the Ground about the Plants, lest the Roots take Wind.
b. wind and water. (a) in phr. between (or betwixt) wind and water (Naut.), referring to that part of a ship's side which is sometimes above water and sometimes submerged, in which part a shot is peculiarly dangerous; hence in fig. phr. expressing serious injury or attack. (b) attrib. and comb., as wind and water line, the part of a ship's side between wind and water; also transf. (see quot. 18761); † wind and water tight adj., proof against wind and rain or flood.
a1550Hye Way to Spittel Hous 615 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 52 Landlordes that do no reparacyons, But leue..Theyr housyng vnkept wynd and water tyght. 1588Cert. Advert. Losses Sp. Navie Irel. B 2, One of the shot was betweene the winde and the water, whereof they thought she would haue sonke. 1614T. Herode in W. Foster Lett. E. Ind. Co. (1897) II. 94 His ship had been long out and very much eaten between wind and water. a1652A. Wilson Inconstant Ladie iii. iv, Now they haue crackt mee betwixt wind and water A'most past cure. Stay, let me feele my selfe. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. x. ii. §10 The good old man was shot between Wind and Water, and his consent was assaulted in a dangerous joincture of time to give any deniall. 1691Satyr agst. French 27 These Female Frigats did more Mischiefs scatter, By their low tire of Guns 'twixt wind and water. 1726Adv. Capt. R. Boyle (1768) 260 They..had receiv'd a Shot between Wind and Water, and the Ship leak'd very much. 1823J. Bric Let. 22 Feb. in Corresp. D. O'Connell (1972) II. 447 You have hit the thing between wind and water and whilst you have justly elevated your own name you have done much for your country. 1876Preece Telegraphy 161 The ground line, or, as it is more frequently termed, the wind and water line. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. V. ix. 426 The ‘Congress’..was hulled twelve times, and hit seven times between wind and water. 1967M. Gilbert Dust & Heat iii. 239 Mallinson must have guessed what was coming. Nevertheless, it hit him between wind and water.
9. Compressed or confined air; air that inflates or is contained within some body. Now rare (and superseded by air) exc. as in 10, 12 (b). (With quot. 1689 cf. windage 1.)
a1225Ancr. R. 282 A bleddre ibollen ful of winde. Ibid., A nelde prikiunge worpeð al ut þene wind. 1450–1530Myrr. our Ladye i. v. 17 As a blather full of wynde. 1560B. Googe tr. Palingenius' Zodiac i. (1561) A vij, A blather full implete wyth wynde. 1615Markham Country Contentm. i. viii. 109 A great ball of double leather fild with winde. 1689Binning Light to Art of Gunnery xiii. 42 How to Extract the Wind from the Bore of a Peece Geometrically, and thereby to know a fit Ball for the same.
10. a. ‘Air’ or gas in the stomach or intestines (or, according to early notions, in other parts of the body); flatus. † Also pl.
to break wind, to discharge flatus from the stomach or bowels (see break v. 47); † of a remedy, to cure or dispel flatulence.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 224 Ᵹif sio wamb biþ windes full, þonne cymð þæt of wlacre wætan. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxxvii. (Bodl. MS.) Grete ventosite and winde þat stoppith þe weye of þe breeþ. a1400–50Stockholm Med. MS. 151 For wynd in þe hed. c1400Secr. Secr., Gov. Lordsh. 70 It sterys hete to þe body, and destroyes wyndes. 1542Boorde Dyetary xxix. (1870) 292 Make no restryctyon of wynde and water, nor seege that nature wolde expelle. 1552–[see break v. 47]. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xxi. §76 An ouer-much quantity of a confection to breake winde from off his stomacke. 1620Venner Via Recta v. 89 The vse of milke is very hurtfull vnto them that are subiect to winde. 1637Milton Lycidas 126 The hungry Sheep..swoln with wind. 1661Pepys Diary 14 Aug., His pain (which was wind got into the muscles of his right side). 1702J. Purcell Cholick (1714) 65 When the Pain spreads itself all over the Belly, 'tis occasion'd for the most part by Winds. 1707Floyer Physic. Pulse-Watch 378 That the Liver produces a Wind in the Heart that is, the Rarifaction of Humours. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 206/1, I can dispel wind in two minutes. 1855Leech Pict. Life & Char. i, Domestic Bliss. [speaking of a baby] That is not taking notice; it's only the wind. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 911 Even respectable people take the ether.., pretending that it is useful for ‘the wind in the stomach’.
b. to get the wind up (slang): to get into a state of alarm or ‘funk’. So to put the wind up (a person).
1916P. Gibbs Battles of Somme xxii. 172 It was obvious that the blinking Boche had got the wind up. 1918W. Owen Let. 11 Oct. (1967) 584 Shells so close that they thoroughly put the wind up a Life Guardsman in the trench with me. 1922C. Alington Strained Relations viii. 118, I tell you you've absolutely put the wind up Uncle Bob and Peter! They're scared to death of your finding them out.
11. a. Air inhaled and exhaled by the lungs: = breath n. 3. Obs. exc. as coloured by d below.
a1000Riddles xv. 14 Ic [sc. a horn] winde sceal sincfaᵹ swelᵹan of sumes bosme. 13..K. Alis. 6415 (Laud MS.), A litel hole in her chyn Where her wynde gooþ out & in. 13..Cursor M. 531 (Gött.) Þis wind [Cott. aand] þat men draus oft Bitakins wind þat blauis on loft. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxii. 99 Þe preste..castez a clath on his mouth and stoppez his wynde. 1535Goodly Primer O ij b, I begynne to waxe faynte, and scarcely able to drawe my wynde. 1601Holland Pliny xiv. xxii. I. 427 His wind he never tooke while the cup was at his mouth, but justly observed the rule of drinking with one breath. 1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. ii. 33 She does so blush, & fetches her winde so short, as if she were fraid with a sprite. 1611Bible Ecclus. xxxi. 19 And he fetcheth not his wind short vpon his bed [marg. Or, and lieth not puffing and blowing]. 1865Field 4 Mar. 151/2 Which seemed to knock all the wind out of him. 1918H. Lauder Minstrel in France xv. 174, I had precious little wind left to breathe with.
b. Breath as used in speaking; hence transf. speech, talk (esp. in such phr. as to waste one's wind). Obs. or arch. (exc. as implied in long-winded 2).
a1330Otuel 216 Þat wind þou hauest i-lore. c1400Destr. Troy 9788 All þaire wordis þai wast, & þaire wynd alse. c1430Hymns Virgin (1867) 97 Do way, mercy, þou spillist myche winde. c1460Sir R. Ros La Belle Dame 795 Ye noye me sore, in wastyng all þis wynde. c1520Skelton Garl. Laurel 565, Let vs wast no wynde For ydle iangelers haue but lytill braine. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. i. ii. 53 Stop in your winde sir, tell me this I pray. 1602― Ham. iv. vii. 67 For his death no winde of blame shall breath. 1616Withals Dict. 573 Os opprime, keepe your wind to coole your pottage. 1722W. Hamilton Wallace 216 The Earl Buchan, tender but, and Young He did obtain for the wind of his Tongue.
c. Breathing as a vital process; hence transf. life: = breath n. 5. So to slip one's wind, to die. Obs. exc. in low slang.
c1450Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 226 My wynde is stoppyd, gon is my brethe. c1530Songs, Carols, etc. (E.E.T.S.) 92 Now deth is vnkynd; For he seyth: ‘Man! stop thy wynde’. 1658Sir T. Browne Hydriot. i. 8 The Scythians..swore by winde and sword, that is, by life and death. 1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Wind, a man transported for his natural life, is said to be lag'd for his wind. 1860Slang Dict. (ed. 2) 247 To slip one's wind, coarse expression meaning to die. 1883Gringo & Greaser 1 Sept. 2/2 He had entirely slipped his wind—for want of which he was buried the 11th ult. 1896H. Lawson While Billy Boils 233 He laid the longest strip [of bark] by the side of the corpse... ‘Come on, Brummy,..yer ain't as bad as yer might be, considerin' as it must be three good months since yer slipped yer wind. I spect it was the rum as preserved yer.’
d. (a) Easy or regular breathing; power or capacity of breathing; condition with regard to respiration: = breath n. 7. Now only in sporting phrases.
second wind, a condition of regular breathing regained after breathlessness during long-continued exertion; also transf. and fig. wind and limb, limb and wind: see limb n.1 2 d.
c1330Arth. & Merl. 8456 What for sorwe & eke for paine, Sche les winde & ek alaine. Ibid. 9226 Þer whiles Merlin..Dede his out wende, to take þe winde. c1440York Myst. xxxv. 204 Þis bargayne will noght bee, For certis me wantis wynde. c1440J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. ii. 1465 She was lyfted vp and comforted newe a-gayn. And at the laste, whan she had caute wynde, ‘Allas,’ she seyde. 1529–30Wolsey in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. II. 27 My brethe and wynde by sything was so short that [etc.]. 1579E. K. Gloss in Spenser's Sheph. Cal. Apr. 50 He was almost out of wind [other edd. winds]. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. ii. 14 If I trauell but foure foot by the squire further a foote, I shall breake my winde. 1606Chapman Gentl. Usher ii. i. 27, I never was more sound of winde and limbe. 1607Markham Cavel. iii. 8 By the many stops and stayes which are made therein, the horse recouers his winde. 1610Shakes. Temp. i. i. 9 Blow till thou burst thy winde. 1650B. Discolliminium 39 Reformation of Religion has come..in such post-haste, that it hath broke its owne winde. 1686Jevon Devil of a Wife i. 6 Ay and he holds out the Note of one Verse till the Clark begins to sing the next, he has a pure Wind. 1735Somerville Chase i. 252 His round Cat Foot, strait Hams, and wide-spread Thighs, And his low-dropping Chest, confess his Speed, His Strength, his Wind. 1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 18 After sparring for wind in which the Black was deficient. 1830Hood Epping Hunt Advt. to 2nd ed., I am much gratified to learn from you, that the Epping Hunt has had such a run, that it is quite exhausted, and that you intend therefore to give the work what may be called ‘second wind’, by a new impression. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xxii, You had better get your wind now, and change your clothes. 1842J. Wilson Chr. North I. 19 Schoolboys are generally in prime wind. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. v, Three-quarters of an hour are gone; first winds are failing, and weight and numbers are beginning to tell. Ibid. ii. v, Tom..hits two heavy body blows, and gets away again before the Slogger can catch his wind. 1893Lydekker Horns & Hoofs 147 A bull..if allowed to get its ‘second wind’..will go on almost for ever. 1824Sporting Mag. XIV. 166/2 Langan shewed a faint glimpse of second wind, and came up boldly. 1907W. James Mem. & Stud. (1911) x. 229 Everybody knows what it is to ‘warm up’ to his job. The process of warming up gets particularly striking in the pnenomenon known as ‘second wind’. 1948‘J. Tey’ Franchise Affair i. 15 Perhaps it was the presence of an ally that had heartened her; or perhaps she had just got her second wind. 1963Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 21 Dec. (1970) 18, I believe I am about to catch my second wind.
(b) in reference to diseased or disordered breathing in horses: see broken wind.
[1523–: implied in broken-winded] .1615J. Taylor (Water P.) Urania xlix. C 2, When hee's [i.e. the horse is] broken in his winde. 1746Francis tr. Hor., Epist. i. i. 14 Loose from the rapid Car your aged Horse, Lest in the Race..He drag his jaded Limbs, and burst his Wind. 1777Thicknesse Journ. France (1789) I. 18 A very handsome English coach-horse (a little touched in the wind). 1918Act 8 & 9 Geo. V c. 13 §3 On the ground only of the stallion being affected in its wind.
e. transf. (Pugilistic slang). That part of the body in front of the stomach a blow upon which takes away the breath by checking the action of the diaphragm.
1823in H. D. Miles Pugilistica (1906) II. 206 Ward made play—whack on the head at both sides, then at the wind. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. xxvi, Judy..pokes him..particularly in that part which the science of self-defence would call his wind. 1898Daily News 24 Nov. 7/3 Sharkey came back with his right, delivering several smashes on Corbett's wind.
12. a. Air as used for ‘blowing’ or sounding a musical instrument (wind-instrument) such as a horn, trumpet, flute, etc., or an organ-pipe: either (a) the blast or stream of air thus used, furnished by the breath of the player or by bellows; (b) the supply of air from which this is obtained, usually under compression (cf. 9), as in the wind-chest of an organ; or (c) the body of air within the instrument, whose vibration produces the sound.
spec. in Hunting, A blast or series of blasts on a horn blown at one breath.
c1374Chaucer Troylus v. 443 Þer is noon Instrument Delicious þorugh wynd or touche or corde [etc.]. c1500in Antiq. Rep. (1809) IV. 407 Immoderate wyndes in a Clarion causith it for to rage. 1596Gryndall Hawking etc. G iij b, When you goe into the field, blow with one wind one short, one long, and a longer. 1667Milton P.L. i. 708 As in an Organ from one blast of wind To many a row of Pipes the sound-board breaths. 1700Dryden Flower & Leaf 357 Their Instruments were various in their kind, Some for the Bow, and some for breathing Wind. 1788Crowe Levesdon Hill 27 Instruments of wind and string. 1873Hamerton Intell. Life i. iii. 21 The wind in the pipes of an organ. 1915G. B. Shaw Androcles Prol. stage dir., Heaving a long sigh, like wind in a trombone, he goes to sleep.
b. transf. The wind instruments of an orchestra (or their players) collectively, as distinguished from the ‘strings’ and ‘percussion’. Also pl., wind instruments.
1876Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, Wood wind, or Wood wind-band, the flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and instruments of their nature, in an orchestra. 1880Rockstro in Grove Dict. Mus. II. 561/2 An Orchestra consisting of thirty Stringed Instruments, with a full complement of Wind. 1904Daily News 25 Feb. 8/5 The wind and percussion are prominent members of London orchestras. 1976Early Music July 293/1 The author seems not to differentiate sufficiently between ‘folk’ and ‘art’ instruments of the Middle Ages, and especially when he deals with winds. 1978P. Griffiths Conc. Hist. Mod. Music vii. 102 His [sc. Berg's] atonal chamber concerto for piano, violin and thirteen winds..is full of triple formations.
13. A blast of air artificially produced, e.g. by bellows (see also 12); the rush of air caused by a rapidly moving body. Const. of.
1556Withals Dict. (1562) 48 The wynde of the belowes. 1594Marlowe & Nashe Dido ii. i, He..whiskt his sword about, And with the wind thereof the King fell downe. 1602Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 495 With the whiffe and winde of his fell Sword, Th' vnnerued Father fals. 1626R. Peeke Three to One B 1 b, The last Shotte flying so close by Captaine Portar, that with the winde of the Bullet his very Hands had almost lost the Sence of feeling. 1804Naval Chron. XII. 247 He was knocked down by the wind of the shell. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms III. v. 75 The bullet went so close that the wind of it half turned him round.
14. The solar wind (see solar a. 7), or a similar stream of particles emanating uniformly from any other star.
1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. III. 500/2 Presumably the wind is stronger when solar activity is high, but direct observations cannot be made before the next maximum. 1968Times 5 Dec. 8/7 The fascinating region of space where the earth's magnetic field interacts with the ‘wind’ of atomic particles streaming out from the sun. 1982Sci. Amer. July 83/1 Most stars, including the sun, are known to be losing mass in the form of a stellar wind.
III. Figurative and allusive uses. (See also 1 d, 3 b, 4, 8 a, 8 b, 10 b, and phrases in IV.)
15. Applied to something empty, vain, trifling, or unsubstantial.
a. Empty talk, vain or ineffectual speech, mere ‘breath’ (cf. 11 b); † occas. empty fame (obs.).
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 289 Word nis aȝein hire bote wind. 1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy iv. 240 It [sc. what you say] is but wynde, no þinge for to leue. 141326 Pol. Poems 52/50 For word of wynd lityl trespase; Non harm nys don, þouȝ word be spoken. c1480Henryson Cock & Jewel 159 (Makculloch MS.) Of þis mater to speik it wair bot wynd. 1564Becon Wks. I. Pref. ☛ C iv, When such as are yet weake in knowledge of Christ..see nothyng in the Preachers but wynde & words. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 282 Nor think thou with wind Of airie threats to aw whom yet with deeds Thou canst not. 1798Coleridge Three Graves 194 A curse is wind. 1823Scott Quentin D. xix, Hard words, or kind ones,..are but wind.
b. Vain imagination or conceit (with which one is ‘puffed up’: cf. 9); also wind in the head (with allusion to 10).
1484Caxton Chivalry 86 A knyght that..byleueth in deuynaylles..hath gretter fayth and hope in the wynde of his hede..and the deuynours than in god. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 103 Pryde..bloweth & fylleth a man or woman full of wynde & vayne glory. 1591Savile Tacitus, Hist. iv. xxxix. 198 When Mutianus had filled with these windes of hope and desire his empty vainglorious minde. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 311 Many..puffe up their owne conceits with nothing els but winde. 1634S. R. Noble Soldier iii. i. E 1, Fellowes which swell bigge with the wind of praise. 1779J. Brown in R. Mackenzie Life (1918) 146, I hope the Lord has let some of the wind out of you, that I thought was in you when first I knew you. 1918Blackw. Mag. Dec. 765/1 He has probably got wind in the head through living in that gorgeous Gothic pagoda.
c. gen.
1382Wyclif Job vii. 7 Haue mynde, for wind is my lif [Coverdale, my life is but a wynde]. 1539Bible (Great) Isa. xxvi. 18 Wee haue bene wt chylde,..as though we had brought forth winde. 1560― (Genev.) Hosea xii. 1 Ephraim is fed with the winde. 1687P. Ayres Lyric Poems (1906) 306 Plough water, sow on rocks, and reap the wind. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 575 Then all his Frauds will vanish into Wind. 1831James Phil. Augustus xxi, But, in the mean time, we are disputing about wind. 1850Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. v. 25 Is Society become wholly a bag of wind, then, ballasted by guineas?
16. a. In various proverbial and other expressions, figuring or denoting a force, agency, or influence that drives or carries one (or something) along, or that strikes upon one (or something), or to which one (or something) is exposed. Also freq. in formula wind(s) of... Cf. sense c below.
esp. in phrases (with variations: see quots.) what wind blows you here?; † all this wind shakes no corn (obs.); it's an ill wind that blows nobody good (orig. † to good: cf. 3). to raise the wind: see raise v. 7. to sow the wind and reap the whirlwind: see whirlwind 2.
(a) in neutral or favourable sense.
c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 1104 What maner wyndes gydeth yow now here? 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 20 What wynde blowth ye hyther? Ibid. 30 To take wynde and tyde with me, and spede therby. 1579–80North Plutarch (1595) 996 (Antonius) To tell him what wind brought him thither. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, iii. iii. 30. 1639 Mayne City Match i. iii, All this is possible, And in the starres and windes. 1663Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xxvii. (1687) 309 When we have the Wind and Tyde of these pleasures to help us forward. 1859Meredith R. Feverel xxii, A good wind of laughter had relieved him of much of the blight of self-deception, and oddness, and extravagance. 1877Dowden Shaks. Prim. v. 54 Shakspere is not yet caught up in the passionate wind of his own imagination.
(b) in unfavourable sense. Also fig. (wind of doctrine: in allusion to Eph. iv. 14).
c897ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xlii. 306 Ne læte ᵹe eow ælcre lare wind awecggan. [Eph. iv. 14.] a1300Cursor M. 26995 Quat es mans lijf bot..a rek þat..skailles wit a windes blast? 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xix. 32 The worlde is a wykkede wynde to hem þat wolde treuthe. c1450Cast. Persev. 2542 It is good, whon-so þe wynde blowe, A man to haue sum-what of his owe. c1480Henryson Cock & Fox 211 This wikkit wind of adulatioun. 1526Tindale Eph. iv. 14 Waverynge and caryed with every wynde of doctryne. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 30 All this winde shakis no corne. Ibid. 77 An yll wynde that blowth no man to good, men say. 1573–80Tusser Husb. (1878) 29 It is an ill winde turnes none to good. 1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 1 All this wind shakes none of my Corne. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Affliction (1st), Thus thinne and lean without a fence or friend, I was blown through with ev'ry storm and winde. c1665Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1846) 19 They..may let loose the winds of passion to bring in a flood of sorrow. 1693Congreve Old Bach. ii. i, 'Tis an ill Wind that blows no body good. 1768[see temper v. 2]. 1776Hume Hist. Eng., Life (1778) I. p. xiii, This variety of winds and seasons to which my writings had been exposed. 1815Wordsw. Sonn., ‘Weak is the will of Man’, Wreaths that endure affliction's heaviest shower, And do not shrink from sorrow's keenest wind. 1833Mrs. Browning Prometh. Bound 1152 Such a wind of pride Impelled thee of yore full sail upon these rocks. 1907W. Raleigh Shakespeare iv. 108 If once we are foolishly persuaded to go behind the authority of Heminge and Condell..we..are afloat upon a wild and violent sea, subject to every wind of doctrine. 1913G. Santayana Winds of Doctrine ii. 25 Prevalent winds of doctrine must needs penetrate at last into the cloister. 1926R. H. Tawney Relig. & Rise of Capitalism iii. 179 With such a wind of doctrine in their sails men were not far from the days of complete freedom of contract. 1953H. Weisinger Tragedy & Paradox of Fortunate Fall vi. 267 The winds of new doctrine swept through the streets of Athens and London and left the old and conventional modes of religious thought bare. 1953E. Coxhead Midlanders vii. 158 The winds of want still blew about the world. 1962Listener 26 Apr. 717/1 Ideas..become ossified if they are not exposed to the wind of criticism. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 10/5 To protect their own lives and those of their children, they will bend with the winds of war.
b. In expressions referring to a tendency, turn, or condition of affairs:
e.g. to know which way the wind blows; the wind has changed; † is the wind in that corner or door? (see corner n.1 8, door 6 b); to sail with every (shift of) wind, to turn every change of circumstance to one's advantage; † to have the wind at will, to have circumstances or conditions favourable for one's purpose.
c1400Gamelyn 703 To telle him tydynges how the wind was went. 1470–1668 [see door 6 b]. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 75, I..knew, which waie the winde blewe. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 334 b, The Byshoppes of Germany hauynge the wynde at wyll, restore the same. 1562Bullingham in Foxe A. & M. (1563) 1541/1 Wel Palmer (sayd I) is the wind in that corner with you? I warrant you it wyl blow you to litle ease at thend. 1615Swetnam Arraignm. Wom. To Rdr. A 3, You may perceiue the winde is changed into another dore. 1672W. Walker Parœm. 9 To have the wind with one. 1695Congreve Love for L. iv. xiii, The Wind's chang'd? 1710R. G. Sacheverell's Def. 7 We see the Dissenters can Sail with every Wind. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. xxv, ‘Have I heard!!!’ said Caleb (who now found how the wind set). 1859Farrar J. Home iv, Miss Sprong.., seeing how the wind lay, had tried to drop little malicious hints against the favourite nephew. 1914T. Dreiser Titan xiii. 103, I know all about this. I've seen which way the wind is blowing. 1929‘E. Queen’ Roman Hat Mystery xxii. 301 Ellery got his first indication of which way the wind blew during the meeting at the Ives-Pope house. 1957N. Mitford Voltaire in Love x. 115 Thieriot..seeing..that the wind was now blowing in Voltaire's direction, consented..to give the required evidence. 1976Ld. Home (title) The way the wind blows.
c. spec. in phr. wind (also winds) of change.
