Wind

(Synop., § 130), n. [A-S., O. Sax., O. Fries., D., & N. H. Ger. wind, Dan. & Sw. vind, Icel. vindr, Goth. winds, O. H. Ger. winti, wint, W. gwynt, Lat. ventus, Skr. vāta, from vā, to blow; Gr. ἄημις, a blast, gale, ἀήναι, to breathe hard, to blow, as the wind.]

1Sense 1. Air naturally in motion with any degree of velocity; a current of air. “Winds were soft, and woods were green.” Longfellow.

Except wind stands as never it stood, It is an ill wind that turns none to good. Tusser.

2Sense 2. Air artificially put in motion from any force or action; as, the wind of a cannon-ball; the wind of a bellows.

3Sense 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.

4Sense 4. Power of respiration; breath.

If my wind were but long enough to say my prayers, I would repent. Shak.

5Sense 5. Air or gas generated in the stomach and bowels; flatulence; as, to be troubled with wind.

6Sense 6. Air impregnated with an odor or scent.

A pack of dog-fish had him in the wind. Shak.

7Sense 7. A direction in 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.

☞ This sense of the word seems to have had its origin with the Orientals, as it was the practice of the Hebrews to give to each of the four cardinal points the name of wind.

8Sense 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.

9Sense 9. Any thing insignificant or light as wind; mere breath or talk; empty effort.

Think not with wind or airy threats to awe. Milton.

☞ In poetry and among singers this word is often pronounced wind.

Between wind and water. (Naut.), 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.—Down the wind. (a.) In the direction of, and moving with, the wind; as, birds fly swiftly down the wind. (b.) Decaying; declining; in a state of decay. [Obs.] “He went down the wind still.” L’Estrange.—In the wind’s eye (Naut.), toward the direct point from which the wind blows.—Three sheets in the wind (Fig.), unsteady from drink. [Colloq.]—To be in the wind, to be covertly in preparation; to be within the reach of suspicion or surmise, although not announced or acknowledged. [Colloq.]—To carry the wind (Man.), to toss the nose as high as the ears, as a horse.—To raise the wind, to procure money. [Colloq.]—To take or have the wind, to gain or have the advantage. Bacon.—To take wind, or to get wind, to be divulged; to become public; as, the story got wind, or took wind.

[imp. & p. p. WOUND; p. pr. & vb. n. WINDING.] To blow; to sound by blowing; especially, to sound so that the notes shall be prolonged and mutually involved. “Hunters who wound their horns.” Pennant.

Ye vigorous swains, while youth ferments your blood. Wind the shrill horn. Pope.

☞ This word, like the preceding, is derived from wind, the noun, which was formerly, and is still sometimes, pronounced wĭnd. It has been confounded, however, both in sense and conjugation, with the next word, q. v.

[imp. & p. p. WOUND (rarely WINDED); p. pr. & vb. n. WINDING.] [A-S. & O. Sax. windan, Goth. windan, O. Fries. winda, Icel. & Sw. vinda, Dan. vinde, D. & N. H. Ger. winden, O. H. Ger. wintan.]

1Sense 1. To turn completely, or with repeated turns; especially, to turn about something fixed; to cause to form convolutions about any thing; 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.

2Sense 2. To entwist; to infold; to encircle.

Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms. Shak.

3Sense 3. 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 Pegasus.” Shak.

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.

4Sense 4. To introduce by insinuation; to insinuate.

They have little arts and dexterities to wind in such things into discourse. Gov. of Tongue.

You have contrived to take From Rome all seasoned offices, and to wind Yourself into a power tyrannical. Shak.

5Sense 5. To cover or surround with something coiled about; as, to wind a rope with twine.

To wind off, to unwind; to uncoil.—To wind out, to extricate. [Obs.] Clarendon.—To wind up. (a.) To bring to a small compass, as a ball of thread; to coil completely. (b.) To bring to a conclusion or settlement; as, to wind up one's affairs. (c.) To put in a state of renovated or continued motion, as a clock, a watch, or the like, by winding the spring, or that which carries the weight; hence, to prepare for continued movement or action; to put in order anew. “Fate seemed to wind him up for fourscore years.” Dryden. “Thus they wound up his temper to a pitch.” Atterbury. “Wind up the slackened strings of thy lute.” Waller.

v. i. 1. To turn completely or repeatedly; to become coiled about any thing; to assume a convolved or spiral form; as, vines wind round a pole. So swift your judgments turn and wind. Dryden. 2. To have a circular course or direction; to crook; to bend; as, a winding road or stairs. 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. W. Scott. 3. To go to the one side or the other; to meander; to move this way and that; as, a hare pursued turns and winds. The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea. Gray. To wind out, to be extricated; to escape. Long laboring underneath ere they could wind Out of such prison. Milton.

The act of winding or turning; a turn; a bend; a winding. [Rare.]