Wind1, n.
(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.]
Sense 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.
Sense 2. Air artificially put in motion from any force or action; as, the wind of a cannon-ball; the wind of a bellows.
Sense 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.
Sense 4. Power of respiration; breath.
If my wind were but long enough to say my prayers, I would repent. Shak.
Sense 5. Air or gas generated in the stomach and bowels; flatulence; as, to be troubled with wind.
Sense 6. Air impregnated with an odor or scent.
A pack of dog-fish had him in the wind. Shak.
Sense 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.
Sense 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.
Sense 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.