Harold Macmillan (Lord Stockton) delivered his celebrated ‘wind of change’ address to the South African parliament in Cape Town on 3 Feb. 1960 (see quot.). Our records show a marked increase in the frequency of the phrase after this date.
1905S. Naidu Golden Threshold 97 The wind of change for ever blows Across the tumult of our way. 1927D. H. Lawrence Mornings in Mexico 154 The place of after⁓life and before-life, where house the winds of change. 1932J. Clapham Econ. Hist. Mod. Britain II. iii. 107 The [gas] companies or municipal works with their comfortable monopoly areas..began to find a little wind of change blowing among their retorts and coke heaps. 1954J. Masters Bhowani Junction xxxix. 345 Then the great changes swept across India and the world, and she had searched, not by deliberate plan but because the wind of change blew through her too, for ways of escape. 1960H. Macmillan in Times 4 Feb. 15/3 The wind of change is blowing through the continent. 1960Economist 15 Oct. 275/2 This is but one way in which the mining complex of De Beers, Anglo American and Rhodesian Anglo American is adapting itself to the winds of change in Africa. 1965D. Francis Odds Against vi. 86 ‘Is this your own show..or whose?’ ‘I suppose—mine.’ ‘Uh-huh... The wind of change, if I read it right?’ 1971Nature 26 Nov. 179/1 The universities are also likely to feel some eddies from the winds of change that are swirling around the White House. 1976‘J. Charlton’ Remington Set xiv. 69 The winds of change are beginning to blow..and your purpose in life isn't quite as defensible..as it used to be.
17. a. to get wind or take wind: to be revealed or divulged, become known, transpire. Now rare.
1667Dryden & Dk. Newc. Sir M. Mar-all iv. i, Keep this Wooing secret; if it takes the least wind, old Moody will be sure to hinder it. 1682News fr. France 15 So the thing got wind, and was lookt on as a great impiety. 1711Swift Jrnl. to Stella 30 Dec., Masham's being a lord begins to take wind: nothing at Court can be kept a secret. 1808Scott Let. to Ellis 23 Dec. in Lockhart, Do you know the Review begins to get wind here? 1855Prescott Philip II, I. ii. vi. 401 Long before that time, the project had taken wind, and created a general sensation through the country.
b. to get wind of: to receive information or a hint of, to come to know (cf. 4). Also with clause. Hence, in recent use, wind = a hint or slight intimation (of). (Cf. F. avoir le vent de, Cotgr.)
1809Malkin Gil Blas vii. vii. ⁋3 The corregidor..got wind of our correspondence. 1866Princess Alice Mem. (1884) 133 They retreated again, when they got wind that troops were assembling. 1888Stevenson Black Arrow iv. iv, Some wind of the disaster seemed to find its way..even to the chamber where the ringers were leaping on their ropes. 1917T. R. Glover From Pericles to Philip xii. 378 It may be that the Spartan government had some wind of this.
c. to sniff the wind: to try the atmosphere; to examine the prevailing state of affairs before taking action (cf. sense 4).
1972‘R. Crawford’ Whip Hand i. v. 22 Schuyler sniffed the wind and took his time about it. 1974‘D. Kyle’ Raft of Swords viii. 78 ‘I have no reason... I just know.’ ‘You sniff the wind. Very sensible. What do you smell?’ 1977Time 22 Aug. 5/2 Certainly the Labor government and the nation's judiciary system are sniffing the wind.
IV. Phrases with prepositions.
before the wind: see before B. 1 b.
18. by the († a) wind (Naut.): as near as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing (see by prep. 9).
1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xvii. 19 Hauing stroke our sayles, we did nothing but lie by the winde. a1612J. Melville Celeusma Naut. (MS.), With chearfull schowt and mirrie plesant sounde Scho saild fast be ye winde. 1627J. Smith Sea Gram. ix. 42 All your Sheats, Brases, and Tackes are trimmed by a Winde. 1697Lond. Gaz. No. 3315/1 The best Sailer I ever met with by a Wind. 1794Rigging & Seamanship 247*. 1806 Moore Steersman's Song ii, When by the wind close-hauled we go.
19. down (the) wind.
a. In the direction in which the wind is blowing; along the course of the wind. Also down-wind (attrib.), situated in this direction, ‘lee’.
1604Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 262 I'ld whistle her off, and let her downe the winde, To prey at Fortune. 1674N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. i. (1677) 93 The Hare..will..run upon a side or down the Wind. 1780Cowper Progr. Err. 333 Down the wind she swims, and sails away. 1834Medwin Angler in Wales I. 235, I have had a hundred trimmers floating down the wind. 1855Kingsley Westw. Ho. xxxii, The Spaniard fell off again, and went away dead down wind. 1885Ld. Walsingham Shooting 141 (Badm. Libr.) It is best to ‘give the dogs the wind’ at the beginning of the day—that is, to start down wind and gradually to work the ground in the direction from which it blows. 1895C. J. Cornish Wild England 184 We..found that..the birds had all run to the edge. Here we made the mistake of working the down-wind side first.
†b. fig. Towards decay or ruin; into or (commonly) in a depressed or unfortunate condition, in evil plight; to go down the wind, to ‘go down’, decline. Obs.
1600Holland Livy xxxiv. xxiii, When they saw him downe the wind and fortune to frowne upon him. 1671tr. Machiavelli's Marr. Belphegor 141 Though [he] was of one of the noblest Families.., yet he was look'd upon as down the winde [orig. poverissimo]. 1673Cave Prim. Chr. ii. vi. 147 In the time of Constantine when Paganism began to go down the wind. 1683― Ecclesiastici Introd. p. lxvi, The Gentile-Temples, with all their Pomp and Retinue, went down the wind apace. 1827Scott Jrnl. 25 Apr., The old Tory party is down the wind.
†20. in wind (fig. from 11 d): ready or fit for action of some kind. Obs.
1768Earl Carlisle in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1843) II. 356 The shops are all as fine as if they expected you, and the people belonging to them all in wind to answer your questions. 1777Burke Let. to Sheriffs of Bristol Wks. 1842 I. 217 In order to keep power in wind, it was necessary..to exert it in those very points in which it was most likely to be resisted.
21. in the wind.
a. In (or into) the direction from which the wind is blowing; to windward: (a) in reference to something which can be scented or perceived by means of the wind blowing from where it is (cf. 4, and see also b below); (b) in nautical use; also all in the wind (see quot. 1769).
c1410[see 27]. 1580in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 474 Wee had a ledge of rockes in the winde of vs. 1582N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. lxiv. 130 He cut and made his course into the Sea, to bring himselfe in the winde of those Sayles. 1634Massinger Very Woman iii. v, Oh! how she holds her nose up, like a jennet In the wind of a grass-mare! 1678Dryden All for Love Pref., The tyrants were suspicious, as they had reason, that their subjects had 'em in the wind. 1697Lond. Gaz. No. 3262/3 It blowing fresh, and they bringing their Ship in the Wind, carried away their Foretop-mast. 1700T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. 3 Like a heated Stallion that had a Mare in the Wind. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), All in the Wind, the state of a ship's sails when they are parallel to the direction of the wind, so as to shake and shiver. 1834Marryat P. Simple xvi, We threw up in the wind, and raked them. 1818‘A. Burton’ Johnny Newcome iii. 175, I did not think..I was so much in drink! But now by th'holy smut I find That cursedly I'm in the wind.
b. fig. So as to be ‘scented’ or perceived (or so as to ‘scent’ or perceive something); to have in the wind, to ‘scent’, to detect or discover the presence of; sometimes, to be on the scent or trail of, be in search of.
1540Palsgr. Acolastus ii. iii. L j, Where we can get any meate in the wynde, thyther wylle we resorte. 1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe Wks. (Grosart) V. 230 Of him and none but him who in valuation is woorth 18 huge Argosees..haue I took sent or come in the wind of. 1601Shakes. All's Well iii. vi. 122, I sent to her By this same Coxcombe that we haue i'th winde Tokens and Letters, which she did resend. 1624Sanderson Serm., 1 Tim. iv. 4 (1674) I. 248 The Courtiers and Officers lie in the wind for them. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. II. 10 June Let. i, The first was noted for having a seaman's eye, when a bailiff was in the wind. 1826J. F. Cooper Last of Mohicans xiii, The Mohicans hear an enemy!..They scent danger in the wind! 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxv, Mrs. Gamp..scenting no more rum in the wind (for the bottle was locked up again) rose to take her departure.
c. predicatively: Happening or ready to happen; astir, afoot, ‘up’; (of a person or thing) as the subject of what is going on, ‘in the business’: usually with implication of being suspected or indistinctly apprehended (cf. b).
c1535F. Bygod Treat. Impropriations D j, A thynge there is in the wynde..which I trust in God wyl one day come to lyght. a1566R. Edwards Damon & Pithias (1571) B iij b, There is sumwhat in the winde: His lookes bewrayes his inwarde troubled mynde. 1681Dryden Span. Friar iii. i. 32 Where are you, Gentlewoman? there's something in the wind I'm sure. 1748Richardson Clarissa II. xliv. 304 She thought something was in the wind, when my Brother came into my dining here so readily. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey v. xiv, There must be something in the wind, perhaps a war. 1855Kingsley Westw. Ho! iv, There's a woman in the wind... I'll lay my life on it. 1891Kipling Light that Failed vi, He'd have told us if there was a horse in the wind. It's a girl.
d. to hang in the wind: to remain in suspense or indecision.
c1536Starkey Let. to Cromwell in England (1878) p. xxxix, You schal fynd me..to be no sterter, wauerar, nor hengar in the wynd. 1555J. Proctor Hist. Wyat's Rebell. 42 b, Such of those partes as honge in the wind, as neuters. 1640J. D. Knave in Grain ii. i. D 2 b, Hang not ith' winde, (delay does torture). 1881[see hang v. 17].
†e. to cast in the wind: to ‘fling to the winds’.
1652H. Bell Luther's Colloq. iii. 66 Otherwise, wee had cast in the winde, and scorned to..consider of that which now wee have plainly expressed in the Scriptures. Ibid. xi. 178 It regarded them not, but casteth them in the winde.
f. Horsemanship. (See quot.)
1805C. James Milit. Dict. (ed. 2) s.v., A horse that carries in the wind, is one that tosses his nose as high as his ears, and does not carry handsomely.
g. Naut. slang (predicatively). Intoxicated; the worse for liquor: usually with qualification, esp. three sheets in the wind. (Cf. all in the wind in a (b) above.)
1821–1883 [see sheet n.2 2]. 1835Court Mag. VI. 197/2 The anger of those who were what is termed ‘a little in the wind’, was now roused. 1840Marryat Poor Jack xlvii, I'm not in the wind, at all events, for you see I'm perfectly sober.
22. into the wind: into or towards the direction from which the wind is blowing; so as to face the wind.
1918Blackw. Mag. Mar. 294/2 You [in an aeroplane] are tempted to turn into the wind and land.
23. near the wind: nearly in the direction from which the wind is blowing; hence fig. nearly up to the possible or permissible limit; about as far as is safe, justifiable, or decent.
1560W. Honnyng in Wright Q. Eliz. (1838) I. 44, I went so near the winde with the keper, that I told hym your Lordshippe knewe I wolde in reason respecte the game as fully as he. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, He'll go as near the Wind as another, live as thrifty and wary as any one. 1837Wellington in Davey's Catal. (1895) 35 It is impossible for me to attempt to go too near the Wind. 1883[see sail v.1 1 c].
24. off the († a) wind (Naut.): away from the wind; the opposite of on or near the wind.
1813Examiner 4 Jan. 6/1 The enemy keeping two points off the wind. 1836Marryat Pirate xiv, The Enterprise was again steered more off the wind. 1846Raikes Life of Brenton 332 The Spartan was off the wind. 1862‘Vanderdecken’ Yacht Sailor 144 Running off the wind with a quarterly sea will test your powers to the utmost.
25. on a (less commonly the) wind (Naut.): towards or close to the direction from which the wind is blowing; (of the ship) sailing or heading in this direction.
1697Lond. Gaz. No. 3315/1, I crouded Sail to Leeward to him, trimming my Sails on a Wind tho' I went before it, that he should not discover my square Yards. 1748Anson's Voy. iii. v. 342 The proas..sailing most excellently on a wind. 1798in Nicolas Disp. Nelson (1846) VII. p. cliv, The Swiftsure and Alexander standing towards us with all sail on a wind. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast iv, Clippers are fastest on the wind. 1897F. T. Bullen Cruise of ‘Cachalot’ 377 We, being ‘on the wind, close hauled’, were bound by the ‘rule of the road at sea’ to keep our course when meeting a ship running free.
26. to the wind.
a. Naut. Towards the direction from which the wind is blowing; so as to be on the wind (see 25). close to the wind, very nearly in this direction: also fig. (see sail v.1 1 c, and cf. 23).
1795Nelson 14 Mar. in Nicolas Disp. (1845) II. 15 Signal for the Fleet to come to the wind on the larboard tack. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy xviii, Gascoigne went to the helm, [and] brought the boat up to the wind.
b. to fling, give, throw, etc. to the winds (fig.): to cast away, reject utterly. So to go to the winds: to be cast away or aside, to vanish utterly.
1667Milton P.L. ix. 989 And fear of Death deliver to the Windes. 1739J. Wesley Hymn, ‘Commit thou all thy Griefs’ (tr. P. Gerhardt ‘Befiehl' du deine Wege’) ix, Give to the Winds thy Fears. 1801Marvellous Love-Story II. 319 The specious cant of subtilty and self-interest she always..‘gave to the winds’. 1884‘Edna Lyall’ We Two iii, Science went to the winds. 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay ii, You must throw your fears to the winds.
27. under the wind: on the side away from the wind; on one's lee, to leeward; spec. in a position of shelter from the wind; under the lee of something. Chiefly Naut. and dial.
c1410Master of Game xxvi. (1904) 83 If þei may se hym and þei be in þe wynde þei ought to wiþdrawe hym in þe softest maner..and þan go preuyli to þei be vndir þe wynde. 1598Florio, Sottouento, vnder the lee or winde. 1603Lodge Treat. Plague iv. (Hunter. Cl.) 23 The healthfull ought to keepe themselues vnder, not ouer the winde. 1698Froger Voy. 42 They kept their word, so that the Portugueses conveyed the vessel under the wind into a creek. 1787Best Angling (ed. 2) 131 Always pitch your boat under the wind. 1826G. Samouelle Direct. Collect. Insects & Crust. 46 The most successful places for mothing are the skirts of woods under the wind. 1893F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 92 As he had come up under the wind, the dogs had not scented him.
28. up (the) wind: in the direction contrary to that in which the wind is blowing; against the wind: the opposite of down (the) wind, 19 a.
1611–[see up prep.2 4]. 1709Brit. Apollo II. No. 51. 2/2 Rabits when they go a grazing in the Night go up the Wind. 1719D'Urfey Pills III. 269 The Fox has broke Covert,..she runs up the Wind. 1838[see up-wind adv.]. 1859Sporting Mag. Jan. 5 Passing over the earths, he came away directly, with his head up wind. 1874Kennel Club Stud Bk. 128 Rake and Romp went off merrily, but flushed some birds up wind.
29. upon a wind (Naut.) = 25.
a1687Petty Treat. Naval Philos. i. ii, The line unto which she stoops upon a Wind of either side. 1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4422/7 They clapp'd again upon a Wind and left us. 1810Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) II. vii. 276, I would..endeavour to go, as the sailors express it, upon a wind, and make use of it to carry me my own way. 1846Raikes Mem. Brenton 328 Every ship..made all the sail she could carry upon a wind.
30. with the wind: in the direction in which the wind is blowing. Now esp. in fig. phr. gone with the wind: gone completely (as if blown away by the wind), disappeared without trace.
1577Googe tr. Heresbach's Husb. 41 b, In reapyng, you must regarde to goe with the wynde. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 136 He betaketh himselfe to his heeles againe, running still with the wind. 1616W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. ii. 48 A gallant Stag..Came running with the winde. 1722De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 298 We went spooning away large with the wind for one of the islands. 1896E. Dowson Verses 17, I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind. 1918Galsworthy First & Last ix, in Five Tales 61 A man, when he drowns, remembers his past. Like the lost poet he had ‘gone with the wind’. Now it was for him to be true in his fashion. 1936M. Mitchell (title) Gone with the wind. 1948W. S. Churchill Gathering Storm xix. 271 The services of thirty-five Czech divisions..[were] cast away,..all gone with the wind.
V.
31. Obvious combinations. a. attrib. Of, pertaining to, consisting of, produced or effected by (the) wind, as wind-action, wind-blast, wind-current, wind-dispersal, wind effect, wind-erosion, wind-flaw (flaw n.2), wind-force, wind-gust, wind-movement, wind-power (power n.1 13), wind-pressure, wind-puff, wind resistance, wind-rush, wind-shift, wind-song, wind-speed, wind-storm, wind-streak, wind-supply (sense 12), wind-torrent, wind-walk, wind-wave, wind-well; serving for the passage of wind, as wind-passage; for defence against the wind, as wind-guard, wind-shelter.
1883Science II. 142/2 This in combination with the *wind-action..has added nearly one hundred square miles of low⁓land.
1582Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 19 A great hurly burlye the *wyndblasts. 1902F. Thompson Cecil Rhodes 82 Like to a smouldering fire by wind-blasts swirled.
1866A. Steinmetz Weathercasts 53 Two constant principal *wind-currents—North-east and South-west.
1911J. A. Thomson Biology of Seasons iii. 277 Any structural peculiarity that increases area without increasing weight will aid in *wind-dispersal.
1937*Wind effect [see air position s.v. air n.1 III. 1]. 1941B. Hellström in Ingeniörsvetenskapsakad. Handl. No. 158. 8 A denivellation of the water surface takes place, by which the level of the lake is lowered at the windward and raised at the leeward shore. This denivellation is called the Wind Effect.
1901Athenæum 7 Dec. 778/2 The study of *wind-erosion of snow.
1913J. Masefield Daffodil Fields 110 Flicking *windflaws fill the air with brine. 1931E. Linklater Juan in Amer. i. 15 A frown on that bland forehead was like the wind-flaw on a saucer of milk that some petulant child has blown across. 1935Geogr. Jrnl. LXXXVI. 533 The most remarkable feature was the great variation in *wind-force and direction. 1976Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 14 Nov. 7/2 The seas began to look greyer—but we hadn't had anything more than windforce seven—so far.
1862Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. x. 12 The following designs in terra cotta chimney tops have proved themselves the most efficient *wind guards introduced.
1820Clare Poems, Crazy Nell x, A *wind-gust blew high.
1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxv. (1856) 319 The apparent *wind-movements of our exhibitions [of aurora] in Lancaster Sound. 1900Jrnl. Sch. Geog. (U.S.) Apr. 155 The average monthly wind movement at Denver is two thousand miles less than at New York.
1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 303 In the *wind-passage of the fanners.
1903Daily Chron. 14 Jan. 5/2 *Wind-power, water-power, and solar-power are running to waste.
1892Chambers's Encycl. X. 677/2 The British Association Committee on *Wind-pressure have reported cases of 80 and 90 lb. to the square foot.
1582Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 121 Foorth with her heat fading, her liefe too *windpuf auoyded. 1881G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 89 A windpuff-bonnet of fawn-froth Turns and twindles.
1934Discovery Dec. 344/2 At a high speed, *wind resistance becomes an important factor. a1945E. R. Eddison Mezentian Gate (1958) xxxix. 218 Their pure eyes..turned..to that thunder⁓laced *windrush of darkness which is the heat and unpicturable secret centre of light's and beauty's self. 1976‘A. Hall’ Kobra Manifesto xv. 201 The faint scream of the windrush [under an aeroplane at take-off] in the roaring background.
1930E. Pound XXX Cantos viii. 30 With the road leading under the cliff, in the *wind⁓shelter into Tuscany. 1968G. Maxwell Raven seek thy Brother ix. 127 Windshelters..of stone or turf and furnished with artificial nesting sites, are usually colonized immediately [by eider ducks].
1914J. Masefield Philip the King 53 A sudden *windshift snatched us from our graves And drove us north. 1963Times 30 May 14/7 A windshift..brought the nauseating smell of the penguin rookery straight over the camp.
1946J. W. Day Harvest Adventure vi. 83 Rigging drummed and whistled a raw *wind-song.
1934Discovery June 150/2 High *wind-speeds in relation to aircraft. 1977J. L. Harper Population Biol. Plants x. 323 Turbulence falls off rapidly down through a canopy but is a function of wind speed, even deep in a corn crop.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxvii. (Bodl. MS.), Þe vine..wiþstondeþ bi helpe þerof *winde stormes. 1883G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xxxiv. (1884) 263 In a country as open as the sea, wind-storms are frequent and heavy.
1930E. Pound XXX Cantos xxvii. 127 Twig where but *wind-streak had been. 1973C. Sagan Cosmic Connection (1975) viii. 62 The Mariner 9 photography of the Martian volcanoes, windstreaks, moons, and polar icecaps.
1879Organ Voicing 6 If the holes in the upper-board..pinch the *wind-supply.
1929Blunden Near & Far 57 Dim stars like snowflakes are fluttering in heaven, Down the cloud-mountains by *wind-torrents riven.
1877G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 70 Summer ends now; now, barbarous in beauty, the stooks rise Around; up above, what *wind-walks! 1900G. K. Chesterton Wild Knight 7 Meadows where the *wind-waves pass. 1946L. D. Stamp Britain's Struct. & Scenery vi. 51 The waves of the sea are primarily wind-waves. 1984A. C. & A. Duxbury Introd. World's Oceans viii. 249 Most waves observed at sea are progressive wind waves..generated by the wind.
