wind

See also: Wind

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English wynd, wind, from Old English wind (“wind”), from Proto-West Germanic *wind, from Proto-Germanic *windaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥tos (“wind”), from earlier *h₂wéh₁n̥ts (“wind”), derived from the present participle of *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).

Cognates

Cognate with Dutch wind, German Wind, West Frisian wyn, Norwegian and Swedish vind, Icelandic vindur, Latin ventus, Welsh gwynt, Sanskrit वात (vā́ta), Russian ве́тер (véter), perhaps Albanian bundë (“strong damp wind”). Doublet of athlete, vent, weather and nirvana.

Alternative forms

winde (obsolete)

Pronunciation

enPR: wĭnd, IPA^(key): /ˈwɪnd/
- Audio (UK) (file)
- Audio (US) (file)
(archaic) enPR: wīnd, IPA^(key): /ˈwaɪnd/
Rhymes: -ɪnd

Noun

wind (countable and uncountable, plural winds)

(countable, uncountable) Real or perceived movement of atmospheric air usually caused by convection or differences in air pressure.
The wind blew through her hair as she stood on the deck of the ship.
As they accelerated onto the motorway, the wind tore the plywood off the car's roof-rack.
The winds in Chicago are fierce.
There was a sudden gust of wind.
- 2013 June 29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29:
  Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.
Air artificially put in motion by any force or action.
the wind of a cannon ball; the wind of a bellows
(countable, uncountable) The ability to breathe easily.
After the second lap he was already out of wind.
The fall knocked the wind out of him.
News of an event, especially by hearsay or gossip. (Used with catch, often in the past tense.)
Steve caught wind of Martha's dalliance with his best friend.
One of the five basic elements in Indian and Japanese models of the Classical elements.
(uncountable, colloquial) Flatus.
Eww. Someone just passed wind.
Breath modulated by the respiratory and vocal organs, or by an instrument.
- 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 228732415:
  Their instruments were various in their kind,
  Some for the bow, and some for breathing wind.
(music) The woodwind section of an orchestra. Occasionally also used to include the brass section.
A direction from which the wind may blow; a point of the compass; especially, one of the cardinal points, which are often called the "four winds".
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Ezekiel 37:9:
  Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:
  When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.
Types of playing-tile in the game of mah-jongg, named after the four winds.
A disease of sheep, in which the intestines are distended with air, or rather affected with a violent inflammation. It occurs immediately after shearing.
Mere breath or talk; empty effort; idle words.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
  Nor think thou with wind
  Of airy threats to awe.
- 1946, George Orwell, Politics and the English Language:
  Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
A bird, the dotterel.
(boxing, slang) The region of the solar plexus, where a blow may paralyze the diaphragm and cause temporary loss of breath or other injury.

Synonyms

(movement of air): breeze, draft, gale; see also Thesaurus:wind
(flatus): gas (US); see also Thesaurus:flatus

Derived terms

anabatic wind
break wind
close to the wind
crosswind
downwind
fair wind
foul wind
get one's wind back
get the wind up
get wind of
headwind
it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good
katabatic wind
like the wind
long-winded
pass wind
sail close to the wind
scattered to the four winds
second wind
see which way the wind is blowing
solar wind
sow the wind and reap the whirlwind
stellar wind
stormwind
tailwind
thaw wind
the winds
take the wind out of someone's sails
three sheets to the wind
throw caution to the wind
throw to the wind
trade wind
twist in the wind
upwind
which way the wind is blowing
whirlwind
whistle in the wind
willow in the wind
wind at one's back
windbag
wind band
wind-blown
windboard
windbound
wind-break, windbreak
windbreaker
wind-breaker
windburn
wind chart
wind-cheater, windcheater
windchill
wind chimes
wind cone, windcone
wind-driven
wind egg
windfall
wind farm
windflaw
wind force
wind gauge
wind generator
wind gun
wind instrument
windily
windiness
windjammer
windless
windmill
wind of change
window
windpipe
wind power
windpump
wind rose
wind scale
windscreen
wind shake
wind shear, windshear
windshield
wind sleeve, windsleeve
wind sock, windsock
winds of change
windstorm
windsurf
windsurfer
windsurfing
wind-swept, windswept
windthrow
wind tunnel
wind turbine
windward
windy

Descendants

Tok Pisin: win
Torres Strait Creole: win

Translations

See wind/translations § Etymology 1.

