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Entry 24 senses · 6 variants Webster, 1913

Wind

/wĭnd/ · IPA /ˈwɪnd/
01 v. t. To turn completely, or with repeated turns; especially, to turn about something fixed; to cause to form convolutions about anything; to coi…
imp. & p. p. Wound; p. pr. & vb. n. Winding
  1. 1.
    To turn completely, or with repeated turns; especially, to turn about something fixed; to cause to form convolutions about anything; to coil; to twine; to twist; to wreathe; as, to wind thread on a spool or into a ball.
    “Whether to wind The woodbine round this arbor.” — Milton.
  2. 2.
    To entwist; to infold; to encircle.
    “Sleep, and I will wind thee in arms.” — Shak.
  3. 3.
    To have complete control over; to turn and bend at one's pleasure; to vary or alter or will; to regulate; to govern.
    “In his terms so he would him wind.” — Chaucer.
    “Gifts blind the wise, and bribes do please And wind all other witnesses.” — Herrick.
    “Were our legislature vested in the prince, he might wind and turn our constitution at his pleasure.” — Addison.
  4. 4.
    To introduce by insinuation; to insinuate.
    “You have contrived . . . to wind Yourself into a power tyrannical.” — Shak.
    “Little arts and dexterities they have to wind in such things into discourse.” — Gov. of Tongue.
  5. 5.
    To cover or surround with something coiled about; as, to wind a rope with twine.
Phrases & compounds
To wind off — to unwind; to uncoil.
To wind out — to extricate.
To wind up — To coil into a ball or small compass, as a skein of thread; to coil completely.
02 v. i. To turn completely or repeatedly; to become coiled about anything; to assume a convolved or spiral form; as, vines wind round a pole.
  1. 1.
    To turn completely or repeatedly; to become coiled about anything; to assume a convolved or spiral form; as, vines wind round a pole.
    “So swift your judgments turn and wind.” — Dryden.
  2. 2.
    To have a circular course or direction; to crook; to bend; to meander; as, to wind in and out among trees.
    “And where the valley winded out below, The murmuring main was heard, and scarcely heard, to flow.” — Thomson.
    “He therefore turned him to the steep and rocky path which . . . winded through the thickets of wild boxwood and other low aromatic shrubs.” — Sir W. Scott.
  3. 3.
    To go to the one side or the other; to move this way and that; to double on one's course; as, a hare pursued turns and winds.
    “The lowing herd wind �lowly o'er the lea.” — Gray.
    “To wind out, to extricate one's self; to escape. Long struggling underneath are they could wind Out of such prison.” — Milton.
03 n. The act of winding or turning; a turn; a bend; a twist; a winding.
  1. 1.
    The act of winding or turning; a turn; a bend; a twist; a winding.
04 n. Air naturally in motion with any degree of velocity; a current of air.
  1. 1.
    Air naturally in motion with any degree of velocity; a current of air.
    “Except wind stands as never it stood, It is an ill wind that turns none to good.” — Tusser.
    “Winds were soft, and woods were green.” — Longfellow.
  2. 2.
    Air artificially put in motion by any force or action; as, the wind of a cannon ball; the wind of a bellows.
  3. 3.
    Breath modulated by the respiratory and vocal organs, or by an instrument.
    “Their instruments were various in their kind, Some for the bow, and some for breathing wind.” — Dryden.
  4. 4.
    Power of respiration; breath.
    “If my wind were but long enough to say my prayers, I would repent.” — Shak.
  5. 5.
    Air or gas generated in the stomach or bowels; flatulence; as, to be troubled with wind.
  6. 6.
    Air impregnated with an odor or scent.
    “A pack of dogfish had him in the wind.” — Swift.
  7. 7.
    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.
    “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain.” — Ezek. xxxvii. 9.
  8. 8.
    A disease of sheep, in which the intestines are distended with air, or rather affected with a violent inflammation. It occurs immediately after shearing.(Far.)
  9. 9.
    Mere breath or talk; empty effort; idle words.
    “Nor think thou with wind Of airy threats to awe.” — Milton.
  10. 10.
    The dotterel.(Zool.) [Prov. Eng.]
  11. 11.
    The region of the pit of the stomach, where a blow may paralyze the diaphragm and cause temporary loss of breath or other injury; the mark.(Boxing) [Slang or Cant]
Phrases & compounds
All in the wind — See under All, n.
Before the wind — See under Before.
Between wind and water — in that part of a ship's side or bottom which is frequently brought above water by the rolling of the ship, or fluctuation of the water's surface. Hence, colloquially, (as an injury to that part of a vessel, in an engagement, is particularly dangerous) the vulnerable part or point of anything.
Cardinal winds — See under Cardinal, a.
Down the wind — In the direction of, and moving with, the wind; as, birds fly swiftly down the wind.
In the wind's eye — directly toward the point from which the wind blows.
Three sheets in the wind — unsteady from drink.
To be in the wind — to be suggested or expected; to be a matter of suspicion or surmise.
To carry the wind — to toss the nose as high as the ears, as a horse.
To raise the wind — to procure money.
To take the wind — to gain or have the advantage.
To take the wind out of one's sails — to cause one to stop, or lose way, as when a vessel intercepts the wind of another; to cause one to lose enthusiasm, or momentum in an activity.
To take wind — to be divulged; to become public; as, the story got wind, or took wind.
Wind band — a band of wind instruments; a military band; the wind instruments of an orchestra.
Wind chest — a chest or reservoir of wind in an organ.
Wind dropsy — Tympanites.
Wind egg — an imperfect, unimpregnated, or addled egg.
Wind furnace — See the Note under Furnace.
Wind gauge — See under Gauge.
Wind gun — Same as Air gun.
Wind hatch — the opening or place where the ore is taken out of the earth.
Wind instrument — an instrument of music sounded by means of wind, especially by means of the breath, as a flute, a clarinet, etc.
Wind pump — a pump moved by a windmill.
Wind rose — a table of the points of the compass, giving the states of the barometer, etc., connected with winds from the different directions.
Wind sail — A wide tube or funnel of canvas, used to convey a stream of air for ventilation into the lower compartments of a vessel.
Wind shake — a crack or incoherence in timber produced by violent winds while the timber was growing.
Wind shock — a wind shake.
Wind side — the side next the wind; the windward side.
Wind rush — the redwing.
Wind wheel — a motor consisting of a wheel moved by wind.
Wood wind — the flutes and reed instruments of an orchestra, collectively.
05 v. t. To expose to the wind; to winnow; to ventilate.
imp. & p. p. Winded; p. pr. & vb. n. Winding
  1. 1.
    To expose to the wind; to winnow; to ventilate.
  2. 2.
    To perceive or follow by the scent; to scent; to nose; as, the hounds winded the game.
  3. 3.
    To drive hard, or force to violent exertion, as a horse, so as to render scant of wind; to put out of breath.
Phrases & compounds
To wind a ship — to turn it end for end, so that the wind strikes it on the opposite side.
06 v. t. To blow; to sound by blowing; esp., to sound with prolonged and mutually involved notes.
imp. & p. p. Wound; p. pr. & vb. n. Winding
  1. 1.
    To blow; to sound by blowing; esp., to sound with prolonged and mutually involved notes.[R.]
    “Ye vigorous swains, while youth ferments your blood, . . . Wind the shrill horn.” — Pope.
    “That blast was winded by the king.” — Sir W. Scott.