1936Dylan Thomas 25 Poems 23 Why east wind chills and south wind cools Shall not be known till *windwell dries.
b. objective, as wind-gatherer, wind-seller; wind-cheating, wind-making, wind-spilling (spill v. 13 b); wind-obeying, wind-outspeeding, wind-raising (raise v. 7) adjs.; indirect objective = to (the) wind, as wind-exposed, wind-like adj. and adv.; = from or against (the) wind, as wind-screening adj.
1963Bird & Hutton-Stott Veteran Motor Car 246 Both had their engines placed..very low down so as to allow the use of flat *wind-cheating bodies. 1977Lancashire Life Jan. 81/1 Because of their wind cheating shape and fairly high overall gearing, the Citroen CXs are very economical on long motorway journeys.
c1611Chapman Iliad iii. 323 *Winde-exposed Ilion.
1621T. Granger Eccles. vi. 16. 130 The *wind-gatherer feeleth the winde, but graspeth naught.
1638Cowley Love's Riddle iv. i, I am not satisfied with *wind-like promises Which only touch the lips. 1820Shelley Prometh. Unb. iii. ii. 45 Behold the Nereids under the green sea, Their wavering limbs borne on the wind-like stream.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. i. i. 64 The alwaies *winde-obeying deepe.
1820Shelley Hymn Merc. xciv, Their *wind-outspeeding wings.
1850Thackeray Pendennis v, The *wind-raising conspiracies in which he engages with heroes as unfortunate as himself.
1923Kipling Land & Sea Tales 214 She hovers On the summits of *wind-screening seas.
1600S. Nicholson Acolastus (1876) 28 Idle words,..*wind-wasting arbitrators.
c. instrumental, locative, etc. By, in, or with (the) wind, as wind-aided, wind-beat, wind-beaten, wind-bit, wind-bitten, wind-borne, wind-broken, wind-buffeted, wind-built, wind-chapped, wind-chilled, wind-clipped, wind-curled, wind-dappled, wind-dispersed, wind-driven, wind-fanned, wind-fertilized, wind-flawed, wind-flown, wind-flushed, wind fluted, wind-formed, † wind-grown, wind-hardened, wind-heeled, wind-laced, wind-laden, wind-laid, wind-lifted, wind-loved, wind-mastered, wind-milled, wind-parted, wind-perplexed, wind-pollinated, wind-powered, wind-puffed, wind-rent, wind-rinsed, wind-ripped, wind-scarred, wind-scattered, wind-scoured, wind-scourged, wind-shorn, wind-snatched, wind-sown, wind-spun, wind-stirred, wind-stormed, wind-struck, wind-stuffed, wind-sucked, wind-swept, wind-swung, wind-thrashed, wind-torn, wind-tossed, wind-transported, wind-turned, wind-washed, wind-waved, wind-whipped, wind-worn, wind-wrinkled, wind-writhen adjs.; wind-flowing, wind-wandering, etc. adjs.; wind-waving n. and adj.; wind-winnow vb.
1959Times 12 Mar. 3/3 Langton kicked another long *wind-aided penalty goal. 1978Detroil Free Press 16 Apr. e 3/2 He won the 100-yard dash with a wind-aided performance of 9.5 seconds.
1877G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 66 *Wind-beat whitebeam! airy abeles set on a flare!
1582Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 89 A *windbeaten hard shrimp. 1622Bacon Hen. VII, 188 The Casuall and Wind-beaten Discouerie..of a Spanish Pilot. 1800Campbell Exile of Erin 4 To wander alone by the wind-beaten hill. 1900W. B. Yeats Shadowy Waters 45 These waste waters and wind-beaten sails. 1973Canadian Antiques Collector Jan.–Feb. 59/1 Inland, behind wind-beaten villages and red capes.
1892Kipling Other Verses 161 In the heel of the *wind-bit pier. 1919J. Masefield Reynard the Fox ii. 61 Blown Hilcote Copse, *Wind-bitten beech. 1965F. Sargeson Memoirs of Peon ix. 270 The trees..had redeemed a windbitten waste from its native barbarism.
1646Quarles Sheph. Oracles v. 52 *Wind-blazing Tapours hurry to and fro.
1842Emerson Saadi in Poems (1914) 133 To northern lakes fly *wind-borne ducks. 1969Bennison & Wright Geol. Hist. Brit. Isles xvi. 368 The brickearths may, however, have been not solely laid down in expanses of water but be in part wind-borne.
1914J. Masefield Philip the King 44 They have died, Far from *wind⁓broken Biscay, far from home.
1901‘L. Malet’ Hist. R. Calmady v. i. 383 Heavily-cloaked figures tacking, *wind-buffeted, across the grey-black street.
1820Shelley Cloud 55 When I widen the rent in my *wind-built tent.
1629Quarles Argalus & P. iii. 3 Aprills gentle show'rs are slidden downe To close the *wind-chapt earth.
1921D. H. Lawrence Tortoises 25 The autumn, *wind-chilled sun⁓shine.
1855Kingsley Westw. Ho! xxviii, The row of *wind-clipt trees.
1952L. MacNeice Ten Burnt Offerings 51 *Wind⁓curled fountain, tigerish weir, garrulous rain.
1883R. Bridges Prometheus the Firegiver in Poet. Works (1912) 25 Piloting over the *wind-dappled blue Of the summer-soothed Aegean. 1920J. Masefield Enslaved 109 The grey sea..cloud-coloured, flat, Wind-dappled from the glen.
1865Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. xiii, The water of the kennels, *wind-dispersed, flew about in drops like rain.
1882W. D. Hay Brighter Britain! I. iii. 89 The sun shining on the *wind-driven sand that covers them [sc. hilltops]. 1967Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. V. 102 The Strait of Dover may accept a wind-driven residual current averaging 3½ miles and occasionally reaching 20 miles per lunar day.
1612Two Noble K. v. i. 146 Pure As *windefand Snow.
1879Lubbock Sci. Lect. i. 9 *Wind-fertilised flowers produce much more pollen than those which are fertilised by insects.
1971G. M. Brown Fishermen with Ploughs 95 A huge *wind-flawed mirror.
1820Shelley Prometh. Unb. iv. 222 The *wind-flowing folds Of its white robe.
1938C. Day Lewis Overtures to Death 30 The *wind-flown tower.
Ibid. 55 To reproach you we rise *Wind-flushed and early.
1943― Word over All 15 Wherein the shores Foam-fringed, *wind⁓fluted of the strange earth dwell.
1911F. O. Bower Plant-Life 124 The *wind-formed dune takes a very definite crescentic shape styled a Barchan.
1660T. Gentleman Best Way 11 In distresse of *wind-grown Sea.
1926D. H. Lawrence Sun iv. 17 He was powerless against her rosy, *wind-hardened nakedness. 1939Dylan Thomas Map of Love 20 *Wind-heeled foot in the hole of a fireball.
1887G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 104 Curls Wag or crossbridle, in a wind lifted, *windlaced—See his wind- lilylocks -laced. 1928C. Day Lewis Country Comets 9 The unconscious dignity Of hills and *wind-laden grass. 1965G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. ix. 132/2 Both water- and *wind-laid blacksand sediments formed.
1924‘L. Malet’ Dogs of Want iv. 112 The soft green blur and flickering flames resolved themselves into gently *wind⁓lifted leaves and distant sparkling water. 1936Auden Look, Stranger! 11 Upon *wind-loved Rowley. 1945P. Larkin North Ship 27 Two tall ships, *wind-mastered, wet with light. 1947Dylan Thomas In Country Sleep in Horizon Dec. 303 The dew falls on the *wind-Milled dust of the apple tree.
1827Hood Hero & Leander x, Like trees, *wind-parted, that embrace anon.
1864G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 128 His body sway'd upon tiptoes Like a *wind-perplexed rose. 1911F. O. Bower Plant-Life 96 As for instance in the Rue (Thalictrum), which has become *wind-pollinated. 1968F. W. Gould Grass Systematics i. 7 Grasses..are wind-pollinated. 1976Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXIV. 732/1 It is very logical to feed *wind-powered energy in the form of either electricity or direct heat directly into a buffer system and thence to direct use.
1592Nashe P. Penilesse 40 Those *wind puft bladders. 1592–6Greene Groatsw. Wit Wks. (Grosart) XII. 145 Wind-puft wrath.
1788Coleridge Sonn. to Autumnal Moon 7 The *wind-rent cloud.
1948L. MacNeice Holes in Sky 20 *Wind-rinsed plumage of oat-field. 1960S. Plath Colossus (1967) 33 The spindrift Ravelled *wind⁓ripped from the crest of the wave.
1939S. Spender Still Centre 41 Beyond the *wind-scarred hill.
1833Tennyson Dream Fair Women viii, White surf *wind-scatter'd over sails and masts.
1896Kipling Seven Seas 73 Bone-bleached my decks, *wind-scoured to the graining. 1980D. K. Cameron Willie Gavin vi. 54 There was hardly a year when the winter ploughs did not turn up an old hunter of that wind-scoured plain.
1898J. G. Whittier M. Martin in Poet. Works 67/2 You *wind-scourged sand-dunes, cold and bleak. 1924‘L. Malet’ Dogs of Want ii. 29 Bare, wind-scourged, rock⁓strewn slopes.
1867J. G. Whittier Poet. Works (1898) 280/2 Lonely and *wind-shorn, wood-forsaken..Lieth the island of Manisees. 1933W. de la Mare Lord Fish 61 Gnarled, wind-shorn trees. 1980R. Mabey Common Ground ii. i. 70 At no more than 590 feet..above sea level some of its windshorn oaks are reduced to a metre or so in height.
1925C. Day Lewis Beechen Vigil 32 The *wind-snatched rumour.
1902W. Stevens Jrnl. 18 Aug. in Lett. (1967) 59, I lay under a group of dark cedars near that strange *wind-sown cactus with its red blossom. 1922Blunden Shepherd (ed. 2) 74 *Windspun leaves burn silver-grey.
1843J. G. Whittier Poet. Works (1898) 388/1 And down again through *wind-stirred trees He saw the quivering sunlight play. 1946R. Macaulay in E. Brontë Wuthering Heights p. vi, The lonely, *wind-stormed old farmhouse that stood on the heights above Haworth's grey streets.
1880Swinburne Songs bef. Sunrise, Christmas Antiphones iii. 64 Though man's vain desire Hang faith's *wind-struck lyre Out in tuneless air.
1627May Lucan iii. 1 Now had the *wind-stuffde sailes brought out the Fleet.
1946R. S. Thomas Stones of Field 26 The *wind-sucked bone shows blue.
1812Tennant Anster Fair ii. lxix, From Cellardyke to *wind-swept Pittenweem. 1877Black Green Past. xxxiv, The wind-swept waters.
1805Scott Last Minstr. i. xiv, The groan of the *wind-swung oak.
1933Somerville & ‘Ross’ Smile & Tear ix. 98 A few miserable *wind-thrashed ash-trees.
1910Kipling Rewards & Fairies 244 The *wind-torn breaker-tops. 1957T. Gunn Sense of Movement 58 Not like the fighting boys and wind-torn rooks.
1838J. R. Lowell Class Poem 20 Flapping his raven pinions in the west, The thunder brooding o'er his *wind-tost crest. 1860C. M. Yonge Hopes & Fears I. 240 Lucilla..before the glass, arranging her wind-tossed hair. 1887Bowen Virg. æneid vi. 335 Over the wind-tossed waters. 1946F. E. Zeuner Dating Past iii. 56 Minute grains of *wind-transported pollen caught on the wet surface of the bog.
1935Dylan Thomas in Life & Lett. To-day Dec. 75 Doom on deniers at the *wind-turned statement. 1971Country Life 8 July 84/1 The raw elements of Millet's compositions, granite walls, dirty-legged cattle,..wind-turned trees.
1820Shelley Witch Atl. l. 6 Some *wind-wandering Fragment of inky thunder-stroke.
1912C. Mackenzie Carnival xvi. 186 At such an hour..even Piccadilly Circus stands..*wind-washed and noble. 1919J. Masefield Reynard the Fox 92 The wind-washed steeple stood serene.
1809R. Kerr Agric. Surv. Berwick 233 In years of peculiarly windy weather, the stem, where it enters the earth, is often blown about, in a whirling manner... This is provincially called *wind-waved. 1928Blunden Retreat 18 The wind-waved bough betrayed the wild sylph glancing.
1799W. Nicol Pract. Planter i. 13 *Wind-waving..by loosening the old, and..breaking the new fibres, contributes to stint the whole tree in growth.
c1300Metr. Hom. (Small) 36 To se a *wind waiuande rede. 1848Buckley Iliad 406 The wind-waving fig-tree.
1873B. Harte Fiddletown 28 There was a fierce unrest in the *wind-whipped streets.
1710D. Hilman Tusser Rediv. Sept. (1744) 116 A Cart Nave I suppose is to stand up upon when they *Wind-winnow.
1816Byron Ch. Har. iii. xxxii, The ruin'd wall Stands when its *wind-worn battlements are gone.
1925V. Woolf Mrs Dalloway 242 Suddenly she shoots to the surface and sports on the *wind-wrinkled waves.
1921F. B. Young Black Diamond ix. 116 They crossed a zone of huge, *wind-writhen hawthorns. 1954J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring 401 High ridges crowned with wind⁓writhen firs.
d. similative and parasynthetic, in epithets (chiefly poetic) expressing swiftness, as wind-foot, wind-footed, wind-grey, wind-hard, wind-long, wind-raw, wind-smooth, wind-swift, wind-wild, wind-winged adjs.
1598Chapman Iliad vii. [xi.] 178 The *wind-foote swift Thaumantia obayde.
1848Buckley Iliad 272 *Wind-footed, swift Iris.
c1944A. Power From Old Waterford House xi. 95, I had seen it under so many moods, from *wind-grey to sun⁓yellow. 1954W. Faulkner Fable 184 Like the *wind⁓hard banner of the old Norman earl.
a1890G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 180 Or *wind-long fleeces on the flock A day off shearing day. 1922Joyce Ulysses 48 About her *windraw face her hair trailed. 1929E. Sitwell Gold Coast Customs 38 *Wind-smooth fruits.
c1280Names of Hare in Rel. Ant. I. 133 Þe *wint swifft. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. v. 8 Therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings. 1883Bridges Prometh. 530 Meteors..ever on their windswift course.
1936C. Day Lewis Noah & Waters 50 Under the *wind-wild sky.
c1595J. Dickenson Sheph. Compl. (1878) 11 The *wind-wing'd Naiads. 1817Shelley Rev. Islam ix. xxii, O Spring, of..love, and youth, and gladness Wind-winged emblem.
32. Special combinations: wind axis Aeronaut., each of a set of rectangular coordinate axes having their origin in the aircraft and the x-axis in the opposite direction to the relative wind; usu. pl.; wind-balanced a., applied to rotary gun mountings on aircraft having a device which automatically compensates for the turning moment caused by air pressure on the guns; also wind-balancing vbl. n.; † wind-balk, (a) = wind-beam1 (see balk n.1 11); (b) = windrow n. (cf. balk n.1 II); wind-bar, the back of the wind-chest of an organ; † wind-barge, a slab placed along the edge of a roof as a protection from the wind (cf. water-barge); † wind-bed, an air-bed; wind-bells n. pl., slips of glass or porcelain suspended from a frame so as to tinkle against one another in the wind; wind-belt, a belt of trees planted for protection from the wind; wind-bill Sc. (cf. sense 15), an accommodation-bill; † wind-bladder, (a) an inflated bladder; (b) the air-bladder of a fish; wind-blow, (a) a stretch of land eroded by wind; (b) (see quot. 1955); (c) = windthrow below; wind-blown a., blown up or inflated; blown along or about; blown upon by (the) wind; windblown bob [bob n.1 5 b], a bobbed hairstyle popular among women in the 1930s (see quot. 1975); wind-bore, the suction-pipe of a pump, or the lower end of this; wind-box = wind-chest; wind-brace, a diagonal brace (brace n.2 17) connecting the rafters of a roof; wind-bracing, connecting members designed to stiffen a building or other structure against the wind; the provision of such members; windbreaker, † (a) (cf. 10), a drug that expels flatulence, a carminative; (b) U.S. = wind-break 1; (c) U.S. (with capital initial) the proprietary name of a kind of shirt or leather blouse; gen. (chiefly N. Amer.) = windcheater (b) below; † wind-breaking a., carminative; † wind-broach [cf. broach n.1 12], a name for a hurdy-gurdy; windburn [after sunburn, etc.], (usu. superficial) inflammation or discoloration of the skin caused by exposure to wind; hence wind-burned, -burnt a.; † wind-cane = wind-gun; windcap Mus. [tr. G. windkapsel]= reed cap s.v. reed n.1 13 a; freq. attrib.; † wind-catch, a squall of wind; wind-changing a., changing like the wind, inconstant; wind-channel = wind tunnel below; windcharger, a small windmill which generates electricity for a farm, dwelling, etc.; windcheater, (a) Golf, a ball driven low into the wind, spec. one played with strong backspin (see quot. 1909); (b) a kind of wind-resistant jacket or blouson; wind-chest, an air-tight chest or box in an organ or similar instrument, which is filled with wind from the bellows, and from which the wind is admitted to the pipes or reeds; wind chill, the cooling effect of moving air on a body; also, = wind-chill factor; wind-chill factor, index, a measure or scale of the combined effect of low temperature and wind-speed on body temperature (see quot. 1939); wind chimes n. pl. = wind-bells above; wind-cistern = prec.; wind-cock, † (a) = wind-mow; (b) a weathercock; wind-colic, colic caused by flatulence; wind cone Aeronaut. = wind sock below; wind-contusion, an internal injury without any external mark of violence, formerly supposed to be caused by the ‘wind’ (see 13) of a cannon-ball, shell, or other projectile; windcrust Mountaineering, a crust formed on the surface of soft snow by the wind (see quot. 1936); wind-dial, a dial showing the direction of the wind by means of a pointer connected with a wind-vane; also fig. (cf. 16 b); † wind-discusser = wind-breaker; wind-dog [dog n. 10 a], name for a fragment of rainbow, supposed to presage wind; † wind-dropsy = tympanites, tympany 1; wind energy, energy obtained from harnessing the wind; cf. solar a. 4 a; wind-engine, a machine driven by the wind, as a windmill; † wind-fan, a winnowing-fan; wind-fanner (-vanner) local, the kestrel; wind farm, a group of energy-producing windmills or wind turbines; wind-fast a. = wind-tight 1; † wind-fill v. trans., to fill up gaps or cavities in (a wall, etc.) so as to keep the wind out (cf. filling vbl. n. 2); † wind-flaucht a. or adv. Sc. [flaught adv.], sprawling, as if overthrown by the wind; wind-furnace, a furnace in which the draught is obtained by means of a (high or narrow) chimney without the aid of bellows or other mechanical blower as in a blast-furnace; wind-firm a., of a tree: firmly rooted so as to be able to withstand strong winds; hence wind-firmness; wind-flag, a flag on a shooting-range designed to indicate the direction and force of the wind; wind-gap (see gap n.1 5 b); spec. (see quot. 1939); † wind-glass (see quot.); wind-god, a deity presiding over the winds; † wind-gout, gout supposed to be caused by ‘wind’ (see 10); wind-grass, a name for Agrostis Spica-venti; † wind-hand, the side towards the wind; wind-harp, an æolian harp (also allusively); wind-hole, † (a) the opening at the top of the windpipe, the glottis; (b) an opening in brickwork for the passage of air; (c) the hole in the lower board of a pair of bellows; (d) a ventilating shaft in a mine; (e) each of the openings in the sound-board of an organ, through which wind is admitted to the pipes; wind-jacket = windcheater (b) above; windjammer slang, (a) U.S. a bugler, bandsman; (b) a sailing-vessel (obs. exc. Hist.); (c) U.S. a rumour-monger, a loquacious person; (d) = windcheater (b) above; hence windjamming, (a) sailing a windjammer; (b) talking, gossiping; (c) playing a wind instrument; wind-knot, a knot tied on a rope, supposed magically to ensure a favourable wind; wind-lane, a current on the surface of a body of water, caused by the wind; † wind-lap, the tongue or reed of a wind-instrument; wind-lipper Naut. [lipper n.1], a rippling or ruffling of the surface of the water caused by the first rising of a breeze; wind-list [list n.3 4] (see quot.); wind load Engin., the force on a structure arising from the impact of wind on it; also wind loading; wind-logged a. [cf. water-logged] (see quot.); † wind-loft Naut., ? = wind-taut n.; wind-lop Canad. [lop n.6], a choppy surface on the sea, caused by wind; wind-machine, a machine driven by the wind, or one for producing a ‘wind’ or blast of air; (a) spec. one that blows out relatively warm air for protecting crops against frost (see quot. 19762); (b) in theatrical and other productions, a machine for simulating the sound or other effects of wind; also fig.; wind-motor [motor 3], a machine deriving its motive power from the force of the wind; esp. of the form of a windmill; wind-mow dial. [mow n.1], one of a number of small ricks in which hay or corn is temporarily stacked in showery weather to be dried by exposure to the wind; † wind-music, music played on wind-instruments; also such instruments themselves, or a company of players on them (cf. music n. 5, 6); † wind-musket = wind-gun; wind noise, the sound of the wind against a motor vehicle moving at speed, as heard within the vehicle; wind-pinning [cf. pin v.1 3 c, pinning 1 a, 2 a], the filling up of interstices in masonry to keep out the wind; wind-pole [pole n.2], each of two opposite points of the compass taken as the standard ones in relation to the direction of the wind; wind-porch, a chamber constructed on the inner side of a doorway to keep the wind out; wind-pox, chicken-pox (Billings Med. Dict. 1890); windproof a., impervious or resistant to wind; used esp. of outer garments; hence ellipt. as n., a windproof garment; wind-pump, † (a) an air-pump; (b) a pump driven by a wind-wheel (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); † wind-ræs [rese n.], a storm of wind; † wind-rake, ? the raking up of windfalls, or the right to do this; wind-reef U.S., the semblance of a reef on the surface of a river, caused by the wind; wind-road, (a) a track or course habitually taken by the wind (nonce-use); (b) a passage for ventilation in a mine (Gresley Gloss. 1883); windrock, damage to the roots of young plants, caused by the movement of the stem in the wind; also as v. trans.; so wind-rocking; wind-rode, also † -road (see ride v. A. 3 γ), a., Naut., swung by the wind, as a ship riding at anchor (opp. to tide-rode: see tide n. 16 b); also as n., the position of a ship so riding; wind-scorpion = solpugid; windscreen, a screen for protection from the wind, now esp. in front of the driver's seat on a motor-car; windscreen washer = screen-washer s.v. screen n.1 9 a; windscreen wiper, a device (usu. one of a pair) on a motor vehicle for automatic wiping of the outside of the windscreen during rain, snow, etc., usu. consisting of a mechanically or electrically operated moving rubber blade; also one on an aircraft; wind shadow, (a) nonce-use, a ripple caused by the wind on water and having the appearance of a shadow running over it; (b) an area behind a moving object where the air is disturbed and its pressure reduced; wind-shaft, the shaft that carries the sails in a windmill; wind shear, a variation in wind velocity along a direction (usu. vertical or horizontal) at right angles to the wind's direction; windship, a wind-powered ship; a sailing-ship; wind-sight, a special arrangement of the back-sight of a rifle capable of adjustment to compensate for the effect of wind on the bullet; wind-slab Mountaineering, a thick wind-crust, of a kind liable to slip and create an avalanche; cf. slab avalanche s.v. slab n.1 6; wind-slash, slash resulting from windthrow; wind sleeve Aeronaut. = wind sock; wind sock, a cloth cone flown from a mast, esp. on an airfield, to indicate the direction of the wind; = drogue 3 (c); wind-spider = wind-scorpion above; wind-splitter colloq. (chiefly U.S.), something so sharply drawn or so swift as to suggest the notion of splitting the wind; cf. wind-cutter; so wind-splitting a.; wind sprint Athletics (see quot. 1948); wind-stocking = wind sock above; wind-stream, an air-stream, esp. the disturbed air in the wake of an aircraft; wind stress, stress or force due to wind; wind-stroke, a stroke or injury caused or supposed to be caused by the wind (see quots.); wind-swell, a form of swell in an organ operated by a valve in the wind-trunk; wind-swept a., (a) (see sense 31 c); (b) spec. of a hair-style, designed to give the appearance of having been blown by the wind (cf. windblown bob above); wind-taut a., Naut. [from phr. to hold wind taut]: see quots.; also as n. = condition of being wind-taut; wind-throstle = wind-thrush; windthrow, the uprooting and blowing down of trees by the wind; also (usu. attrib.) of timber so uprooted; wind-thrush, the redwing; wind-tie = wind-brace; wind-trunk, a large tube (usually of wood) in an organ or similar instrument, through which the wind passes from the bellows to the wind-chest; wind tunnel, a tunnel-like apparatus for producing an air-stream of known velocity past models of aircraft, buildings, etc., in order to investigate flow or the effect of wind on the full-size object; also attrib., transf., and fig.; wind turbine, a turbine driven by wind; an apparatus designed to generate electricity when a large vaned wheel is rotated by the wind; wind-vane, (a) the sail of a windmill (= vane 3 a); (b) a weathercock (= vane 1); wind-vanner: see wind-fanner above; † wind-vent = suspiral 2; wind-way, (a) a ventilating passage in a mine, an air-way; (b) the narrow slit in an organ-pipe through which the wind strikes upon the lip so as to make the pipe speak; also in a woodwind instrument; (c) access of the wind to a sailing vessel so as to give her freedom of passage (cf. way n.1 6); wind-wheel, a wheel turned by the wind to drive some mechanism, as in a windmill or wind-pump; wind wing U.S., † an adjustable glass ventilation panel attached to the side of the windscreen of a motor vehicle (obs.); a small ventilation window or quarterlight on a motor vehicle; † wind-work (cf. 11), the process or function of respiration.