Verb

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

(transitive) To blow air through a wind instrument or horn to make a sound.
- 1796, Gottfried Augustus Bürger, “The Chase”, in [Walter Scott], transl., The Chase, and William and Helen: Two Ballads, from the German […], Edinburgh: […] Mundell and Son, […], for Manners and Miller, […]; and sold by T[homas] Cadell, Jun. and W[illiam] Davies (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell) […], OCLC 606283669, stanza I, page 1:
  Earl Walter winds his bugle horn; / To horſe, to horſe, halloo, halloo! / His fiery courſer ſnuffs the morn, / And thronging ſerfs their Lord purſue.
- 1913, Edith Constance Holme, Crump Folk Going Home, page 136:
  Something higher must lie at the back of that eager response to pack-music and winded horn — something born of the smell of the good earth
- 1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
  "If your Majesty is ever to use the Horn," said Trufflehunter, "I think the time has now come." Caspian had of course told them of this treasure several days ago.
  […]
  "Then in the name of Aslan we will wind Queen Susan's Horn," said Caspian.
(transitive) To cause (someone) to become breathless, as by a blow to the abdomen, or by physical exertion, running, etc.
The boxer was winded during round two.
(transitive, Britain) To cause a baby to bring up wind by patting its back after being fed.
(transitive, Britain) To turn a boat or ship around, so that the wind strikes it on the opposite side.
(transitive) To expose to the wind; to winnow; to ventilate.
(transitive) To perceive or follow by scent.
The hounds winded the game.
(transitive) To rest (a horse, etc.) in order to allow the breath to be recovered; to breathe.
(transitive) To turn a windmill so that its sails face into the wind.[1]

Usage notes

The form “wound” in the past is occasionally found in reference to blowing a horn, but is often considered to be erroneous. The October 1875 issue of The Galaxy disparaged this usage as a “very ridiculous mistake” arising from a misunderstanding of the word's meaning.
A similar solecism occurs in the use (in this sense) of the pronunciation /waɪnd/, sometimes heard in singing and oral reading of verse, e.g., The huntsman /waɪndz/ his horn.

Descendants

⇒ Tok Pisin: winim

Translations

See wind/translations § Etymology 1.

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

enPR: wīnd, IPA^(key): /waɪnd/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -aɪnd
Homophones: wined, whined (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Verb

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

(transitive) To turn coils of (a cord or something similar) around something.
to wind thread on a spool or into a ball
- 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
  Whether to wind
  The woodbine round this arbour.
- 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., OCLC 580270828, page 01:
  It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.
(transitive) To tighten the spring of a clockwork mechanism such as that of a clock.
Please wind that old-fashioned alarm clock.
(transitive) To entwist; to enfold; to encircle.
- c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i]:
  Sleep, and I will wind thee in arms.
(intransitive) To travel in a way that is not straight.
Vines wind round a pole. The river winds through the plain.
- 1829 May 2, [Walter Scott], Anne of Geierstein; or, The Maiden of the Mist. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Company] for Cadell and Co., […]; London: Simpkin and Marshall, […], OCLC 230674445:
  He therefore turned him to the steep and rocky path which […] winded through the thickets of wild boxwood and other low aromatic shrubs.
- 1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
  The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:
  Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.
- 1969, Paul McCartney, The Long and Winding Road
  The long and winding road
  That leads to your door
  Will never disappear.
(transitive) To have complete control over; to turn and bend at one's pleasure; to vary or alter or will; to regulate; to govern.
- 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i]:
  to turn and wind a fiery Pegasus
- 1648, Robert Herrick, “To his Conscience”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], OCLC 1044244285; republished as Henry G. Clarke, editor, Hesperides, or Works both Human and Divine, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: H. G. Clarke and Co., […], 1844, OCLC 1110372590:
  Gifts blind the wise, and bribes do please
  And wind all other witnesses.
- 12 October 1710, Joseph Addison, The Examiner No. 5
  Were our legislature vested in the person of our prince, he might doubtless wind and turn our constitution at his pleasure.
(transitive) To introduce by insinuation; to insinuate.
- c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene iii]:
  You have contrived […] to wind
  Yourself into a power tyrannical.
- 1674, Richard Allestree, The Government of the Tongue
  'Tis pleasant to see what little arts and dexterities they have to wind in such things into discourse
(transitive) To cover or surround with something coiled about.
to wind a rope with twine
(transitive) To cause to move by exerting a winding force; to haul or hoist, as by a winch.
- 2012, "Rural Affairs", Anna Hutton-North, Lulu.com →ISBN
  Quickly she slammed the door shut and panicking wound the window up as fast as her slippery fingers would allow.
(transitive, nautical) To turn (a ship) around, end for end.

