wind

Noun (1)

wind (countable and uncountable, plural winds)

1. 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.
2. Air artificially put in motion by any force or action.
   • the wind of a cannon ball
   • the wind of a bellows
3. The ability to breathe easily.
   • After the second lap he was already out of wind.
   • The fall knocked the wind out of him.
4. (figuratively) News of an event, especially by hearsay or gossip.
   • to catch wind of something
   • Steve caught wind of Martha's dalliance with his best friend.
5. (figuratively) A tendency or trend.
   • the wind of change
   • But many of those issues failed to draw Spanish voters, or even scared them, and the country’s election results went contrary to Europe’s political winds.2023 July 24, Jason Horowitz, “What the Collapse of Spain’s Far Right Means Going Forward”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
6. One of the four elements of the ancient Greeks and Romans; air.

   Synonyms:

   breeze

7. One of the five basic elements in Indian and Japanese models of the Classical elements.
8. (colloquial, uncountable) Flatus.
   • to pass wind

   Synonyms:

   gas

9. 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.1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
10. The woodwind section of an orchestra. Occasionally also used to include the brass section.
11. A woodwind instrument. Occasionally also used to describe a brass instrument.
12. A direction from which the wind may blow; a point of the compass; especially, one of the cardinal points.
    • the four winds
    • Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 37:9

Verb (1)

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

1. (transitive) To blow air through a wind instrument or horn to make a sound.
   • Earl Walter winds his bugle horn; / To horſe, to horſe, halloo, halloo! / His fiery courſer ſnuffs the morn, / And thronging ſerfs their Lord purſue.1796, Gottfried Augustus Bürger, “The Chase”, in [Walter Scott], transl., The Chase, and William and Helen: Two Ballads, from the German […], Edinburgh: […] Mundell and Son, […], for Manners and...
   • 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 earth1913, Edith Constance Holme, Crump Folk Going Home, page 136
2. (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.
3. (UK, transitive) To cause a baby to bring up wind by patting its back after being fed.
4. (UK, transitive) To turn a boat or ship around, so that the wind strikes it on the opposite side.
5. (transitive) To expose to the wind; to winnow; to ventilate.
6. (transitive) To perceive or follow by scent.
   • The hounds winded the game.
7. (transitive) To rest (a horse, etc.) in order to allow the breath to be recovered; to breathe.
8. (transitive) To turn a windmill so that its sails face into the wind.

Verb (2)

IPA/waɪnd/British/wɑjnd/

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

1. (transitive) To turn coils (of a cord or something similar) around something.
   • to wind thread on a spool or into a ball
   • Whether to wind / The woodbine round this arbour.1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
2. (transitive) To tighten the spring of a clockwork mechanism.
   • Please wind that old-fashioned alarm clock.
3. (transitive) To entwist; to enfold; to encircle.
   • Sleep, and I will wind thee in arms.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First...
4. (intransitive) To travel or follow a path with numerous curves.
   • Vines wind round a pole. The river winds through the plain.
   • He therefore turned him to the steep and rocky path which[…]winded through the thickets of wild boxwood and other low aromatic shrubs.1829 May 2, [Walter Scott], Anne of Geierstein; or, The Maiden of the Mist. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Company] for Cadell and Co., […]; London...

   Synonyms:

   twine

5. (transitive) To have complete control over; to turn and bend at one's pleasure; to vary or alter at will; to regulate; to govern.
   • to turn and wind a fiery Pegasus1591 (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]...
   • Gifts blind the vviſe, and bribes do pleaſe, / And vvinde all other witneſſes: […]1648, Robert Herrick, “To his Conscience.”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], →OCLC
6. (transitive) To introduce by insinuation; to insinuate.
   • You have contrived[…]to wind / Yourself into a power tyrannical.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
   • 'Tis pleasant to see what little arts and dexterities they have to wind in such things into discourse1674, [Richard Allestree], The Government of the Tongue. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: At the Theater, →OCLC
7. (transitive) To cover or surround with something coiled about.
   • to wind a rope with twine
8. (transitive) To cause to move by exerting a winding force; to haul or hoist as by a winch.
   • Quickly she slammed the door shut and panicking wound the window up as fast as her slippery fingers would allow.2012, Rural Affairs, Anna Hutton-North, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 33
9. (transitive) To turn (a ship) around, end for end.

Noun (2)

IPA/waɪnd/British/wɑjnd/

wind (plural winds)

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

Proper noun capitalized: Wind

Wind

1. A surname