1932Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. Mar. 194 Calculations..of a complete model rotated about the *wind axis..give a fair approximation to the spinning characteristics of the aeroplane. 1984F. J. Hale Introd. Aircraft Performance i. 4 The wind axes are not body axes; that is, they are not fixed to the aircraft other than at the cg. A change in the direction of flight can change x without changing the attitude of the aircraft.
1928Daily Tel. 6 Mar. 6/3 Royalties not exceeding {pstlg}7,500 to Messrs. Vickers, Ltd., for *wind-balanced ring mountings. 1928G. F. S. Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station xiii. 219 A wind-balancing gear was provided which relieved the observer of much fatigue at high altitudes.
1532–3Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 173 Pro sarracione 13/4 rod in *wyndbalks, stoys, pouynchys, 4s. 8d. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Rouë, Mettre le foin en rouë, viz. in wind-baulkes, or wind-rowes. 1894Northumbld. Gloss., Wind-balk, a wind-beam or collar-beam; a beam stretching across the upper part of two roof principals. (Obs.)
1881W. E. Dickson Organ-Build. v. 60 The back of the chest, called the ‘*wind-bar’,..should be of strong and sound stuff.
1603G. Owen Pembrokeshire (1892) 79 Arches, Coinestones, waterberges, and *wynd berges or any other hewen worke.
1576Turberv. Venerie 194 Some vse to carrie a *Windbed which is made of leather strongly sowed on all foure sides, and hauing a pype at one of the corners to blow it,..and when it is blowen full of wind, to stoppe it vp and lie vpon it on the grounde.
1901‘L. Malet’ Hist. R. Calmady ii. ii. 105 They pressed him back and back against the base of a seven-storied pagoda, the *wind-bells of which jangled far above him from the angles of its tiers of fluted roofs. 1983Daily Tel. 21 Oct. 16/1 Windbells tinkled from the eaves of temples, spreading the Holy Word of Buddha, keeping demons away.
1903C. Bald Indian Tea x. (1917) 128 This characteristic [sc. evergreen foliage] makes the several varieties of Dalbergia very suitable for planting as *windbelts.
1813J. Headrick Agric. Surv. Forfarshire 589 If they [sc. bank notes] be not convertible into specie at the option of the holder, there is a strong temptation to issue them on what are called *wind bills, where there is no corresponding value of commodities in existence. 1821Scott Pirate iv, He would have got a bank-credit, manœuvred with wind-bills.
1594Nashe Terrors Nt. To Rdr., If they chance but on a moate or a *wind bladder, they neuer haue done with it, till they haue cleane..tost it out of sight. 1692Ray Creation i. (ed. 2) 141 As for Fishes..The Wind-bladder, wherewith most of them are furnished, serves to poise their Bodies.
1921H. Guthrie-Smith Tutira xx. 180 The sheep..are returfing the naked *windblows. 1944W. Stevens in Q. Rev. Lit. Spring 157 The drivers in the wind-blows cracking whips. 1955Britannica Bk. of Year 489/2 Wind-blow, a destructive gale of wind. 1961New Scientist 16 Mar. 662/2 Comparisons have been made of trees on sites where wind-blow has occurred and those where similar trees are stable. 1979National Trust Spring 18/3 Marram grass..holds the sand together and reduces the effects of wind blow.
1593Nashe Christ's T. 72 What is beauty more then a *wind-blowne bladder? 1600Rowlands Letting of Humours Blood Sat. vii. 83 More light and toyish than the wind-blown chaffe. 1638R. Brathwait Barnabees Jrnl. i. (1818) 17 A wind-blowne house. 1876M. Collins in F. Collins Lett. & Friendsh. (1877) II. 158 Wind-blown daffodils. 1888F. Cowper Cædwalla i. 6 A low island, covered with bushes and a few wind-blown trees. 1933N. Waln House of Exile iii. i. 187 She had her hair cut in a new fashion which, she told me, was called a windblown bob. 1975Fairchild's Dict. Fashion 262/2 Wind-blown bob, popular 1930's woman's hairstyle, cut short and shingled,..so that hair fell softly about the face as if blown by the wind.
1797J. Curr Coal Viewer 58 The *Wind Bores..May be cast 8 feet long with a plain or egg bottom. 1838Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 189/1.
1852Seidel Organ 38 A square box, called the *wind-box.
1889Cath. Household 30 Nov. 4 Traceried *windbraces.
1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 51 The *wind⁓bracing was fitted in its long diamonds of lattice. 1911Husband & Harby Structural Engin. ix. 278 Wind bracing in roofs is employed to counteract the overturning moment of the wind acting on the ends. 1961Listener 28 Sept. 464/1 An enormous funnel of unoccupied space goes from top to bottom of it [sc. a skyscraper] in order to provide mere wind bracing for the rest of it. 1974Sci. Amer. Feb. 98/2 The statue [of Liberty] posed a special problem in wind bracing.
1694Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 620/1 The sugared oily Carminative, or *Wind-breaker. 1873J. H. Beadle Undevel. West xxxiv. 730 If there is any wind-breaker northwest, between there and Alaska, I had no evidence of it. 1918Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 5 Nov. 214/2 The Hilker-Wiechers Manufacturing Co., Racine, Wis. Windbreaker... Men's shirts for outer wear. 1925Ibid. 13 Jan. 256/2 Gufterman Bros., Inc., St. Paul, Minn... Windbreaker... Leather blouses, shirts, [etc.]. 1934Beaver (Winnipeg) June 6/2 The wind-breakers and coats are shown by a series of photographs. 1964‘R. Macdonald’ in H. Q. Masur Murder most Foul (1973) 109 A man with a bulky shoulder harness under his brown suede windbreaker. 1985Times 9 Feb. 36/4 The terminal was full of muscular young men in windbreakers and running shoes.
1609Rowley Search for Money (Percy Soc.) 17 Good holsome *windebreaking pippins.
1653Urquhart Rabelais ii. xxx. 198 A..player on that instrument which is called a *windbroach. 1702T. Brown Lett. fr. Dead Wks. 1730 II. 234 To fumble out a fine sonata upon a wind-broach.
1939C. Morley Kitty Foyle xxx. 313 It was comical to see the dames..worrying about *windburn and sunsquint and brittle nails. 1977Birds Spring 40 All night my skin is hot with windburn, and between my teeth..the salt-sharp flavour of the rain.
1942J. Steinbeck Moon is Down vi. 137 They were *windburned and strong..Will Anders and Tom Anders, the fishermen. 1954‘Bryher’ Fourteenth of October ii. 17 His eyes were the same blue in his windburnt face. 1981‘E. Lathen’ Going for Gold iv. 40 Practicing for the Swiss women's slalom team had left her with windburned cheeks.
1723E. Stone tr. Bion's Math. Instrum. iii. ii. (1758) 95 The Construction of the *Wind-Cane.
1940C. Sachs Hist. Musical Instr. (1942) xv. 320 *Wind-cap instruments were first introduced to art music in the fifteenth century. The cromorne was the oldest European instrument with a wind cap. 1970W. Apel Harvard Dict. Music 588/2 More important are the crumhorns... Their tube was nearly cylindrical,..and a pierced cap (wind cap) covered the reed so that the player could not touch it. 1980Early Music Gaz. Apr. 13/3 There will be a weekend for players of the recorder, gemshorn, windcap instruments, cornetti and for renaissance dancers in Hutton Hall, near Carlisle.
1610W. Folkingham Feudigraphia 10 Sweeping or floating Waters, which flit and fleete to and fro with *wind-catches. 1665W. Dodson Designe Draining Gt. Level Fens 13 Those Banks I did not make for Sea Banks,..but laid them near to avoid a Winde-catch.
1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, v. i. 57 *Wind-changing Warwicke now can change no more.
1918Cowley & Levy Aeronautics iv. 98 A series of experiments are conducted in the *wind channel to test the lift and drag for different forms of sections. 1972Nature 18 Aug. 375/1 The secrecy..was lifted in 1919 to reveal..developments in techniques for scale model testing in wind ‘channels’ (tunnels).
1946E. W. Manning Igloo for Night 156 We could hear the wind tearing past, and the high screaming whine as it met the wires of the radio masts and the *wind-charger. 1949Farmer's Weekly (S. Afr.) 13 July 69/5, I have an old car generator. Can this be converted into a windcharger? 1976Sci. Amer. June 94/3 The introduction of the windcharger in the 1930's brought to remote farms and ranches enough electricity to power radios and a few light bulbs and appliances.
1909P. A. Vaile Mod. Golf xii. 180 The *wind-cheater, the ball that skims away over the daisies and then rises gracefully at the end of its flight, to fall sometimes almost dead. 1940[see crew neck s.v. crew n.1 7]. 1956L. McIntosh Oxford Folly 53 Incongruous in his neat suit and tidy hair among the tousled undergraduates in windcheaters or polo-necked sweaters. 1977G. Peper Scrambling Golf ix. 162 One of those low, delayed-rising ‘wind-cheaters’. 1982C. Thomas Jade Tiger 195 The first chill of the night, seeping through his thin windcheater, alerted and refreshed him.
1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XIII. 487/2 (Organ) IKKK is the *wind-chest, which is a square box fitted close to the under side of the lower board. 1852Seidel Organ 52 The length of the wind-chest depends on the compass of the key-board.
1939P. A. Siple Adaptations of Explorer to Climate of Antarctica (Ph.D. diss., Clark University) 166, I therefore propose in this discussion to multiply temperatures in degrees Centigrade below freezing by wind velocity in meters per second, the product of which I shall call the *wind-chill index. Ibid. 177 July exhibited a mean wind-chill of 462·8. 1949Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. LIII. 1/2 ‘Wind Chill’... This is the worst form of cold weather to encounter, as not only does it cause exhaustion, low morale, pain and frustration, but in some cases the lack of the will to live when the wind chill factor is unusually high. 1959R. E. Huschke Gloss. Meteorol. 629 Wind-chill index—(Also called wind-chill factor), the cooling effect of any combination of temperature and wind, expressed as the loss of body heat in kilogram calories per hour per square meter of skin surface. 1963New Scientist 7 Feb. 276/1 Wind chill, which is actually another name for the dry convective cooling power of the atmosphere, is a term descriptive of the cooling effect of air movement and low temperature. 1977J. F. Fixx Compl. Bk. Running xiii. 151 Because of the wind-chill factor, a given temperature feels colder than in still weather. 1985Times 8 Jan. 26/4 Francis Wilson, the BBC weatherman, yesterday introduced Breakfast Time viewers to a new and chilly forecasting feature: the ‘wind chill factor’.
1958T. Williams Orpheus Descending iii. iii. 85 Someone has entered the confectionery door, out of sight, and the draught of air has set the *windchimes tinkling wildly. 1976M. Millar Ask for Me Tomorrow (1977) iii. 18 Go..to the glass door and shake the wind chimes good and hard. She's in Marco's room.
1880E. J. Hopkins in Grove Dict. Mus. II. 605/1 The *wind-cisterns or wind-chests.
1610R. Vaughan Water-Workes M 4 b, You mow one day, you ted an other, you spend one in gathering it into *winde-cockes. 1920Masefield Right Royal 5 Spires of churches Gleaming with swinging wind-cocks on their perches.
1593Nashe Christ's T. 45 b, Euery part of thee [shall] be wrunge as with the *wind-chollick. 1654Gataker Disc. Apol. 57, I came home, arrested with a sharp fit of the Wind-Colick. 1731Fielding Tom Thumb i. iii, I feel a sudden Pain within my Breast, Nor know I whether it arise from Love, Or only the Wind-Cholick. 1822–7Good Study Med. (1829) I. 239 The oppressive distention of wind-colic.
1918Flight 2 May 496/1 A *wind cone set up in..fields..near aerodromes, would enable cross-country fliers to know..where to land and in what direction.
1857Dunglison Med. Lex., Wind of a ball, a term applied to the compression of air, supposed to be produced by the passage of a ball near a part of the body, so as to occasion what has been called a *wind contusion. 1877Longmore Gunshot Injuries 95 The true explanation of the phenomena observed in cases of so-called ‘wind contusions’ is to be found in the peculiar direction, the degree of obliquity, with which the missile has happened to impinge against the elastic skin.
1936E. A. M. Wedderburn Alpine Climbing iv. 50 Wind both causes the snow to drift and forms a crust on the powder snow; this is the chief kind of crust found in winter. It is most important to distinguish between sun crust and *wind crust. 1955E. Hillary High Adventure 69 The surface here was most unpleasant—a thick wind⁓crust over deep unstable snow.
1706in Ashton Soc. Life Reign Q. Anne (1882) II. 56 The *Wind Dial, lately set up at Grigsby's Coffee..House,..being of Constant use to those that are in any wise Concerned in Navigation. 1761Ld. Hardwicke in Life (1847) III. xiv. 257 A great change was made in the political wind-dial before you left us.
1676J. Cooke Mellif. Chirurg. Alph. Table, *Wind-discussers.
1860Fitz-Roy in Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 344 ‘*Wind dogs’, and the rainbow, are more or less significant of increasing wind.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 386 The Timpany, which..may be called in English the *wind dropsie. 1822–7Good Study Med. (1829) V. 451 Making an artificial opening into the cavity of the abdomen in the case of wind-dropsy, as well as in that of water-dropsy.
1976Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXIV. 731/2 At present the main bar to developing and using *wind energy in this country is very high capital costs of equipment.
1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 21 note, *Wind-Engines for the raising of Water.
c975Rushw. Gosp. Luke iii. 17 His..*wind fone in honda his. 1761Descr. S. Carolina 7 Afterwards it is..winnowed, which was formerly a very tedious Operation, but it is now performed..by a very simple Machine, a Wind-Fan.
1668Charleton Onomast. 64 Accipiter Tinnunculus,..the *Wind-vanner. a1836Johnes in Mrs. Bray Tamar & Tavy (1879) I. 301 The kestrel, called here the ‘wind-fanner’ and ‘windhover’, from its motion when hovering over the same spot in search of its quarry.
1980Sunday Times 24 Aug. 4/4 The plan is to set up one (windmill) of medium size as soon as possible to gain experience, and then to establish a ‘*wind farm’, of about ten windmills, each capable of generating a megawatt of electricity. 1982Energy Spectrum (Shell Internat. Petroleum Co. Ltd.) 8/1 Larger systems of more than 1 MW are also envisaged either singly or in ‘wind farms’ for integration into utility grids.
1648in J. Davidson Inverarie (1878) 302 To keep the kirk *wind-fast and water-tight.
1601Stanford Churchw. Acc. in Antiquary (1888) May 213 To John Rayner for *wind⁓fillinge the Church wall ijs.
1895W. R. Fisher Schlich's Man. Forestry IV. iv. iii. 469 The westerly border-trees..have now become so *wind-firm that the severance-felling might be widened. 1927Forestry I. 21 To keep plantations wind-firm..initial spacings of the order of six feet..are necessary. 1981Southern Horticulture (N.Z.) Spring 31/2 Containerisation of such material without this evening-out treatment produces trees that are neither wind-firm in the container, nor on the planting site.
1962Times 1 Jan. 6/4 It [sc. a tree] was there to increase the *wind-firmness of the woodland.
1923Kipling Land & Sea Tales 181 He pointed towards the stiff-tailed *wind-flags that stuck out at all sorts of angles as the eddy round the shoulder of the Down caught them.
1513Douglas æneis v. vi. 86 He..Maid hym lycht *windflaucht [orig. revolutus] on the ground vnclene.
1651French Distill. vi. 190 Put those cakes..into a *Winde Furnace. 1683K. Digby's Chym. Secr. 132 Put them in a Wind-Furnace to Calcine. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I. s.v. Furnace, A Wind Furnace, or Furnace for Fusions, which is so called, because the Wind comes forcibly to blow the Coals, in order to Melt or Fuse the Matter in the Crucible or Coppel. 1763W. Lewis Comm. Philos.-Techn. 11 A Wind-Furnace, for the fusion of metals. 1869Roscoe Elem. Chem. (1871) 240 The oldest method of manufacturing wrought iron was to reduce it at once from the ore by heating in a wind-furnace with charcoal or coal. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Wind-furnace, a furnace in which a strong heat is obtained..by means of a powerful draft, depending on a narrow flue or chimney of considerable elevation. 1884Ibid. Suppl. 948/2 Wind Furnace (Metallurgy), one depending upon the draft of a chimney, as distinguished from a blast furnace.
1889*Wind-gap [see gap n.1 5 b]. 1895Geogr. Jrnl. V. 144 If the land should be raised a few hundred feet, these head-waters would soon be gained by the Trent; and the divide between the successful and defeated systems would be pushed to the notch in the hard Oölite, which would then be a ‘wind-gap’, instead of a ‘water-gap’, as the Pennsylvanians say. 1939Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. L. 1343 The term ‘wind gap’ is now more commonly restricted to abandoned water gaps, while those gaps not believed to have been former water gaps are designated as ‘cols’. 1977Wind gap [see river capture s.v. river n.1 5 d].
1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 262/1 Cucurbitula,..a *wind glasse, cupping glasse, or boxing glasse.
1594Marlowe & Nashe Dido i. i, The *Wind-god warring now with Fate. 1803H. K. White Rem., To Herb Rosemary iii, The wind-god, as he flies, Moans hollow in the Forest trees. 1930Blunden Summer's Fancy 31 They stole away, and heard the windgod trill Winging the corn that to the bright west rolled. 1940F. Smythe Adventures of Mountaineer xi. 201 It was all we could do..to pull off our *wind jackets. 1955G. Band Road to Rakaposhi vii. 87 David and I, who were wearing bright red windjackets,..slipped carefully past.
1662R. Mathew Unl. Alch. 144 A man near fourteen years, afflicted..with the *Wind-Gout in his hands.
1847Leichhardt Jrnl. xi. 339 The dry *wind-grass of the plains north of the Staaten. 1884Miller Plant-n., Apera (Agrostis) Spica-venti, Corn-grass, Wind-grass.
1670Nye Gunnery ii. 12 When you come to your Peece, set your Boudge barrel on the *wind-hand thereof.
1813Hogg Queen's Wake (1814) 109 When..*wind-harp at thy window swells. 1841–4Emerson Ess., Nature Wks. (Bohn) I. 225 The musical steaming odorous south wind, which converts all trees to wind-harps.
13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1336 Þay..grayþely departed Þe wesaunt fro þe *wynt-hole. 1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xviii. ⁋ 2 Lay the ends of each Brick about three Inches off each other, to serve for Wind-holes. 1688Holme Armoury iii. xiv. (Roxb.) 7/1 The wind hole, a square hole in the middle of the under board [of a pair of bellows]. 1802Mawe Min. Derbysh. Gloss., Wind-holes, shafts or sumps sunk to convey wind or air. 1881W. E. Dickson Organ-Build. ix. 122 Let us be sure that the flow of wind to that pipe is not interrupted..by a chip in the wind-hole.
