windmill
UK/ˈwɪn(d).mɪl/
windmill noun: a machine which translates linear motion of wind to rotational motion by means of adjustable vanes called sails.
.jpg){kind=link}
Noun
windmill (plural windmills)
- A machine which translates linear motion of wind to rotational motion by means of adjustable vanes called sails.
- Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist
- The building or structure containing such machinery.
- There was once a windmill and a baker's shop in the middle of Rabbitland. Three rabbits, Rodney, Rudolph and Rosie lived in the windmill.1984, Hayden McAllister, Funny-bunny bedtime stories
- The home of the high-spirited French can-can has been laid temporarily low after the sails of the red-painted windmill on top of the Moulin Rouge, the most celebrated cabaret in Paris, tumbled inexplicably to the ground in the early hours.2024 April 25, Jon Henley, “Moulin Rouge windmill sails collapse in Paris”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
- A wind turbine, a device for converting wind power into electricity.
- “I never understood wind. You know, I know windmills very much. They’re noisy. They kill the birds. You want to see a bird graveyard? Go under a windmill someday. You’ll see more birds than you’ve ever seen in your life.”2019 December 24, Richard Luscombe, quoting Donald Trump, “‘I never understood wind’: Trump goes on bizarre tirade against wind turbines”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
- “The other thing I say to Europe: we’ve – we will not allow a windmill to be built in the United States. They’re killing us. They’re killing the beauty of our scenery.”2025 August 3, Adam Gabbatt, quoting Donald Trump, “‘He has trouble completing a thought’: bizarre public appearances again cast doubt on Trump’s mental acuity”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
- A child's toy consisting of vanes mounted on a stick that rotate when blown by a person or by the wind.
- Synonyms:
- hand windmill, pinwheel
- A dunk where the dunker swings his arm in a circular motion before throwing the ball through the hoop.
- A pitch where the pitcher swings his arm in a circular motion before throwing the ball.
- A guitar move where the strumming hand mimics a turning windmill.
- A breakdancing move in which the dancer rolls their torso continuously in a circular path on the floor, across the upper chest, shoulders and back, while twirling the legs in a V shape in the air.
- Any of various muscle exercises in which a large deal of the body makes a great circle, typically one where a kettlebell is raised overhead and the torso is rotated to the other side with the hand reaching its foot (hitting the core, glutes, hamstrings, trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids and rotator cuffs) but sometimes even a windshield wiper.
- Any of various large papilionid butterflies of the genus Byasa, the wings of which resemble the vanes of a windmill.
- The false shower.
- An imaginary enemy, but presented as real.
- to fight windmills
- Synonyms:
- straw man
- The act of windmilling.
- A tactic in which a piece repeatedly gains material, while simultaneously creating an inescapable series of alternating direct and discovered checks.
- Synonyms:
- seesaw, Zwickmühle
Verb
windmill (third-person singular simple present windmills, present participle windmilling, simple past and past participle windmilled)
- To rotate with a sweeping motion.
- She ran down the hill, windmilling her arms with glee.
- The main thing now was to find the steering wheel. At first, Billy windmilled his arms, hoping to find it by luck.1969, Kurt Vonnegut, chapter 2, in Slaughterhouse-Five, New York: Dial, published 2005, page 59
- To (become disengaged and) rotate freely.
- The axle broke and the wheel windmilled in place briefly before careening through the wall.
- To be rotated by the force of the fluid passing through (the propeller or turbine rotor).
- The stern dropped just as the captain began to get his control room crew to react to orders again. His head struck an instrument console. What slim hopes his crew had died with him. The Politovskiy was falling backwards, her propeller windmilling the wrong way as she slid to the bottom of the sea.1984, Tom Clancy, “The Eighth Day: Friday, 10 December”, in The Hunt for Red October, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, →ISBN, page 195
- When he went to switch on his rotary engine again, the Le Rhone refused to pick up. Nothing happened! The propeller simply windmilled in the slip stream. Garros knew immediately what was wrong and cursed himself for his imbecility.2000, Walter J. Boyne, Philip Handleman, Brassey's Air Combat Reader, page 18
- To move in order to rotate the penis in a circle (similar to the rotation of a windmill).
windmill meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
windmill in Hindi
- machine
- पवनचक्की pavancakkī
windmill in Tamil
- காற்றாலை
windmill in Marathi
- machine
- पवनचक्की pavancakkī
windmill in Urdu
- ہوائی چکی
More languagesFewer languages
- windmill in Telugu
- వాయుయంత్రము vāyuyantramu
- windmill in Punjabi
- ਪੌਣਚੱਕੀ pauṇcakkī
- windmill in Gujarati
- પવનચક્કી pavancakkī
- windmill in Tagalog
- mulino, gilingang-hangin
- windmill in Arabic
- طاحونة هوائية
- windmill in Malay
- kincir angin
- windmill in Indonesian
- kincir angin
- windmill in Persian
- آسیای بادی âsyâ-ye bâdi
- windmill in Vietnamese
- cối xay gió
Examples of windmill in a sentence
- True to her word, her hips windmilled in a frenzy.1999, Jon Sharpe, Texas Hellion:
- Its flippers windmilled in the air uselessly.2005, Gideon Defoe, The Pirates!: in an adventure with Ahab, page 140:
- The propeller windmilled in front of them.2004, Deborah Bedford, If I Had You:
- […] the propeller blade on number-four engine windmilled in the air stream.2006, James R. Hansen, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, page 134:
Synonyms of windmill
Forms of windmill
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | windmills |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | windmills |
| present participle | windmilling |
| past participle | windmilled |
| past | windmilled |
Origin of windmill
From Middle English wyndmylne, wyndmylle, equivalent to wind + mill. Cognate with Scots wyndmyln, wyndmyl, Saterland Frisian Wíendmäälne, West Frisian wynmûne, Dutch windmolen, Afrikaans windmeul, Dutch Low Saxon windmölle (Achterhooks), wiendmeule (Drents, Veluws), German Low German Windmöhl, German Windmühle, Danish vindmølle, Norwegian Bokmål vindmølle, Norwegian Nynorsk vindmølle, vindmylne, Swedish vindmölla, Icelandic vindmylla. (imaginary enemy): A reference to Don Quixote tilting at windmills.
Words formed from windmill
- cap over the windmill
- fight windmills
- giddy as a windmill
- hat over the windmill
- mistake windmills for giants
- pink windmills
- throw one's cap over the windmill
- throw one's hat over the windmill
- tilt at windmills
- windmill graph
- windmill grass
- windmill palm
- windmill pink
- windmill restart
- windmills in one's head
Phrases with windmill
Questions about windmill
- What does windmill mean?
- Windmill means a machine which translates linear motion of wind to rotational motion by means of adjustable vanes called sails.
- What is windmill in Hindi?
- Windmill in Hindi is पवनचक्की (pavancakkī). See Windmill meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use windmill in a sentence?
- True to her word, her hips windmilled in a frenzy.
- What part of speech is windmill?
- Windmill can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce windmill?
- Windmill is pronounced /ˈwɪn(d).mɪl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of windmill?
- The plural of windmill is windmills.
Words near windmill in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: windmill (page history and authors); windmill (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); windmill (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); వాయుయంత్రము (Telugu) (page history and authors); ਪੌਣਚੱਕੀ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); પવનચક્કી (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-windmill.ogg, en-au-windmill.ogg.
Cite this entry: “windmill.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/windmill. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.