Derived terms

bewind
rewind
underwind
unwind
wind down
wind somebody round one's finger
wind up
windable
winder
winding
windlass
wind-up

Related terms

unwind
wend

Descendants

→ Esperanto: vindi

Translations

See wind/translations § Etymology 2.

Noun

wind (plural winds)

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

References

wind at OneLook Dictionary Search

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

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /vənt/
Audio (file)

Etymology 1

From Dutch wind, from Middle Dutch wint, from Old Dutch wint, from Proto-Germanic *windaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥ts (“blowing”), present participle of *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).

Noun

wind (plural winde, diminutive windjie)

wind (movement of air)

Etymology 2

From Dutch winden.

Verb

wind (present wind, present participle windende, past participle gewind)

(higher register) to wind

Alemannic German

Alternative forms

wénn, winn, wend

Etymology

From Old High German wint, from Proto-Germanic *windaz. Cognate with German Wind, Dutch wind, English wind, Icelandic vindur, Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌳𐍃 (winds).

Noun

wind m

(Carcoforo) wind

References

Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Dutch

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʋɪnt/
audio (file)
Hyphenation: wind
Rhymes: -ɪnt
Homophone: wint

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch wint, from Old Dutch wint, from Proto-West Germanic *wind, from Proto-Germanic *windaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥ts (“blowing”), present participle of *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).

Noun

wind m (plural winden, diminutive windje n)

wind (movement of air)
De wind waait door de bomen. ― The wind blows through the trees.
flatulence, fart
Synonyms: bout, buikwind, ruft, scheet

Derived terms

in de wind slaan
landwind
tegenwind
valwind
windbuil
winderig
windhaan
windkracht
windmolen
windstil
windstoot
windturbine
windvlaag
zeewind

Descendants

Afrikaans: wind
Berbice Creole Dutch: wende
Negerhollands: wind, win, wen
Skepi Creole Dutch: went
→ Aukan: winta
→ Sranan Tongo: winti

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch wint. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Noun

wind m (plural winden, diminutive windje n)

(obsolete) greyhound

Derived terms

windhond

Related terms

hond

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

wind

first-person singular present indicative of winden
imperative of winden

Middle English

Noun

wind

Alternative form of wynd

Verb

wind

Alternative form of wynden (“to wind”)

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wind.

Germanic cognates include Old Frisian wind, Old Saxon wind, Dutch wind, Old High German wint (German Wind), Old Norse vindr (Swedish vind), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌳𐍃 (winds). The Indo-European root is also the source of Latin ventus (French vent), Welsh gwynt, Tocharian A want, Tocharian B yente.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /wind/

Noun

wind m

wind
flatulence

Declension

Declension of wind (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	wind	windas
accusative	wind	windas
genitive	windes	winda
dative	winde	windum

Derived terms

ġewind
hēafodwind
windbǣre
windiġ
windsċofl

Descendants

Middle English: wynd, wend, wende, wind, winde, wynde
- English: wind
- Scots: wind, win
- Yola: weend, wyeene

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