1880United Service Oct. 458 [The adjutant] watched the roll-call of his ‘*wind-jammers’. 1892Rudder Sept. 217/1 The deck⁓hands on the liners contemptuously refer to [sailing vessels] as ‘wind-jammers’. 1893Columbus (Ohio) Disp. 7 Aug., The few workers present are effectually playing the part of windjammers and many rumors are afloat. 1899Harmsworth's Mag. Mar. 102 A large three-masted wind-jammer was caught by the gale and disabled. 1909Athenæum 31 July 121/3 It deals with the homeward passage of a big steel ‘windjammer’ from Calcutta—a typical chapter from the life of merchant-service Jack. 1917S. Lewis Job 209 We do our work and don't howl about like all these socialists and radicals and other wind-jammers. 1930Even. Standard 20 Aug. 2 (Advt.), Thousands of golfers wear the Barker ‘Windjammer’ and report it to be a splendid garment. 1931Amer. Mercury XXIV. 354/2 [Circus Words.] Windjammer, a band musician. 1932Auden in Rev. Eng. Stud. (1978) Aug. 282 My hand was wrung By one bareheaded in a windjammer jacket. 1942M. Hargrove See here, Private Hargrove xlii. 119 Wind⁓jammer, the bugler. 1976Milton Keynes Express 25 June 4/4 The very popular zip-fronted cotton velour wind-jammer..is also great weekend gear with jeans.
1886D. Kemp Man. Yacht & Boat Sailing (ed. 5) 658/1 *Wind jamming. A new-fashioned slang term for sailing by the wind. 1893Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch Oct. 5 Could this power of wind-jamming have been saved there would have been some good accruing from the extra session. 1894Nautical Mag. Feb. 102 People would begin to understand the meaning of seamanship as apart from the so-called and much-despised ‘wind-jamming’. 1919S. Lewis Free Air 182 You're the worst wind-jamming liar I ever met. 1946Seafarers' Log 18 Jan. 4/1 He really fooled the entire crew, and the Chief Mate was so impressed with his windjamming that he wanted to make him Bosun.
1868–9Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 367 The witches of Lapland sold ‘*wind-knots’ tied on a rope to their sea⁓faring customers.
1943T. Dudley-Gordon Coastal Command at War 22 He knows its direction by the ‘*wind-lanes’ on the sea. 1979Fisherman's Weekly 21 June 6/1 Thousands of tiny shucks from the freshly opened beech leaves, blown onto the surface, had collected in floating rafts, and were marking the wind lanes.
1570Levins Manip. 27/29 Ye *Wynd⁓lappe, lingula.
1789Trans. Soc. Arts II. 210 We can do nothing with the guns when there is any swell, or *wind lipper. 1815W. Scoresby in Mem. Wernerian Soc. II. 324 note, The first effects of a breeze of wind on smooth water is by seamen called wind-lipper.
1898C. M. Yonge John Keble's Parishes 173 *Windlist, white streak of faint cloud across a blue sky, showing the direction of the wind.
1911Husband & Harby Structural Engin. ii. 36 (heading) *Wind load. 1961B.S.I. News Dec. 16/2 Stability requirements for cranes (including consideration of wind loads). 1970New Scientist 17 Sept. 584/2 The BRS project will improve wind-tunnel techniques, as well as increasing knowledge of windloads—which means better, safer, and perhaps more economic building.
1924P. A. Franklin in Hool & Kinne Movable & Long-Span Steel Bridges i. 47 Design machinery for *wind loadings as set forth in chapter of design of operating machinery. 1985Times 19 July 13/4 In windy winter conditions the windloading presses the door up against the weatherstrip.
a1687Petty Treat. Naval Philos. i. ii, The next enquiry must be, what extent of Sail our Vessel must carry,..and from thence the *Wind-loft.
1829R. Stuart Anecd. Steam Eng. I. 149 Air remained in the cylinder, and prevented..the fall of the piston..: from this cause alone, (and which was afterwards known by the term of *wind-logged) this engine must have soon ceased its motion.
1908N. Duncan Every Man for Himself i. 18 An' the sea was runnin' high—a fussy *wind-lop over a swell that broke in big whitecaps. 1974F. Mowat Boat who wouldn't Float xix. 234 The combination of wind-lop and heavy swell produced a motion that was indescribable.
1745in 6th Rep. Dep. Kpr. App. ii. 122 A self-regulating *Wind Machine. 1799Hull Advertiser 7 Sept. 4/2 These wind machines..species of gigantic bellows. 1812Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 341 The annual expence of repairs..will not much exceed that of a wind machine. 1906R. A. Streatfeild Mod. Music & Musicians xix. 338 The fantastic pieces of musical extravagance that are a special feature of ‘Don Quixote’, such as the wind machine and the bleating sheep, are thoroughly in keeping with..Strauss's real methods. 1928D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley's Lover xvi. 282 So many people, like your famous wind-machine, have only got minds tacked on to their physical corpses. 1928A. Rose Stage Effects 9 Fig. 4 shows a wind machine, as used in many theatres. It is built up in the form of a paddle-wheel. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio x. 181 A wind machine consists of a weighted piece of heavy canvas hung over a rotating, slatted drum... A wind machine produces just one sound: wind. And the same goes for thunder sheets. 1976Gramophone Apr. 1611/2 Calling as it does for no fewer than twenty horns.., quadruple woodwind, six trumpets and trombones.., not to mention the windmachine, thunder⁓machine and numerous other percussion instruments, it is impractical to mount nowadays. 1976Upper Valley Progress (Mission, Texas) 6 Oct. 10/1 (Advt.), With thermal inversion, created by our Tropic Breeze wind machine, crop level temperatures are raised as much as 10 degrees.
1881Sir W. Thomson in Nature 8 Sept. 434/2 It is most probable that windmills or *wind-motors in some form will again be in the ascendant.
1813T. Davis Agric. Wilts. 265 *Wind Mows, cocks of a waggon-load or more, into which hay is sometimes put previous to ricking in catching weather.
1650Bulwer Anthropomet. (1653) 274 *Wind-Musique doth not deform the Visage. 1661[see music n. 6]. a1700Evelyn Diary 21 Dec. 1662, Instead of the..solemn wind musiq accompanying the organ, was introduced a concert of 24 violins. 1700J. Brome Trav. 127 The Statues of two Men playing on Wind-Musick. 1795Life John Metcalf 109 There being at that time no music in the army except Colonel Howard's, (the Old Buffs) and which being wind music were unaccustomed to country dances.
1661[T. Powell] Hum. Industry 34 *Wind-muskets that some have devised to shoot bullets withal.
1936*Wind-noise [see fairing vbl. n.2]. 1984Buses Aug. 346/2 Only the wind noise through the roof light..gave any indication of our speed.
1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §234 To do all the *wind-pinnings (filling in the angle between the wall-plate and the roof).
1863Fitzroy Weather Bk. 173 Taking, with Dové, north-east and south-west (true) as the ‘*wind-poles’.
1899Committee's Appeal for Hexham Abbey 6 The old internal *wind porch, now used as a press in the vestry.
1616Chapman Odyss. vi. 341 A shore, *wind-proofe, and full of shade. 1856Kane Arctic Expl. I. xxvii. 355, I have some eight sledge-loads more to collect before our little home can be called wind-proof. 1923F. Wild Shackleton's Last Voyage v. 76 Each man was provided with a fur-lined leather cap, heavy pea-jacket, light windproof jacket, a stout pair of trousers. 1937F. Smythe Camp Six xiv. 150 Too tired..to remove our ice-caked wind⁓proofs. 1975E. Hillary Nothing venture, Nothing Win viii. 120 We..crawled out of our tents, dressed in all our warm clothing and windproofs. 1977Navy News July 16/3 Availability of the windproof jacket will lead to the progressive phasing out of personal greatcoats and over⁓coats.
1660Boyle New Exp. Phys.-Mech. Proem 6 The *Wind-Pump..is so contriv'd, that to evacuate the Vessel there is requir'd the..labor of two..men.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Mark iv. 37 *Wind-ræs..michelo windes. c1205Lay. 9244 Mid þan wind-ræsen al heo gunnen to-reosen.
1622N. Riding Rec. (N.S.) II. 4 Every Towen or lorshipp that of reighte haith any *winderake for there goodes in the forrest.
1875‘Mark Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Mar. 288/1 It wasn't a bluff reef... It wasn't anything but a *wind reef. The wind does that.
1860Maury Phys. Geog. Sea xii. §551 There are two ‘*wind-roads’, crossing this sea. 1902Daily Chron. 10 Sept. 5/7 Being in the wind road we got a little air.
1969Gloss. for Landscape Work (B.S.I.) v. 19 *Wind rock. The loosening of the root ball of a tree or plant through the oscillation of the stem by wind. 1972S. Emberton Year in Shrub Garden iii. 151 Any plants which have..been wind-rocked..must be staked upright. Ibid. 181 Roses, bush types—shorten to prevent wind-rocking. 1981Buczacki & Harris Collins Guide to Pests of Garden Plants 486 Windrock very commonly occurs on young trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants with a large top in relation to their root system.
c1635N. Boteler Dial. Sea Services (1685) 136 To Ride *Wind-rode, is when the Wind hath more power over her in her Riding than the Tide hath. 1635Voy. Foxe & James to N.W. (Hakl. Soc.) II. 379 The Ship came not to wind-road. 1794Rigging & Seamanship II. 302 The ship becomes windroad. 1841R. H. Dana Seaman's Man. 89 To get under Way wind-rode, with a Weather Tide; that is, a tide setting to windward.
1912J. H. Comstock Spider Bk. 35 The solpugids are exceedingly agile; on this account they have been called *wind-scorpions. 1959Southwest Rev. Spring 137/1 An arachnid frequently, and naturally, confused with the true vinegarone is the solpugid—or wind-scorpion, wind⁓spider, or sun-spider.
1858J. A. Warder Hedges & Evergreens 240 The common Cedar is..much used..where a quick, permanent, and effective *wind-screen is wanted. 1887Cent. Mag. Mar. 740/2 That department..was nearly surrounded by a wind-screen of hemlock boughs and odd pieces of canvas. 1903Cornhill Mag. Oct. 574 Peering over the canvas wind-screen of the bridge [of a yacht]. 1905Westm. Gaz. 18 Nov. 9/1 With its hood and wind-screen, [the car] is well fitted for the use of the general practitioner. 1908Animal Managem. 150 Wind screens may be..made of turf walls or tall, wattled hurdles, placed to windward of the lines. 1948Autocar 5 Nov. 1093/1 Trico-Folberth's *windscreen washer drives home the lesson..‘None so blind as those who can't see.’ 1973Country Life 22 Feb. 468/2 Windscreen washers and wipers are operated by a right-hand steering column stalk. 1984B. Francis AA Car Duffer's Guide 18 I've been fiddling about for ages trying to get the windscreen washers to work properly.
1922Motor 21 Nov. 831/3 (heading) An automatic *windscreen wiper. 1975Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 4 Apr. 18/2 Peter Wallace, the Flight Engineer, began his safety check, examining everything from the windscreen wipers to the radar. 1985Computing 15 Aug. 25/2 We still have to make do with dreadful windscreen wipers in cars.
1909D. H. Lawrence in English Rev. No. 565, I wait for the baby to wander hither to me, Like a *wind-shadow wandering over the water. 1931Flight 25 Dec. 1269/2 He had found that behind the wings of an aeroplane ‘wind shadows’ existed covering a region of reduced pressure. 1977J. F. Fixx Compl. Bk. Running xvii. 202 It also makes sense to vary your speed in order to take advantage of an opponent's wind shadow.
1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 123 The other method of bringing the *wind-shaft and sails into a position proper for receiving the impression of the wind.
1951Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) iii. 36 *Wind shear. 1976Sci. Amer. Nov. 32 For a typical wind shear of one mile per hour per mile of height and an average wind speed of 20 miles per hour, the pattern of fallout 100 miles downwind from ground zero would be about 25 miles wide. 1977Time 18 Apr. 37/3 ‘Wind shear’, created by colliding air masses, was listed as the probable cause of an Eastern 727's crash while landing.
1934A. J. Villiers (title) Last of the *wind ships. 1980Times 7 Nov. 21/4 Will the rising price of oil bring back the sailing ship—or windship as it is now called—to the trade routes of the world from which it was largely banished a century ago? 1985Tel. Sunday Mag. 18 Aug. 9/1 At 75 he [sc. Jacques Cousteau] is as lean and as trim as his revolutionary new ‘wind ship’, Alcyone, which he has just sailed successfully—and using less fuel—across the Atlantic.
c1400Sege Jerus. (E.E.T.S.) 40 Suþ went to þe walle on þe *wynde syde, & alle abrod on þe burwe blewen þe powder. 1601Holland Pliny xvii. xxviii. I. 547 Some content themselves to perfume Vines onely with the smoke of this composition, so as it bee done on the wind-side, that it may carie the fume directly to them. 1727Bradley's Family Dict. s.v. Blight, To provide large Heaps of Weeds, Chaff, and other combustible Matter on the Wind-side of their Orchards.
1923Kipling Land & Sea Tales 182 Give your *wind-sight another three degrees, Walters.
1920*Wind slab [see slab n.1 6]. 1936E. A. M. Wedderburn Alpine Climbing iv. 51 A form of wind crust is wind slab. As this causes the worst kind of avalanche it is important to detect it. Its surface is smooth and unfortunately often little wind marked and its colour is matt white or yellowish. Wind slab is often found alternating with patches of softer wind marked snow. 1975E. Hillary Nothing venture, Nothing Win xviii. 286, I had..noticed the debris of two large windslab avalanches nearby. 1978Y. Chouinard Climbing Ice ii. 40 The wind will also scour ridges and deposit some snow on the lee side; this then becomes an unstable mass called wind slab.
1866N.Y. Times 13 Apr., All persons having occasion to..start a fire in any old chopping, *wind-slash..[etc.] shall give five days' notice. 1905Forestry Bureau Bull. No. 61. 53 An area upon which the trees have been thrown by the wind{ddd}blow down, wind slash. 1971F. C. Ford-Robertson Terminol. Forest Science 244/1 All such material [sc. slash] blown down by wind is termed wind slash.
1920Flight 29 Apr. 470/1 Three *wind sleeves have been installed at Lyons (Bron) aerodrome... Two of these ‘sleeves’ are red, and are situated on the western side of the landing-ground. 1939Air Ann. Brit. Empire 371 Pilots of those days mistrusted a wind sleeve, which was difficult to see.
1929E. W. Dickman This Aviation Business 139 It requires more work than to stake out a cow pasture, put up a hangar and *wind sock, and announce the opening. 1958Woman 9 Aug. 31/4 Briony walked..along the sands as far as the wind-sock up on the golf-course. 1979J. Leasor Love & Land Beyond vi. 88 A wind sock hung limply on a mast.
1959*Wind-spider [see wind-scorpion above]. 1966C. Sweeney Scurrying Bush vi. 88 A large solipugid, a very hairy, fast running arachnid that in Africa is often called a ‘hunting spider’ or sometimes a ‘wind spider’.
1893M. A. Owen Voodoo Tales 28, I seed dem ole *win'splittehs [sc. long lean hogs]. 1900Daily Express 13 July 6/6 The wind-splitter..keeps up a wonderful pace. 1941I. L. Idriess Great Boomerang vii. 51 No ‘wind-splitters’ nearly as wide across the hips as the forehead.
1890Harper's Mag. Dec. 58/2 A tall thinnish man, with..a white *wind-splitting face. 1900Daily Express 13 July 6/6 The ‘wind-splitting train’ was tested over the line between Baltimore and Washington recently. 1948Duncan & Bone Oxf. Pocket Bk. Athletic Training 35 ‘*Wind⁓sprints’..consist of covering one or two laps of the track, and in so doing moving up very gradually from walking or slow running into faster running and then reversing the process, which will be repeated several times. 1981Northeast Woods & Waters Jan. 19/1 My last 1/8 of a mile was done doing wind sprints to help my lungs and heart to weather the beating of what was to come.
1932D. Garnett Rabbit in Air ii. 60 It seemed to me several points different if judged by the factory smoke than if judged by the *wind stocking. 1983P. Devlin All of Us There vii. 78 The wind-stocking fluttering to show pilots which way the wind is blowing.
1929Oxford Poetry 1 Let's pick the petals of all joy apart, And launch them uncontrolled on the *wind-stream. 1934Discovery June 155/1 The wind-stream is so powerful that a man could not possibly stand against it. 1954Fisher & Lockley Sea-Birds v. 127 The oceanic travellers..spend their time making ground by..excursions (by gravitational falls) into the sheltered trough between the crests of the waves, out of the main wind-stream. 1976A. White Long Silence vii. 59 You don't go out at right angles to the plane or the windstream can spin you.
1884Engineering 5 Sept. 225/1 The position and character of the floor between the girders also materially affect the *wind stresses. 1953Jrnl. Marine Res. XII. 249 (heading) Wind stress on an artificial pond. 1984A. C. & A. Duxbury Introd. World's Oceans viii. 272 The sea surface slopes, as happens..under wind stress.
1656Beale Heref. Orchards (1657) 47 The clay-land binds the tree faster from *wind-strokes, the sandy-land hasteneth the growth more. 1890Billings Med. Dict., Wind-stroke, acute spinal paralysis in the horse. 1913D. Bray Life-Hist. Brahui v. 109 Men well stricken in years often suffer from wind-stroke,..a woman sometimes quits her bed after childbirth lamed by the wind in one leg.
1852Seidel Organ 27 The *Wind swell. Here the trunk is provided with a valve of velvet.
1932Daily Tel. 2 Mar. 9/5 Curls have ousted points of straight hair, and the old *windswept hair is dead. 1940Graves & Hodge Long Week-End xvi. 280 The ‘windswept’ coiffure came over from Paris in 1931... The hair was cut short, brushed forward with a swirling movement. 1963Wodehouse Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves iii. 29 She is..as loony a young shrimp as ever wore a wind-swept hair-do. 1985Hair Summer 64 (caption) Windswept layered hair requires mousse.
a1625H. Manwayring Sea-man's Dict. (1644) s.v., Any thing that holds wind aloft, which may prejudice the ship saileing or riding, is said to be *wind-taught (as too much rigging high roapes, and the like;) Also when we ride in any great stresse, we bring our yards alongst ships, strike downe our top-masts and the like: because they hold wind taught, that is, they hold wind stiffely. 1674Petty Disc. Dupl. Proportion 31 Where the Masts, Yards, Sails, and Rigging are great, the Wind⁓taught of the Ship will correspond, and will require proportionable Cables. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I. s.v., Too much Rigging,..or any thing catching or holding Wind aloft, is said to hold a Ship Wind-taught.
1826Sporting Mag. (U.S.) XVII. 199 The *wind-throstle or whindle..travels out of the North with the fel-fare.
1939H. J. Lutz in Amer. Jrnl. Science CCXXXVII. 392 This investigation was devoted particularly to the influence of tree *windthrow on soil morphology. 1953Brit. Commonw. Forest Terminol. i. 147 Windthrow, uprooted by wind; a tree or trees so uprooted. Syn. Windblow. 1966Brit. Columbia Logging 3/1 They also can sell in their local areas wind-throw timber and stands threatened with destruction by disease or insects. 1981N.Z. Jrnl. Forestry XXVI. 96 Line transects recording soil depth and percentage windthrow were made through single-aged stands of trees where definite patterns of windthrow occurred.
1668Charleton Onomast. 83 Turdus Illas..the *Wind-Thrush. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v. Thrush, Wind-Thrush, a Bird so call'd because it comes in high Winds into England, in the beginning of Winter.
1873T. Cargill Strains Bridge Girders 186 Roofs, if they be thoroughly well secured by *wind-ties.
1858J. Baron Scudamore Organs 61 The essential parts of an organ are a set of keys,..a bellows, a *windtrunk, a windchest with its soundboard, and the pipes.
1911Aeronaut. Jrnl. Oct. 53 The planes were tested in a ‘wind tunnel’. Ibid. 62 Wind tunnel experiments. 1933Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVII. 36 The aerodynamic characteristics were observed on a model of the airship in a wind tunnel. 1961L. Mumford City in History (1966) x. 355 Not by accident did the medieval townsman, seeking protection against winter wind, avoid creating such cruel wind⁓tunnels as the broad, straight street. 1970New Scientist 23 July 194/2 Wind-tunnel tests..establish airflow patterns over ships. 1974Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Dec. 1410/5 The Weimar Republic was above all a testing time, part of that great German wind tunnel in which ideas and principles, standards and personalities were subjected to the gale of history. 1983Aviation News 8 Sept. 339/1 To compare inflight data with wind tunnel data for the same aircraft. 1985Times 1 Mar. 3/3 The ultimate aim was C15, in every way a family car, using a very streamlined body already being tested in a wind tunnel.
1909Chambers's Jrnl. Mar. 203/1 A small petrol or oil engine as a standby to be used when there is insufficient wind to drive the *wind-turbine. 1946A. Huxley Let. 5 Nov. (1969) 557, I gather that the experimental wind turbine which has been producing fifteen hundred kilowatts in Maine has proved entirely satisfactory. 1982Daily Tel. 17 Nov. 1/6 A {pstlg}650,000 wind turbine machine..was switched on yesterday by Sir Walter Marshall, chairman of the Central Electricity Generating Board.
1725Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. Wind-mil, That it may, swivel-like, turn any way, as you turn your *wind Vanes. 1858Froude Hist. Eng. IV. xx. 228 The imbecile Arran could play no part but that of the wind-vane marking the changes in the air-currents.
c1450in Archæologia (1902) LVIII. 302 The firste *wynde went closid in ston. 1562[see suspiral 2].
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Wind-way (Mining), a passage for air. 1876J. Hiles Catech. Organ iv. (1878) 24 Between the language and the lips [of an organ-pipe] is a narrow slit or wind-way for the current of air to pass from the foot to the body of the pipe. 1887Daily News 28 Sept. 3/1 Leaving the water very choppy for the Thistle and stopping her wind-way. 1959Wind-way [see flûte-à-bec]. 1979Early Music July 365/1 It is also possible to wash the windway with water and washing-up liquid... This is recommended for very dirty or mouldy windways.
1867A. Barry Sir C. Barry iii. 76 A horizontal *wind-wheel for raising water. 1908Hardy Dynasts iii. iii. iii, A fire is lit Near to the Thonberg wind-wheel.
[1933Automobile Trade Jrnl. Nov. 52/1 Such items as windshield wings, either as a part of or separate from front door windows [etc.]. ]1934*Wind wing [see sticker1 5 a]. 1951R. Chandler in Gardiner & Walker R. Chandler Speaking (1962) 110 It sounded like old Simpson's Chevvy... He could tell by the broken windwing.
1581Mulcaster Positions x. (1888) 56 The exercise of the voice..aideth..and comforteth the lunges in his *windworke.
▪ II. wind, n.2|waɪnd|
[Partly a. MDu., MLG. winde windlass, convolvulus, etc. = OHG. wintâ (MHG., G. winde), ON. vinda hank of yarn (Sw. vinda bindweed, Da. vinde pulley, windlass, from LG.); cf. OE. ᵹewind spiral, tendril, winding path, -winde in ᵹearnwinde reel, wiþowinde bindweed, ON. vindr winding: f. windan wind v.1 Partly a direct formation on the vb.]
1. An apparatus for winding (see wind v.1 19), a winch or windlass. Obs. exc. dial.
1399Acc. Exch. K.R. 473/11 m. 2 dorso (P.R.O.) Reddit compotum de vna Machina vocata Wynde [etc.]. 1538–9in Archaeologia (1871) XLIII. 211, j olde wynde for stone. 1568in Coventry Corpus Chr. Pl. App. ii. 101 Payd for a cord for the wynde ij s. vj d. 1651T. Barker Art of Angling (1653) 9 Within two foot of the bottome of the Rod there was a hole made, for to put in a winde, to turne with a barrell, to gather up his Line, and loose at his pleasure. 1790W. H. Marshall Rural Econ. Midl. Co. (1796) II. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Wind.., a winch, or wince. 1851Sternberg Dial. Northampt., Wynd, a winch. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining, Wind. 1. A hand-windlass or jack-roll... 4. A steam-engine used purposely for lowering and raising men in an engine pit or pumping-shaft.
†2. A twining plant, e.g. convolvulus. Obs.
1538Turner Libellus, Conuoluulus, dioscoridæ clematis, altera, est aliquibus liliastrum, anglis autem, The comon bynde, aut The lytell wynde. 1562― Herbal ii. 141 Of the smooth Smilax or great arbor wynde. Ibid., I neuer sawe anye kinde of wynde, or wyth winde, or arbor winde, haue anye suche cod. 1576Lobel Plant. Hist. 340.
3. An act or instance of winding; curved or twisted form; techn. bend or twist (cf. wind v.1 5 b), esp. in phr. out of wind, not twisted.
1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 586 If the two edges and his eye be not in one plane, the upper parts are planed down until the piece is said to be out of wind. 1859E. Capern Ball. & Songs 137 The vermeil-beaded bryony, In many a graceful wind. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Twist.., the wind of the bed-joint of each course of voussoirs in a skew arch. 1883Hampshire Gloss. s.v. Wynd, On the wynd = warped or twisted. Applied to boards or planks. 1896Archaeol. Jrnl. LIII. 52 There is never any trace of wind on them [sc. Danish knife-blades], although occasionally they may not lie quite flat.
▪ III. wind, v.1|waɪnd|
Pa. tense and pple. wound |waʊnd|. Forms: 1 windan, 3 winden, 3–7 winde, 4–7 wynde, 4–9 wynd, (4 vynd(e, 5 wy(y)ndyn, 6 Sc. veynd(e), 4– wind; 3rd sing. contr. 1–3 wint, (1 wient), 4 wynt. pa. tense 1–5 wond, 1–6 (–9 dial.) wand, 4–6 wonde, wounde, (5 woonde, 7 woon'd), 6– wound; pl. 1 wundon, -an, 3 wunden; also weak 6 Sc. vindit, 6–9 winded, 8 Sc. win't. pa. pple. 1–3 wunden, (3 Orm. wundenn), 4 wondin, -yn, -ene, (wnden), 4–5 wonden, woundyn, 4–6 wounden, (5 wonddyn, 6 windin); 4–6 wounde, 5–7 wonde, woond, (5 won, 7 wown), 6– wound; 2 iwunde(n, 4 ywonde(n, ywounde(n, iwounde; also weak 5 Sc. woundit, 6 wynded, Sc. -it, 6–9 winded.
[OE. windan strong vb. = OFris. winda, OS. windan, OHG. wintan, windan, (M)LG., (M)Du., (M)HG. winden, ON. vinda, (Sw. vinda, Da. vinde), Goth. *windan in biwindan, dugawindan, uswindan:—OTeut. *wendan, related to wand- in wander v., wend v., wonde v.
In many senses coupled with turn vb.
In ME. often graphically confused with wend v., q.v. etym. γ-forms.]
I.
†1. intr. Used to express various kinds of rapid or forcible motion, as of water flowing, missiles flying through the air, sparks flying upwards, and the like; hence gen. to pass. Also with about, adown, away. Obs.
Beowulf 212 Streamas wundon, sund wið sande. Ibid. 1119 Wand to wolcnum wælfyra mæst. c897ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxi. 167 Sio æcs wient of ðæm hielfe. 993Battle of Maldon 322 Oft he gar forlet wælspere windan on þa wicingas. a1000Judith 110 Sloh ða eornoste ides ellenrof oþre siðe þone hæðenan hund, þæt him þæt heafod wand forð on ða flore. c1205Lay. 27461 Stanes heo letten seoððen sturnliche winden. Ibid. 28049 [Ich] smæt of Modred is hafd þat hit wond a þene ueld. a1225Ancr. R. 296 Þe sparke þet wint up ne bringeð nout anonriht þet hus al o fure, auh lið & keccheð more fur. 13..Guy Warw. (A.) 3096 Boþe bifore & eke bihinde, Þe blod gan out fast winde. c1330Arth. & Merl. 6320 Þe launce..ran þurch þe hors bihinde; King & hors adoun gan winde. 13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 530, & þus ȝirnez þe ȝere in ȝisterdayez mony, & wynter wyndez aȝayn, as þe worlde askez. c1375Cursor M. 8968 (Fairf.) Prophecy..ho talde..of domys-day How al þis werlde sal winde a-way.
†2.
a. Of living things: To go on one's way, take oneself; to proceed, go. Also fig. Obs.
a1000Boeth. Metr. xxiv. 10 Meahtes ofer rodorum ᵹereclice feðerum lacan, feor up ofer wolcnu windan. c1205Lay. 20818 Þat we mosten ouer sæ winden [later text wende] mid seile. Ibid. 25541 Ankeres heo up droȝen..Wunden into widen sæ. c1250Gen. & Ex. 4136 His bodi was biried wið angeles hond, Ðer non man siðen it ne fond, In to lef reste his sowle wond. c1330Arth. & Merl. 9152 Hors wel gode chepe þai founde & anon in þe sadel wounde. a1400–50Wars Alex. 3325 (Ashm. MS.) Vp to þe souerayne sege with Septour he wyndis. c1400Rom. Rose 2056 For thee so sore I wole now bynde, That thou away ne shalt not wynde. a1500Coventry Corpus Chr. Pl. i. 168 Now to Bedlem must I wynde. 1519Interl. Four Elem. B ij b, With huffa galand synge tyrll on the bery, And let the wyde worlde wynde. 1555Bradford in Foxe A. & M. (1570) 1813/2 Such as walke in theyr wickednes and wind on with the world. 1579Hake Newes out of Powles (1872) A vij, And boughing Curs that barck and winde away. 1587A. Day Daphnis & Chloe (1890) 123 Phœbe being by this Time wounde into the highest Skies. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. iii. 104 But winde away, bee gone I say. 1608Topsell Serpents 266 Least she [sc. the spider] should wind downe in vaine.
b. refl. in same sense; also fig. Obs.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 15843 He..So queyntely aboute hym wond, Þe kynges court at ȝork he fond. c1430Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 3645 Into the tent he him wond. c1520Skelton Magnyf. 2340 Wynde you from Wanhope and aquaynte you with me. c1580Bugbears iv. iv. in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. (1897) XCIX. 39 Then best I stand not thus..and tel a tale to the wynd, but wynd me streight about it.
c. intr. Of a way: To ‘go’ somewhere. Obs.
1555Bradford in Foxe A. & M. (1570) 1816/2 The multitude goeth the wideway which windeth to woe.
3. trans.
a. To wield (a weapon, an implement). Obs. or dial.
993Battle of Maldon 43 Byrhtnoð..bord hafenode, wand wacne æsc. c1480Henryson Swall. & other Birds xv, Sum the pleuch can wynd. 1607J. Carpenter Plaine Mans Plough xx. 138 The Handle..on the which the Plough-man holding his hand by winding and wilding the same, turneth the Soole. 1627W. Hawkins Apollo Shroving iii. i. 38 How to winde it [sc. a rapier] about when I salute. 1632G. Hughes Saints Losse 46 Thou canst not hand before the enemy, nor wind a weapon for thy defence. 1845J. Keegan Leg. & Poems (1907) 250 Raising aloft the heavy iron spade, I wound it with all my strength.
†b. To haul, hoist, lift. Obs.
c1400Sege Jerus. (1891) 281 Fresch water & wyn wounden þu faste & stof of alle maner store. 1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist., Socr. i. xvi. 241 By the deuine prouidence of God the pilloure is winded vp in the ayer, ouer the foundacion. 1633C. Farewell E.-India Colation 45 [The Elephant] taking his meat with the end thereof, and winding it vp, (or vnder rather) to his mouth, so eates it. 1681Grew Musæum Pref., The Proboscis of an Elephant, whereby he..winds the Grass in great quantities..into his Mouth.
4. intr. To turn this way and that; to writhe, wriggle. Obs. exc. dial.
In OE. app. only contextual use of 1.
c1000ælfric Hom. I. 414 He wand þa swa swa wurm. c1205Lay. 5715 Doð [heom] up and [= on] waritreo, þer on heo scullen winden. c1386Chaucer Wife's T. 246 Thou art so loothly and so oold also..That litel wonder is thogh I walwe and wynde. 1421Hoccleve Lerne to Dye 509 In peynes sharpe y walwe & wynde. 1666Bunyan Grace Abound. §165 Thus did I wind and twine and shrink under the burthen. 1887Kentish Gloss. s.v., I had a terrible poor night surely, I did turn and wind so.
5.
†a. trans. To put into a curved or twisted form or state; to bend; to twist; to wring. Obs.
For earlier quots. see wounden ppl. a.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. xviii. (1495) d v b/1 A gristylbone set in y⊇ eere [i.e. the cochlea],..wounde [orig. tortuosum] & wrapped as a wyspe. Ibid. v. xxv. (Bodl. MS.), Beestes þt foldeþ and windeþ ham silfe rounde as a ryng haue none necke distingued frame þe body. 1422Yonge tr. Secr. Secr. xxvii. 161 Whyle an hooke [= oak] is a yonge Spyre, hit may be wonde into a wyth. 1538Elyot Dict. s.v. Topiarium, Lyke trees or thornes that be flexible, or wyll be wounden. 1578Lyte Dodoens 330 Growing vpon small stalkes that are winded or turned two or three tymes. 1581G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 126 They would winde her neck behinde her, like a chicken [orig. le torcerebbono il collo]. 1610J. Guillim Heraldry vi. v. 269 An ancient ornament of the head, [called] a Torce..: Nempe quia torquetur, because it is wound [ed. 1632 woond] or twisted. 1624Wotton Archit. ii. 111 The figure of a sturdie woman, washing and winding of linnen clothes.
b. intr. To take or have a bent form; now only dial. or techn. of a board, door, etc., to be twisted.
c1374Chaucer Troylus i. 257 The yerde is bet þat bowen wole and wynde Þan þat þat brest. 1538Elyot Dict., Vimen, roddes, which wyll wynde lyghtly, wherof baskettes are made. 1711W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 165 Winding, when the Plank or Timber's Side or Edge is not upon a direct Plan, but seemingly twists. 1736Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.) s.v. Wind, A board shrunk or swell'd, so as to be uneven, is said to wind; and when it is brought straight again, it is said to be out of winding. 1875T. Seaton Fret Cutting 82 A board is said to wind or wynd, when the two opposite corners..are lower than the other two.
6. a. refl. = 7 a, b. arch.
a1300, etc. [see turn v. 64 a]. a1400–50Wars Alex. 3631 (Ashm. MS.) Þai [sc. elephants] wend þai ware wees & wyndis þaim agayn. 1569Blague Sch. Conceytes 26 When the Ele [= eel] had led the Dolphin into shallow places she wound hir selfe into the mudde. 1601Holland Pliny xxxv. x. II. 541 A little infant winding it selfe and making prettie means to creepe unto the mothers pap. 1665Hooke Microgr. 206 It posted away with such speed, and turn'd and winded it self so quick, that I should presently lose sight of it. 1690C. Nesse O. & N. Test. I. 42 The serpent is a slippery creature, soon winding himself in and out. 1700J. Brome Trav. 104 Abington, to which the River Isis, after it hath winded it self a long way about in a crooked Channel, makes its near approaches. 1723Waterland 2nd Vind. Christ's Div. Pref. 14 He endeavors to wind and turn Himself every way to evade its Force. 1821Clare Vill. Minstrel I. 110 Glad I wind me down the lane.
b. trans. To turn; to cause to move in a curve. Also absol. arch.
13..Somer Soneday v. in Rel. Ant. II. 8 With a wonderful whel that worthi wyth wond. c1440Promp. Parv. 529/1 Wyndyn', or turnyn' a-bowte, giro, verto. 1483Caxton G. de la Tour a viij b, The tortuse [and] the crane..which..wynde their hede here and there as a vane. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. i. 109 As if an Angell dropt downe from the Clouds, To turne and winde a fierie Pegasus. 1614D. Dyke Myst. Self-Deceiv. (1630) 187 Let the Serpent but wind in his head. 1638W. Lisle Heliodorus x. 177 As Camell..Doth eu'rie way his small head nimbly winde. 1665Hooke Microgr. 199 Having so small..a body..upon such long leggs, it is quickly able so to wind, and turn it, as to see any thing distinct. 1757Dyer Fleece ii. 462 Or where the Lune or Coker wind their streams. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 92 The young nobles..turning and winding their fiery horses.
7. a. intr. To move in a curve; to turn, esp. in a specified direction. Obs. exc. as implied in b, c.
c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 818 Thisbe, Whan that this lyonesse hath dronke hire fille, A-boute the welle gan sche for to wynde. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ii. v. (1495) b iij b/1 As a whele wyndeth abowte [orig. in se volvitur et revolvitur] and mouyth alwaye abowte in compaas, Soo angels..moeue abowte y⊇ thynge that longyth to god. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. iv. i. 32 It is a Creature that I teach to fight, To winde, to stop, to run directly on. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 174 To..gallop and amble, to run a race, to wind in compasse, and so foorth. 1654Earl of Monmouth tr. Bentivoglio's Wars Flanders 326 Winding about [orig. torcendo] on the left hand towards the gates Cantimper and Selle, he came before them. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 260 We went winding now from the south-east to the left, till our course looked east by north.
b. To move along in a sinuous course; to go or travel along, up, down, etc. a path or road which turns this way and that.
a1682Sir T. Browne Tracts x. (1683) 165 How the Jordan passed or winded,..is a point too old for Geography to determine. 1697Dryden Virg. Past. vii. 15 Here wanton Mincius windes along the Meads, And shades his happy Banks with bending Reeds. 1715Desaguliers Fires Impr. 102 The External Air..will go winding thro' the Cavities. 1750Gray Elegy i, The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea. 1789F. Burney Diary 15 Sept., It made me..tired to wind up the flight of stairs. 1859Green Oxford Studies (O.H.S.) 24 Long processions of pilgrims wound past the Jewry to the shrine of Saint Frideswide. 1863Reade Hard Cash xxx, Making a sudden turn, [he] dived into a street, then into a passage, and so winded and doubled till he got to a small public-house. 1905Sir F. Treves Other Side of Lantern ii. ii. (1906) 36 A train of donkeys winding along among the hansoms.
c. transf. Of a line, road, or the like: To have a curved (esp. a sinuous) course; to lie or extend in a curve or succession of curves. † Formerly also of an object: To have a curved or sinuous form.
1555in Feuillerat Revels Q. Mary (1914) 184 Garded with a gard of oken leaves gold and greene sylke wyndinge lyke a wrethe embrodred vpon redd silke. 1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 345/2 Lituus,..a writhen or crooked trumpet winding in and out. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage i. xi. (ed. 2) 58 The passage to mount vp was very wide and great, winding about on the outside. 1635Jackson Creed viii. xxviii. §4 The crooked paths which winde to cursednesse and malediction. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 545 A Rock Of Alabaster, pil'd up to the Clouds,..winding with one ascent Accessible from Earth. 1748Thomson Cast. Indol. i. v, Where this valley winded out, below, The murmuring main was heard..to flow. 1850Tennyson In Mem. xxvi, Still onward winds the dreary way. 1896Baring-Gould Broom-Squire xvii, The path winded in and out among the grave⁓stones.
d. with advb. acc., or trans. with obj. (one's or its) way, etc.
1667Milton P.L. iii. 563 He..windes..his oblique way Amongst innumerable Starrs. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho i, A rivulet that..wound its silent way beneath the shades it reflected. 1823Scott Quentin D. xxxii, The mole..winds not his dark subterraneous path beneath our feet the less certainly. 1857Livingstone Trav. v. 101 The slow pace at which we wound our way through the colony. 1887L. Oliphant Episodes 281 A funeral procession, winding its solemn way to the cemetery. 1922A. E. Housman Last Poems xli, Content..to wind the measures [= dances].
e. trans. To traverse in a curved or sinuous course; also transf. of a path, as in c. arch.
1648Gage West Ind. 90 We had not winded the mountain upwards much above a mile. 1697Dryden æneis ix. 533 He winds the Wood. 1743Francis tr. Hor., Odes i. xxxiii. 22 Though fiercer she than waves that roar, Winding the rough Calabrian shore. 1821Clare Vill. Minstrel I. 202 Sweet it is to wind the rill, Sweet with thee to climb the hill. 1906Daily Chron. 20 Aug. 4/4 Wherever a river winds a valley.
8. Naut.
a. intr. Of a ship: To turn in some direction; e.g. to swing round when at anchor; to lie with her head towards a particular point of the compass (esp. in phr. how wind you? how does the ship wind?).
b. trans. To turn (a vessel) about (about A. 6 b) or in some particular direction. See also 19 b (b), 24 g.
App. a substitution for wend v., q.v. (1 d, 6 c).
1613J. Saris Voy. Japan (Hakl. Soc.) 44 She came to an anckor so neare ahead of vs as we could scarse wynd cleare one of the other. 1623(Sept. 10) Admiralty Crt. Exam. 44 (MS.) She was not quicke of steeridge nor easye to be turned or winded. a1625H. Manwayring Sea-mans Dict. (1644) 115 When they are under saile, they use to aske, how winds the ship, that is, vpon what point of the Compasse doth she lie with her head. 1627J. Smith Sea Gram. vi. 27 Winde the Boat is to bring her head the other way. a1668Davenant Song, Winter Storms ii. Wks. (1673) 292 Alee, or we sink! Does no man know to wind her! 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 18 How Wind you? N.N.E. thus werr no more; no near, keep her full. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1776) French Sea-Terms s.v. Cap, Où est le Cap? how is the head? how does the ship wind? 1798P. Revere in Collect. Massachusetts Hist. Soc. (1816) V. 107 It was then young flood, the ship was winding, and the moon was rising. 1830Marryat King's Own xxxi, One of the cutters has winded..; she's stretching out for the shore. 1836― Midsh. Easy xiii, Mr. Sawbridge..winded the boats with their heads the same way. 1856Olmsted Slave States 607 We backed out, winded round head up.
9. trans. and intr. In the management of horses in the yoke: To turn to the left, or towards the driver: opp. to hap v.4, hup v. Sc.
a1745,1794[see hap v.4]. 1816Scott Old Mort. xxiii, A feckless loon..had catched twa dragoon naigs and he could neither gar them hup nor wind. 1851Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XII. i. 125 To plough three 12-yard ridges by winding, or turning to the left hand. Ibid., By laying two ridges (24 yards) together at each of these, marking and winding out the intermediate spaces, there will only be one open furrow every 60 yards.
†10. To draw or pull out with a twisting movement. Also intr. Obs.
c1400Rom. Rose 1810 But euere the heed was left bihynde For ought I couthe pulle or wynde. a1513Fabyan Chron. ccix. (1542) 257 By cruell deathe, as windynge theyr guttes out of theyr bodyes. 1600Fairfax Tasso xi. lxviii, He stroue in haste the weapon out to winde, And broke the reed, but left the head behinde.
11. a. In immaterial sense: To turn or deflect in a certain direction; esp. to turn or lead (a person) according to one's will; also to turn and wind (see turn v. 64 b). Now rare or Obs.
† to wind up and down: to revolve in the mind. † to wind off: to turn aside. to wind about: to use circumlocution with (cf. 12).
c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 601 Criseyde..euery word gan vp and down to wynde That he hadde seyd as it come here to mynde. c1385― L.G.W. Prol. 85 She is the clerenesse and the verray lyght That in this derke worlde me wynt and ledyth. 1586A. Day Engl. Secretorie i. (1625) 136 That by your timely looking to those matters, you may winde him from that. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. iii. §7 To be speculatiue into another man, to the end to know how to worke him, or winde him, or gouerne him. 1606,1673[see turn and wind s.v. turn v. 64 b]. 1677Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. 298 Socrates windes off his Audience from the curiose prying into the Nature. 1708S. Centlivre Busie Body ii. i, These flattering fops imagine they can wind, Turn and decoy to love all woman-kind. 1713Tickell Prol. Univ. Oxford 34 To wind the Passions, and command the Heart. 1753Richardson Grandison I. xxxvi. 258 He winds one about, and about, yet seems not to have more curiosity than one would wish him to have. 1777Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 29 Sept., There was not time for many questions, and no opportunity of winding and winding them, as Mr. Richardson has it, so as to get truth without questions. 1821Scott Kenilw. vii, He can wind the proud Earl to his will. 1827Carlyle Germ. Rom. I. 235 Love, which had once for all taken root in her heart, now dexterously winded and turned the matter.
†b. To draw, bring, or involve (a person) in, attract into, by alluring or enticing methods. Obs.
1538Elyot Dict. Addit., Lacio.., to brynge into a snare, or to wynde one in to deceyue him. 1571Golding Calvin on Ps. xxxvi. 4 Hee doth not simply fynd fault with the vngodly for winding in other folkes with their wyles and fetches. 1577Holinshed Chron. II. 1847/1 A subtile practise (as was thought) intended to wynde him wythin daunger. a1586Sidney Arcadia iii. xxvi. (1912) 504 Which winded her againe into the former maze of perplexitie. 1608Topsell Serpents 48 A certaine man.., being trecherously wound in and intrapped, by the craftie wilines of a certaine woman. 1635Quarles Embl. ii. Epigr. iv. 79 If ev'r it winds thee Into a loosenesse once, take heed. 1653H. More Antid. Ath. i. iv. §2 You will be wound into the most notorious absurdities. 1655R. Younge Agst. Drunkards 7 It is admirable how they will winde men in, and draw men on by drinking first a health to such a man.
†c. To bring (a thing) in by insinuating methods. Obs.
1570Drant Serm. C vij, This is the fine force of Sanders most fine witte, in finding out fetches, and winding in stuffe to strengthen and fortifye Antichristianisme. c1650Bradford Plymouth Plant. (1856) 301 He with his former dealings had wound in what money he had in y⊇ partnership into his owne hands. 1674Govt. Tongue ix. 160 Tis pleasant to see what little Arts and dexterities they have to wind in such things into discourse.
†d. With out: To draw out, extricate, disentangle. Obs.
c1535W. Roper Life Sir T. More vi. (1729) 40 To wynde suche quarrells out of the Cardinall's head. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades 309 Iacob and Ioseph being wrapped in sundrie tribulations, were by their merciful God woond out and rid from all [orig. explicantur]. 1577S. Aug. Manual T v b, Wynde me out [orig. evolve], & unloade me, that the pit shut not his mouth upon me. 1601F. Godwin Bps. of Eng. 121 By and by he ouertopped the Archbishop, and quickly wound him out of all authority. 1607Tourneur Rev. Trag. iii. i. (1608) E 3, Weele haue some trick and wile, To winde our yonger brother out of prison.
†e. To circulate, put in circulation (money or merchandise): usually in phr. turn and wind. Obs.
1598,1686[see turn v. 64 c]. 1624Capt. Smith Virginia iv. 157 Tobacco..passes there as current Siluer, and by the oft turning and winding it, some grow rich, but many poore. c1645Howell Lett. i. xli, There is no state that winds the penny more nimbly and makes quicker returns. 1678Butler Hud. iii. ii. 1450 Whence turning of Religion's made The means to turn and wind a Trade.
12. intr. (also † refl., and with it.) To pursue a devious, circuitous, or intricate course in argument, statement, or conduct; († esp. with about adv. or prep.) to use circumlocution or subtle terms of argument (arch.).
c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 427 For in hise termes, so he wolde hym wynde And speke hise wordes in so sly a kynde. Whanne he commune shal with any wight, That he wol make hym doten anon right. 1528More Dyaloge i. Wks. 173/1 Truly quod he ye wynde it well about. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. i. i. 154 You know me well, and herein spend but time To winde about my loue with circumstance. 1607Beaum. & Fl. Woman Hater ii. i, You must not talk to him as you doe to an ordinary man, honest plain sence, but you must wind about him. 1680Aubrey in Lett. Eminent Persons (1813) III. 612 He turned, and winded, and compounded in philosophy, politiques etc. as if he had been at mathematicall work. 1686Jevon Devil of a Wife i. 14 He has a mind to wind about, but this shan't serve his turn. 1753Richardson Grandison I. xxxvi. 258, I have winded and winded about him, as he has done about me; but all to no purpose. 1800M. Edgeworth The Will ii, I winded and winded,..till, at the last, out comes the truth. 1838Lytton Leila iv. v, Why dost thou wind and turn, good Ximen?..thou knowest well what my words drive at. 1850Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. vii. 93 He did not adroitly wind through the dangerous forms of evil. 1881Jowett Thucyd. I. Introd. p. xii, In winding through the long notes..we have sometimes a difficulty in separating his own view from that of others whom he is confuting.
†13. intr. and refl.
a. With out: To extricate or disentangle oneself from a state of confinement or embarrassment. Obs.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy i. 2207 Love in his lawes often schulde erre, And wynden out of honestees cheyne. a1569A. Kingsmill Man's Est. vi. (1580) 34 As the birde taken in the nette, we lie fast fettered, our owne eyes not servyng us to espie any waie to winde out. 1599Hayward 1st Pt. Hen. IV, 83 To wind out of these intricate troubles. 1608P. Golding Sleidane's Epit. Frossard 168 Not able..to winde out of the linnen which entangled him. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 659 Long strugling underneath, ere they could wind Out of such prison.
1530Palsgr. 782/1, I am tangled in busynesse, and can nat tell howe I may wynde me out. 1538Elyot Dict. Addit., Euoluere se turba, to wynde hym selfe oute of trouble. 1561Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer Z ij b, He..struggled the more to winde himself out of their handes. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxviii. §8 They make it..more easie for such kinde of persons to winde themselues out of the law. 1635Jackson Creed viii. vii. §2 Hee could not wound himselfe out of those bonds of servitude wherein his lusts had insnared him. 1647tr. Wishart's Hist. Kings Affairs Scotl. under Montrose iii. 25 Assoon as he had wound himself out of that present danger. 1653H. More Antid. Ath. i. i. heading, To wind themselves from under the Awe of Superstition. [1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xix. ii. (1872) VIII. 121 Soltikof..winded himself out of Posen one day, veiled by Cossacks. (Cf. G. sich auswinden.)]
b. With in, into: To insinuate oneself.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John i. 1 That being so knowen by the wonderfulnes of his moste fayre workemanship, he mighte wind himself into our inwarde mocions. 1607Shakes. Cor. iii. iii. 64 To winde Yourselfe into a power tyrannicall. 1640Rutherford Let. to Lady Fingask 27 Mar., If ye can wynd-in in his love..what a second heaven's paradise..is it, to be..burned with fevers of love sickness for him. 1646J. Saltmarsh Some Drops ii. 57 This is the old way to winde in under the wing of Authority. 1690C. Nesse O. & N. Test. I. 15 The old serpent easily winded himself into his heart. 1848Dickens Dombey xxix, Of your having basked at my brother's fireside, like a serpent, and wound yourself, through me, almost into his confidence. 1886C. Bigg Chr. Platonists Alex. iv. 130 Origen does not wind himself into the heart. He has not the blithe geniality of Clement.
14. a. trans. To turn or pass (something) around something else so as to encircle or enclose it and be in contact with it; to twine, twist, fold, or wrap (something) about, round, or upon something else.
Also occas. to put around something so as to encircle it without contact.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 8055 Aboute þe body a rope þey wonde. 1390Gower Conf. II. 359 He, which hadde of nothing doute, Hire wympel wond aboute his cheke. c1450Mirk's Festial 126 Hur lady, his modyr, wonde hyr kerchef about hym. c1460Towneley Myst. xxi. 391 When it is well won knyt a knot fast. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, v. i. 54 This Hand, fast wound about thy coale-black hayre. 1618T. Gainsford Glory Eng. i. xvii. 151 They weare linnen rowles about their heads..in Vlster carelesly wonde about. 1655tr. Sorel's Com. Hist. Francion v. 8 Instead of a Night Cap he had winded the Linings of his Breeches about his head. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 215 Whether to wind The Woodbine round this Arbour, or direct The clasping Ivie where to climb. 1680Moxon Mech. Exerc. x. 189 Upon the thin end of the Pole is wound a considerable Bundle of String. 1819Shelley Faust ii. 320 When she winds them [sc. her locks] round a young man's neck. 1842Browning Count Gismond x, Wind the penance-sheet About her! 1866Lytton Lost Tales Miletus, Secret Way 25 As hunters round the wild beasts in their lair Marked for the javelin, wind a belt of fire. 1870Rock Text. Fabr. Introd. i. p. xxii, [A] bandage to be winded and kept about the patient's arm. 1896A. E. Housman Shropsh. Lad v, Suppose I wound my arm right round. 1916J. J. Bell Little Grey Ships, Patrol 18 [He] began to wind about his neck a dark blue muffler.
b. fig.: esp. in phr. to wind (a person, etc.) round one's little finger (cf. finger n. 3, and sense 11 above).
1698Collier Immor. Stage 279 To play People out of their Senses,..and wind their Passions about their Fingers as they list. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. xxi, I am told the mother can wind them both round her little finger. 1854Milman Lat. Christ. iv. viii. (1864) II. 396 Irene wound her toils with consummate skill around her ill fated victim. 1865Swinburne Chastelard iii. i. 96 My life being wound about you as it is.
15. a. To put (thread, tape, or the like) in coils or convolutions around something, as a reel, or upon itself (either by passing the thread, etc. round and round, or by turning the reel or other object round and round), so as to form it into a compact mass (hank, skein, ball, etc.). (Also in fig. phrases: cf. pirn n.2 1 b.) Also with from or off, to undo the coils of (thread, etc.) by rotating the object on which they are wound; to unwind. (See also wind up, 24 c.)
c1325Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 157 E vostre filoe là wudez [gloss wynde thi yarn]. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 525 He bare a burdoun ybounde with a brode liste, In a withewyndes wise ywounden aboute. c1440Alphabet of Tales 359 Þe iuge axkid ather of þaim whar-of þe bothom at þe clew was won on was. 1483Cath. Angl. 419/1 To Wynde spules, deuoluere. 1530Palsgr. 782/1 This yerne is so tangled that I can nat wynde it. 1577Grange Golden Aphrod. D iv b, If she wanted a bottome whereon to winde hyr silke. 1590P. Barrough Meth. Phisick iii. xviii. (1639) 131 It seemeth wounden together like a string. 1601Shakes. All's Well i. iii. 188 If it be so, you haue wound a goodly clewe. 1767Bickerstaffe Love in the City i. i. stage-dir., One seated and holding a skain of silk, while the other winds it off on a ball. 1787F. Burney Diary Mar., Miss Planta left the room while I was winding some silk. 1827Carlyle Germ. Rom. I. 21 The long threads which..she winded daily from her spindle. 1860Slang Dict. (ed. 2) 247 I'll wind your cotton, i.e. I will give you some trouble. 1889F. C. Beach in Harper's Mag. Jan. 292/2 To operate the instrument it is only necessary to snap the shutter and wind off the paper.
absol.1377Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 555, I weue an I wynde and do what treuthe hoteth. 1581A. Hall Iliad vi. 119 Do passe the time to winde and reele, & with your maids to spinne. 1785Burns Halloween xii, An' aye she win't, an' ay she swat. 1818Min. Evid. Committee Ribbon Weavers 154 Just according to how many looms they wind for. 1870Inquiry Yorksh. Deaf & Dumb 18 She..winds for journeymen weavers.
†b. To roll or fold up. Obs.
1523Fitzherb. Husb. §52 Let the wol be well folden or wounden with a woll-wynder. 1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Heb. i. 10–14 As a vesture shalt thou winde them aboute.
16. a. To encircle with or enclose in something passed round and in contact; † to wrap up; † to embrace, enfold in the arms; now, in ordinary prose use, only of binding a thing round with tape, wire, or the like.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 83 He wes iwunde mid wine and smirede mid oli. Ibid. 127 He wes imacad to monne ilicnesse and iwunden mid flesce al swa mon. c1200Ormin 3320 & tær ȝho barr Allmahhtiȝ Godd..& wand himm sone i winndeclut. c1250Gen. & Ex. 2597 In an fetles,..Ðis child wunden ȝhe wulde don. c1290Mary Magdalene 383 in S. Eng. Leg. 473 Huy nomen þe Quiene and hire child and wounden in a mantel. a1300Cursor M. 1672 First bind it wele wit balk and band, And wind it siþen well wit wand. c1300Havelok 546 Hwan grim him hauede faste bounden, And siþen in an eld cloth wnden. 13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 215 Þe stele of a stif staf..Þat was wounden wyth yrn. c1374Chaucer Troylus iii. 1232 Gan eche of hem in armes oþer wynde. 1471Paston Lett. Suppl. 140 Sche byd that yt schuld be woond in a canivasse for brochyng of the caryars. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 229 b/2 A yong child that lay wounden in smale clowtes in hys moders lappe. c1500Clariodus v. 1917 Glaider war never Sir Troylus.., When he had Cressed in his arms windin. 1535Coverdale Isa. xxviii. 20 The coueringe to small, that a man maye not wynde him self therin. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 8 b, Their scaberdes wounde about with satyne. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 197 This hielandman..tuik the samyn [crown] and wand it in his playd. 1593Rites of Durham (Surtees 1903) 51 And so to wynde hime in his cowle and habett. 1610Shakes. Temp. ii. ii. 13 Sometime am I All wound with Adders, who with clouen tongues Doe hisse me into madnesse. 1611Beaum. & Fl. Maid's Trag. ii, Let me wind thee in these arms, Till I have banisht sickness. 1662Atwell Faithf. Surveyour 106 If they..winde their hurdles on two sides with broome. a1722Lisle Husb. (1757) 294 Drench the beast, and then wind him up warm in hay. 1851Meredith Love in Valley xiv, Jasmine winds the porch with stars two and three. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. xxi, Such is Judy. And her twin-brother couldn't wind up a top for his life. 1859Sala Gaslight & D. xxi, There, are tops wound, and marbles gambled for. 1885Tennyson Anc. Sage 97 And wind the front of youth with flowers. 1918Blackw. Mag. Apr. 491/1 The corner-posts were padded and wound with many layers of red and blue bunting.
b. (a) spec. To wrap (a corpse) in a shroud or winding-sheet; to shroud. Obs. exc. dial.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 2448 First .ix. niȝt [men] ðe liches beðen, And smeren, and winden, and bi-queðen. 13..Cursor M. 17288 + 118 (Cott.) Þe clothez þat iesus was wonden in. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxii. (Laurentius) 503 Ypolyt tuk þe cors away, & wand It in clathis fyne. c1425Wyntoun Cron. v. xcv. 4003 (MS. W.) To se þe quyk þe dede dispulȝe Quhen he is woundit in his schete. 1526Tindale John xix. 39 Then toke they the body of Jesu and wonde it in lynnen clothes. 1605London Prodigal i. i. 170 Yes, truly, syr, your father is dead, these hands of mine holpe to winde him. 1660Rutherford Let. to Mrs. Craig 4 Aug., The mother..possibly, cannot get leave to wind the son, nor to weep over his grave. 1719D'Urfey Pills III. 335 Vowing he'll not conform, before The Old-Wives wind their dead in Wollen. 1860W. Collins Wom. in White ii. Narr. i. II. 349 That she had winded a many of them in her time.
† (b) nonce-use. To carry out in a winding-sheet.
1604Meeting of Gallants B 1 b, Tenne wound out of one house, must for shame carry fiue payre of sheetes with them.
c. Chiefly in pa. pple. and fig.: To involve, entangle; † occas. to wrap up (in fair words).
c1315Shoreham Poems i. 913 Ne wynd þou naut þy senne ine selke Ac telle out al þat rouȝe. a1400–50Wars Alex. 2811 My warke, þat I am in wonden. c1425Cast. Persev. 703 in Macro Plays 98 Worthy World, in welthys wonde. c1485Digby Myst. iii. 23, I am wonddyn in welth from all woo. 1833Mrs. Browning Prometh. Bound Poet. Wks. (1904) 160/2 In the great net of Até, whence none cometh out, Ye are wound and undone! 1863Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. i. 27 Then they wound him in their devil's web. 1883R. W. Dixon Mano ii. ii. 72 But, ere he reached, in death the babe was wound.
17. intr. To turn so as to encircle and lie in contact with something else; to twist or coil itself, or be or become twisted or coiled, about, around, or upon something. So to wind off, to become uncoiled from something, to unwind.
1575Gascoigne Kenelworth Wks. 1910 II. 126 What tree soever it [sc. ivy] ryse by, it never leaveth to wynde about it. 1577Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. 38 It wyndeth about, and killes his neighbours as the Iuie dooth. 1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. ii. 35 If your spindle is to have three or four Worms winding about it. 1686Jevon Devil of a Wife i. 2 Go home and Spin, or else my Strap will wind about thy Ribs. 1759Phil. Trans. LI. 55 The single thread winded off the pod in the same manner as that of the common silk-worm. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 113 The leather shuttle winds upon it as it descends, or unwinds from it as it ascends.
†18. trans.
a. (a) To form or construct by twining or plaiting; to plait, wreathe, weave. Obs.
971Blickl. Hom. 23 Hie..wundan beaᵹ of þornum & him setton on heafod for cynehelme. a1300Cursor M. 1670 Quen þi timber es festend wele Þou wind þe sides ilk dele. c1330Assump. Virg. (B.M. MS.) 795 A seynt..Off silk and gold wounden in pal. 1495Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xvii. clii. (W. de W.) T vj b/2 Wrethes wouen & wounden of thornes & roddes. 1526Tindale John xix. 2 The soudiers wonde a croune off thornes. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 82 That same net so cunningly was wound, That neither guile nor force might it distraine. 1601Holland Pliny vi. xxii. I. 129 The boates..were made and wound of papyr reeds.
† (b) spec. To make or repair (a wall) with ‘windings’ (see winding vbl. n.1 10). Obs.
c900ælfred Solil. Pref., Þæt he..ᵹefeðriᵹe hys wænas mid feᵹrum ᵹerdum, þat he maᵹe windan maniᵹne smicerne wah. 1474–5[see winding vbl. n.1 10]. 1550Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 70 Paid for 3 burthen of roodes to wynde the wals of the store howse. 1574Surrey & Kent Sewers Comm. (L.C.C. 1909) 194 To wind with roddes & to fill vp the walle against his Mille banck. 1618T. Gainsford Glory Eng. 147 Their houses wonde with rods and couered with turffs. 1649Order Bk. Hartlebury Gram. School (1904) 72 To a man to studd and winde walls.
b. To twine or plait together, to intertwine; fig. to associate. Obs.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 345 Þey..wonede vnder bowes and twigges i-wounde to gidres. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xx. 169 As wexe and weke if þei were wounde to-gederes. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §127 Wrappe and wynde theym together. 1578Lyte Dodoens iii. lxxxvii. 440 Stringes, inter⁓laced, woven, and winded one in another. 1618T. Gainsford Glory Eng. i. xvii. 144 And so intricately winde them, or lay them, that they shall be a strong barricado. 1646A. Henderson in Charles I's Wks. (1662) 172, I wind together Diotrephes and the Mystery of Iniquity.
19. To haul or hoist by turning a winch, windlass, or the like, around which a rope or chain is passed.
a. gen.
c1440Promp. Parv. 529/1 Wyndyn' wythe a wyndlas. 1900Law Rep., App. Cas. 407 The head-line of the net is then wound in by means of the windlass.
b. Naut. † (a) To hoist (sail); (b) to move or warp (the ship), by hauling, as on a capstan or windlass. Also absol. or intr. (Cf. 8.) See also 24 g.
Cf. ON. vinda segl to hoist sail.
c1205[see 24 a]. 1379Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 100 In potu dato diversis auxiliantibus pro ii[s]dem exaltand. et wyndand. 3d. c1470Henry Wallace x. 872 He..Bad wynd the saill in all the haist thai may. c1515Cocke Lorell's B. (Percy Soc.) 12 Some wounde at y⊇ capstayne. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 607 The Danis..Wand saill to top. 1549Compl. Scot. vi. 40 The maister..bald the marynalis lay the cabil to the cabilstok, to veynde and veye. Than the marynalis began to veynd the cabil. 1570–1(Feb. 17) Admiralty Crt. Exam. 18 (MS.) Layde an ancre right astern..to winde her out of the dock. 1598Florio Dict. To Rdr., I was but one to turne and winde the sailes, to vse the oare [etc.]. 1600Hakluyt Voy. III. 490 We cut our cables, wound off our ships, and presently fought with them. Ibid., Cutting our cables in the halse, and winding off by our sternefast. 1633(July 18) Admiralty Crt. Exam. 50 (MS.) The Delight was thwart the river and wynding down. 1729Capt. W. Wriglesworth MS. Log-bk. of the ‘Lyell’ 17 Oct., Unmoared the Ship, and got all things in a readiness for Winding her head down. 1853Kane Arctic Expl. (1856) I. vii. 71 We dropped our heaviest anchor with the desperate hope of winding the brig.
c. Mining. To hoist (coal, etc.) to the surface by means of a winding-engine.
1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining, Wind. 1887P. McNeill Blawearie 186 To get their coals winded to the pithead.
20. trans.
†a. To tighten the strings of a musical instrument by turning the pins or pegs around which they are passed. (With the pins or the strings as obj.) See also 24 e (b). Obs.
1607–12Bacon Ess., Empire (Arb.) 298 In gouernement sometymes he vsed to wynd the pynnes to highe, and sometymes to let them downe to lowe. a1700Prior To C'tess of Exeter 31 Your Lute may wind it's Strings but little higher, To tune their Notes to that immortal Quire.
b. To set (a watch, clock, or other mechanism) in order for going by turning an axis with a key or similar device so as to coil the spring tighter or draw up the weights.
Usually wind up (see 24 e); occas. wind down, to cause to stop.
1601, etc. [see 24 e]. a1648Ess. on Death in Bacon's Remaines (1648) 10 Wooing the remorseless Sisters to wind down the watch of their life, and to break them off before the hour. 1760Winthrop in Phil. Trans. LII. 14 He was winding his watch at that time. 1880Hardy Trumpet-Major iii, When he wound his clock on Sunday nights the whirr of that monitor reminded the widow to wind hers.
c. fig. To exalt or ‘screw up’ to a certain pitch. Now with up (see 24 f).
a1635Sibbes Confer. Christ & Mary (1656) 5 Like Jonah,..when he rejoyces, his joy is wound to the highest pitch. 1823Scott Quentin D. Introd., He at length wound himself to such a pitch of resolution, as to invite me to dine. 1827Keble Chr. Y., Morning xiii, We need not..strive to wind ourselves too high For sinful man beneath the sky.
II. In combination with advs. (See also prec. senses and the advs.)
21. wind down.
a. intr. To draw gradually to a close.
1952Dylan Thomas Coll. Poems p. ix, This day winding down now At God speeded summer's end. 1977Time 19 Sept. 22/1 Instead of winding down, investigations were being stepped up. 1985R. Barnard Disposal of Living vi. 75 The fête was beginning to wind down then. I think Mary was still around.
b. intr. for refl. Of a person who has been ‘screwed up’ to a certain pitch or is in a state of tension: to relax, to unwind.
1958Observer 7 Sept. 3/5 He is slowly ‘winding down’ after his exhausting television shows. 1970New Yorker 24 Oct. 50/1 Even the West Indian was winding down. 1979Homes & Gardens June 77/2 It takes him about two days to wind down. When your husband runs his own firm his stress is very great. 1985R. Hunter Fourth Angel viii. 137 An evening at the theatre and a chance to wind down and relax.
c. trans. To open (the window of a vehicle) downwards by rotating a handle. Cf. wind up, sense 24 e (c) below.
1961I. Murdoch Severed Head viii. 71 The windscreen was becoming opaque... I wound down the window on my side and the cold choking air came in. 1975D. Lodge Changing Places v. 165 Philip stopped at a red light and wound down his window.
d. fig. To reduce in scale gradually; to bring (an activity) to an end.
1969Washington Post 16 Apr. a22/2 Very little else is possible before the war is wound down. 1969Guardian 5 Aug. 2/7 The enemy might prefer gradually to ‘wind down’ the level of combat step by step. 1977Rolling Stone 16 June 56/3 Natalie is pregnant and will wind down her work schedule in anticipation of a fall delivery. 1981Daily Tel. 26 Nov. 21 He might be able simply to wind the business down to a size which becomes manageable again.
22. wind off.
a. See simple senses and off.
†b. intr. and trans. To close, conclude, terminate: = wind up, 24 d (b), (d). Obs. rare.
1650Fuller Pisgah ii. i. 60 O that all differences between brethren might winde off, in so welcome a conclusion. 1675Temple Lett. (1701) III. 160 The Prince continues to say he talks to him no further than is necessary to wind off such Businesses as were left in his hands.
23. wind on. Photogr. To turn (the film in a camera) to the next position in readiness for taking another photograph. Also absol.
1947A. Ransome Great Northern? xxiii. 289 Dick wound on the film, closed the camera and put it in its case. 1964‘F. Clifford’ Hunting-Ground vi. 67 Thirty-six on the film and I'm supposed not to have wound on once. 1982C. Thomas Jade Tiger iii. 66 He adjusted the focus... Click, wind on, click again.
24. wind up.
a. trans. To draw up or hoist with a winch or the like: cf. 19.
c1205Lay. 30607 Heo wunden up seiles to coppe. 13..Coer de L. 3955 The Sarezynes..Her brygges wounden up in haste. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 14564 Crosses, belles, men haue founden, In welles, in watres, vp haue wounden. a1450Knt. de la Tour viii. (1906) 11 Folke come to feche and wynde up water at that well. c1477Caxton Jason 67 b, He..went to the see and made to winde up the sayle. 1530Palsgr. 782/2 Wynde up the crane faster. 1580H. Smith in Hakluyt's Voy. (1589) 470 We brought a cable vnder her sterne, and with our capstaine did winde vp her sterne. 1612Beaum. & Fl. Coxcomb ii. ii, Let me see thy hand, this was ne'er made to wash, or wind up water. 1793[Earl Dundonald] Descr. Estate of Culross 55 The adoption of..Steam Engines to wind up the Coals from the pits. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 124 A rope wrapped about it to wind up the sacks of corn.
absol.1846Bentley's Misc. Dec. 555 Walk down stream with him and wind up as fast as you can. He's a fine fish, and shows excellent sport.
b. (a) † To bind or wrap up (obs.); see also 16 (quot. 1853).
c1532G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 948 To wynde up, housser. 1609Bible (Douay) Ezek. xxx. 21 Behold it is not wound up, that health might be restored to it. 1611Bible Acts v. 6. 1616 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. iii. 67 The Sea-Nimphes..Learning of Fisher-men to knit a net, Wherein to wynde vp their disheuel'd hayres. 1627J. Smith Sea Gram. xiii. 61 Winde vp the slaine, with each a..bullet at their heads and feet to make them sinke. 1657J. Watts Dipper Sprinkled 72 The spider doth winde up, and truss up the Fly, being come into its cobweb.
† (b) fig. To involve, implicate. Cf. 16 c. Obs.
In quot. 1651 app. = ‘to have included in one's nature’; so in quot. 16742 intr. for pass. = ‘to be included’.
1599Shakes. Hen. V, iv. i. 296 Winding vp Dayes with toyle, and Nights with sleepe. 1651Cleveland Poems, Rupertismus 73 Whatever man winds up, that Rupert hath. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 127 Well may one motion, of one sort, after sinking into its spring, or being wown up in it, be..brought on again to a kind of quickness. Ibid. 187 So little of boundedness to winde up in. 1784New Spectator No. 13 My happiness is wound up in thine. 1819Keats Otho i. ii, I am wound up in deep astonishment! 1819W. S. Rose Lett. N. Italy II. 96 [They] imagined that her life was wound up in his. 1841Alison Hist. Eur. lxix. IX. 138 His political existence was thenceforth wound up with the success of Russia in the German war.
c. † (a) To coil, roll, or fold up; to furl: cf. 15 b. Obs. exc. as in (b).
1590Spenser F.Q. i. xi. 11 His huge long tayle wound vp in hundred foldes. 1595Shakes. John v. v. 7 After such bloody toile, we..woon'd our tott'ring colours clearly vp. 1659Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1721) IV. iii. 269 He..wound up his Hair with his Hands, and put on a White Cap. 1759R. Brown Compl. Farmer 35 See that the wool be well wound up.
(b) To coil (thread, etc.) into a compact mass (cf. 15): chiefly in phr. † to wind up a bottom or one's bottoms (bottom n. 15), usually fig. to sum up, conclude (cf. d).
1631J. Anchoran Comenius' Gate Tongues 99 Off a reele clewes or bottomes of threads are winded vp and web is made. 1639J. Clarke Parœm. 46 Wind up your bottome. 1652Peyton Catastr. Ho. Stuarts (1731) 64, I have ravelled out the Pieces to wind up this Bottom. 1749G. Lavington Enthus. Meth. & Papists ii. (1754) Pref. p. xxxii, But, to wind up my Bottoms [etc.]. a1766F. Sheridan Sidney Bidulph IV. 27 That would be tipping the spire and winding up her bottoms with a witness. 1770Dibdin Deserter i. i, I'll give you while I wind up this bottom and another, and you sha'n't find it out.
d. fig. † (a) To gather up the points of (a discourse) in a compact statement by way of conclusion; to sum up. Obs.
1583B. Melbancke Philotimus X iij b, To winde vp all in a short conclusion, [etc.]. 1630Prynne Anti-Armin. 137 To winde vp all in briefe. c1645Howell Lett. (1650) I. vi. iii. 186 Be pleas'd to dispense with the prolixity of this Discours, for I could not wind it up closer, nor on a lesser bottom. 1692R. L'Estrange Fables Pref. B 1 b, I shall now Wind up what I have to say. 1791Burke Th. French Aff. Wks. 1842 I. 580, I wind up all in a full conviction within my own breast,..that [etc.].
(b) † To make up as the conclusion or final scene (obs.); to bring to a close or conclusion; to form the conclusion of, be the final event in.
1740Richardson Pamela II. 17, I shall be better directed in what manner to wind up the Catastrophe of the pretty Novel. 1759Sterne Tr. Shandy I. xii, To wind up the last scene of thy tragedy, Cruelty and Cowardice..shall strike together at all thy infirmities and mistakes. 1821Scott Dryden's Wks. VIII. 454 The moral, by which the whole Masque is winded up, was sadly true. 1833T. Hook Parson's Dau. i. vii, Her ladyship was winding up the day with her accustomed bottle of soda-water. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xliv, Sobs and tears wound up the sentence in a storm. 1912World 7 May 685/1 An evening party on Saturday wound up the season's entertaining.
(c) To put in order and settle (an affair) with the view of bringing it to an end; to bring to a final settlement; spec. to arrange and adjust the affairs of (a company or business concern) on its dissolution; also absol.
1780Mirror No. 97 ⁋7 Some company concerns to be wound up, or some bottomry-accompt to be adjusted. 1794Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 458, I have some affairs in London which I wish to wind up. 1848Dickens Dombey lviii, It was understood that the affairs of the House were to be wound up as they best could be. 1875Economist 30 Jan. 131/2 The Master of the Rolls has made an order to wind-up, and has appointed Mr. John Smith..official liquidator. 1893S. O. Jewett Deephaven 213 He was trading up to Parsonsfield, and business run down, so he wound up there, and thought he'd make a new start. 1924Mackail in Proc. Class. Assoc. 13 The Association was never formally wound up and still technically existed.
(d) absol. or intr. To bring the proceeding to a close; to come to a close; to conclude with something.
1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. x. III. 185 And a dish of maccaroni to wind up with. 1835Dickens Sk. Boz, Astley's, One of the little boys wound up by expressing his opinion, that ‘George began to think himself quite a man now’. 1855― Lett. (1880) I. 396, I want to wind up with that popular farce. 1882E. O'Donovan Merv Oasis I. 329 An extreme amount of fever, winding up with delirium on the fifth day.
(e) intr. Of a person, etc.: to end up, to finish up (in a certain place or condition); to find oneself eventually. colloq.
1918V. Woolf Diary (1979) I. 115, I went to have my tooth finished, winding up for tea at the Club. 1921E. O'Neill Emperor Jones i. 155 When I gits a chance to use it I winds up Emperor in two years. 1942W. Stevens Let. 2 Oct. (1966) 421 The same reasons would prevent her from marrying as long as the war goes on, and..she may wind up as an old maid. 1952Wodehouse Barmy in Wonderland iii. 29 Men who own hotels always wind up in the breadline with holes in their socks. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 3/1 Canada has made no written request that military equipment sent to the United States should not wind up in Vietnam. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 13 Mar. 9/2 Somebody who wants to get away from it all is likely to wind up in a chalet in a Heidilike village on a mountain. 1980L. Birnbach et al. Official Preppy Handbk. 111/1 Many of these forays..wind up involving mayhem or destruction of property.
e. (a) In reference to a watch, etc.: see 20 b.
1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 66, I frowne the while, and perchance winde vp my watch. 1639Crabtree Lect. 41 Gladly he would have interrupted her,..but the Jacke was woond up, and downe it must. 1648Wilkins Math. Magick i. xix. (1707) 80 These Mathematical Engines cannot be so easily and speedily wound up, and so certainly levelled as the other may. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 125 A Watch or a Jack, by being only wown up [etc.]. 1712Budgell Spect. No. 277 ⁋17 Another Puppet, which by the Help of several little Springs to be wound up within it, could move all its Limbs. 1762Churchill Poems, Night 83 Wound up at twelve at noon, his clock goes right, Mine better goes, wound up at twelve at night. 1883Ritchie Bk. Sibyls ii. 148 Climbing a ladder to wind up an old clock.
† (b) In reference to the strings of a musical instrument (see 20 a); fig. to put in tune.
1605Shakes. Lear iv. vii. 16 Th' vntun'd and iarring senses, O winde vp, Of this childe-changed Father. 1645Waller Chloris & Hilas i. Poems 157 Winde up the slack'ned strings of thy Lute.
(c) In reference to a motor vehicle: to close (the window) by rotating a handle. Cf. wind down, sense 21 c above.
1970H. R. F. Keating Inspector Ghote breaks Egg ii. 16 He slowly wound up the window of his big car. 1971P. D. James Shroud for Nightingale i. 16 She wound up the car window and stepped on the accelerator.
f. fig. To set in readiness for action; to raise (feeling) to a high degree; now usually, to put into a state of tension or intensity of feeling, etc.; also, to annoy, to provoke deliberately (colloq.); to excite; to brace up; in Racing slang, to put (a race-horse) into fit condition for running.
1602Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. iii, Straine all your wits, winde up invention Unto his highest bent. 1605Shakes. Macb. i. iii. 37 Peace, the Charme's wound vp. 1609B. Jonson Sil. Wom. v. i, His knights reformadoes are wound up as high and insolent as ever they were. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 269 Having wound him up with good chear. 1665J. Spencer Prodigies ii. (ed. 2) 136 These blind..Powers must be..perpetually woond up by an Hand of Power and Counsel. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1768) VII. 20 My passions are so wound up, that I am obliged either to laugh or cry. 1759Goldsm. Voltaire Wks. (1889) 489/2 Voltaire seemed wound up to no other pursuit than that of poetry. Ibid. 500/1 Our poet was at last wound up to the height of expectation. 1822Hazlitt Table-t. II. vii. 176 He had wound himself up to the last pitch of expectation. 1843R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxiii. 294 Ladies of fashion use it constantly to wind themselves up, when reduced to a little below par. 1864Newman Apol. iv. (1904) 126/2 It is not at all easy (humanly speaking) to wind up an Englishman to a dogmatic level. 1871‘M. Legrand’ Cambr. Freshm. 197 There's one that's what we call wound up: going to run next week in a big handicap. 1880A. H. Huth Buckle II. 257 Mr. Buckle's interjections come in very usefully to help Mr. Glennie along, and wind him up again, as it were, when he has run down. 1979Time Out 30 Nov. 11/2 The kids are proud of the successful thieving they have done, and though they'll ‘wind you up’ (take the piss) as much as they can, the conversation becomes deadly serious on certain topics. 1984Sunday Times 26 Feb. 10/5 They started winding her up, which is not difficult since she does not have a great sense of humour. 1985Times 11 Jan. 3/6 When he heard the car horn sound and saw the car lights flash at his window he thought his neighbour was ‘trying to wind me up’. 1987Match 21 Mar. 5/1 All he kept saying was ‘boss, you're kidding me, boss you're winding me up’.
†g. Naut. intr. and trans. See quots., and cf. 8, 19 b (b). Obs.
a1625H. Manwayring Sea-mans Dict. (1644) 115 The ship winds-up, that is, when she comes to ride by her Anchor. 1633T. James Voy. 10 This Anker had neuer bin able to winde vp the Ship. 1639[see winding vbl. n.1 1 b]. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. p. lv, Ships..have Water enough to wind up with the Tide of flood. 1711Milit. & Sea Dict. (ed. 4).
▪ IV. wind, v.2|wɪnd, waɪnd|
Pa. tense and pple. winded. Forms: 5 wynde, 6–8 winde, 6– wind. pa. tense and pple. 6– winded; 8–9 wound (see sense 3).
[f. wind n.1 In ordinary prose use the pronunciation is (wɪnd) except in sense 3, where it is |waɪnd|.]
I. From wind n.1 I.
1. a. trans. To get the wind of (wind n.1 4); to perceive (an animal, a person, or thing) by the scent conveyed by the wind.
† Occas. with obj. clause and absol. In quot. 1607, to perceive (a sound) conveyed by the wind, to hear.
c1410Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) vi, Þe wolfe is so maliciouse, when he seeth hir comme withoute fedynge, þat he goth wynde at hir musel. And if he wynde þere she hath brought any thynge, he..biteth her. Ibid., Somme men seith þat she bateth..hir heede, because þat the wolfe shulde wynde nothyng of hir fedynge whan she cometh agayne. 1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 394 You might..haue tourned the Hare you winded, and caught the game you coursed. 1583Golding Calvin on Deut. xxiii. 6. 807/1 As a swyne when he hath once winded his meat, runnes on to swash himself in it. 1601Holland Pliny xii. xxii. I. 375 A man may wind the sent of it presently a great way off. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iv. ii, Any sensible snout may winde M. Amoretto and his Pomander. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 584 The greedy beast winding the voice of the Dogge. 1644Digby Nat. Bodies xxvii. §7. 248 He could att a great distance wind by his nose, where whole⁓some fruites or rootes did grow. 1726Pope Odyss. xvii. 385 His scent how true, To winde the vapour in the tainted dew. 1850R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. xxii. II. 126 Soon after fourteen buffaloes came; but..they got an alarm..They had winded two lions. 1880Carnegie Pract. Trap. 32 A good terrier, one which will wind, and, if necessary, fight a fox. 1892Field 7 May 695/1 Deuce dropped to birds that got up as we entered, and Dulcimer ran into a pair that she just winded before they rose.
b. intr. Of an animal: To sniff in order to scent or on scenting something.
c1410[see above]. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 125 When a hart pricketh vp his eares he windeth sharpe. 1842J. W. Carleton Sporting Sk. Bk. 29 Palatine..suddenly raised his head, winded high in the air, sprung over the bushes, winded again, then leaped again.
c. fig. (trans.) To perceive by some subtle indication; to get wind of, to smell or nose out.
1583B. Melbancke Philotimus Q iij, Philotimus winding Aurelia to haue munched on this carrion..trotted to her lodging once or twise, where she would not be sene. 1596Spenser F.Q. v. ii. 25 Talus, that could like a limehound winde her. 1611L. Barry Ram Alley ii. i, No nose to smell, and winde out all your tricks. 1640C. Harvey Synagogue, Search ii, My senses are too weake to wind him. a1641Sir J. Finett Observ. (1656) 13, I winding the cause to be some new buz, gotten into his Braine. 1779–81Johnson L.P., Pope Wks. IV. 51 A cat, hunted for his musk, is, according to Pope's account, but the emblem of a wit winded by booksellers. 1829Landor Imag. Conv. Ser. ii. I. Chaucer, Boccaccio, & Petrarca 226, I never knew a priest at a fault, whatever he winded.
II. From wind n.1 II.
2. a. trans. To expose to the wind or air; to dry by such exposure, to air.
c1440Promp. Parv. 529/1 Wyyndyd, ventilatus, vel vento et aure expositus. 1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 385/2 Offringitur ager,..the land is winded, fallowed, or twise laboured ouer. 1872Smyth Mining Stat. 64 As Mr. Spear says, ‘he leaves the air to wind the ground the other 16 hours’.
b. intr. To ‘take wind’, become tainted by exposure to air; trans. to taint by such exposure. dial.
1842J. Aiton Dom. Econ. (1857) 222 A handful of salt shaken on the top of it, which keeps it from turning mouldy or winding. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 905 If the least cell of air be left in its mass{ddd}it will wind the butter.
3. a. trans. To sound by forcing the breath through, to blow (a wind-instrument, esp. a horn).
In this sense often with pa. tense and pple. wound, by confusion with wind v.1, perh. due to vague suggestion from the curved form of a horn or bugle.
1586[? J. Case] Praise Mus. i. 17 Minerua was delighted with her pipe, and vsed euen in the assemblie of the gods very much to winde it. 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. i. iii, Boy, winde thy cornet. 1706Swift To Earl of Peterborough 16 The Post-boy winds his Horn. 1746Collins Ode Evening 11 Where the Beetle winds His small but sullen Horn. 1789G. Keate Pelew Isl. 33 The boatswain called all hands out to work by winding his pipe. 1790Pennant London 243 Hunters who wound their horns. 1810Scott Lady of L. i. xvii, But scarce again his horn he wound. 1814― Ld. of Isles iv. xviii, That blast was winded by the King! 1859Tennyson Pelleas & Ettarre 371 Gawain..raised a bugle hanging from his neck, And winded it. 1859― Elaine 169 Thither he made and wound the gateway horn.
b. To blow (a blast, call, or note) on a horn, etc.
1599Shakes. Much Ado i. i. 243 But that I will haue a rechate winded in my forehead. 1735Somerville Chase ii. 292 With Cheeks full-blown they wind Her solemn Dirge. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1776), Winding a Call, the act of blowing or piping upon a boatswain's whistle. 1888Stevenson Black Arrow v. vi, He raised a little tucket to his mouth and wound a rousing call.
c. absol. or intr. To blow a blast on a wind-instrument.
1600Holland Livy ii. lxiv. 86 Quintius..caused certaine cornetiers..to wind and sound before the trench.
d. trans. To supply (an organ-pipe) with wind at a particular pressure.
1879Organ Voicing 28 They must be winded to match those below in strength.
†4. trans. To blow (a fire, etc.). Obs. rare.
1605Timme Quersit. ii. vii, The fire..the which he had spread abroad, and winded or bellowsed in vaine. a1660Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) I. 69 The freshe lime shaken and winded, filled the place with its smoke.
5. To deprive of ‘wind’ or breath, put out of breath, ‘blow’, ‘puff’.
1811Sporting Mag. XXXVII. 18 Parkes was very faint, and apparently quite winded. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy iii, ‘Two to one on Dick—he's closing.’ ‘Done! Andy will wind him yet.’ 1857G. A. Lawrence Guy Liv. ii. 9 A country..where there was no hill steep enough to wind a horse in good condition. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xx, He can't hardly keep from barking till he's hoarse, and rushing through and over everything till he's winded and done up.
6. To cause (a baby) to bring up wind after feeding; to ‘burp’.
1958Observer 19 Oct. 10/6 My five-month-old son, though well fed, thoroughly winded and much loved, delights in yelling loud and long. 1961Guardian 28 June 6/3 Two babies..to feed and wind and change. 1978D. Murphy Place Apart x. 211 Paddy's wife handed him their six-months-old daughter, to be ‘winded’ while she was undressing their two-year-old son... The baby burped dutifully.
▪ V. wind, v.3 dial.
Also 5–6 wynd, 8 Sc. winn.
[Perh. a use of wind v.2; cf. OHG. wintôn (MHG., G. winden), Goth. diswinþjan to scatter like chaff (cf. winþiskaurô and OHG. winta winnowing-fan).
Late Northumb. windung, rare var. of winnung, wynnung, appears to be unconnected, and winden in Ancr. R. (ed. Morton) 270 is prob. an error for windwen.]
To winnow. Chiefly in vbl. n. (attrib.).
a1500Promp. Parv. 529/1 Wynewynge, wythe wyynd (K., P. wyndynge), ventilacio. 1538Aberd. Reg. XVI. (Jam. 1825), And see the same bair wyndit & dycht. 1548, etc. [see winding-cloth2]. 1578Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 783/1 The beir granell, malt barne and windinhous. 1688Holme Armoury iii. 74/1 Winnowing, Winding or Haveing. 1733Budgell Bee No. 7. I. 293 Their Mother coming home presently after from winding of Corn, affrighted at this tragical Scene, threw the winding Cloth which she had in her Hand into the Cradle where the youngest Child was asleep, and smother'd it unawares. 1785Burns Halloween xxi, Meg fain wad to the barn gaen To winn three wechts o' naething. 1847Halliwell, Wind..To winnow corn. Devon. 1869Peacock Lonsdale Gloss. 1891Hartland Gloss. s.v. Wind, Although winnin' or windin' by hand is nearly obsolete, some farms have still a Windin'-place, a spot of high ground where it was performed. 1919R. P. Chope Some Old Farm Impl. 24 [Devonshire] the ‘machine fan’, or winding-van.
▪ VI. wind
obs. var. wend v.; obs. pa. pple. of win v.1; var. win v.2; obs. Sc. f. wound n.; var. wynd. |
