Wind (?), v. i. 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. 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. 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.Wind (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Wound (wound) (rarely Winded); p. pr. &
vb. n. Winding.] [OE. winden, AS. windan;
akin to OS. windan, D. & G. winden, OHG. wintan, Icel.
& Sw. vinda, Dan. vinde, Goth. windan (in comp.). Cf.
Wander, Wend.]
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. To entwist; to infold; to encircle.
Sleep, and I will wind thee in arms.
Shak.
3. To have complete control over; to turn and bend
at one's pleasure; to vary or alter or will; to regulate; to govern.
"To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus." Shak.
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. 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. 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 coil into a ball or small compass, as a skein of thread; to coil
completely. (b) To bring to a conclusion or
settlement; as, to wind up one's affairs; to wind up an
argument. (c) To put in a state of renewed or
continued motion, as a clock, a watch, etc., 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. (d) To
tighten (the strings) of a musical instrument, so as to tune it.
"Wind up the slackened strings of thy lute." Waller.
Wind (?), n. (Boxing) 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. [Slang or Cant]
Wind (?), v. t. [From Wind, moving
air, but confused in sense and in conjugation with wind to turn.]
[imp. & p. p. Wound (wound), R. Winded;
p. pr. & vb. n. Winding.] To blow; to sound
by blowing; esp., to sound with prolonged and mutually involved
notes. "Hunters who wound their horns." Pennant.
Ye vigorous swains, while youth ferments your blood, . . .
Wind the shrill horn.
Pope.
That blast was winded by the king.
Sir W. Scott.Wind (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Winded; p. pr. & vb. n.
Winding.]
1. To expose to the wind; to winnow; to
ventilate.
2. To perceive or follow by the scent; to scent; to
nose; as, the hounds winded the game.
3. (a) To drive hard, or force to
violent exertion, as a horse, so as to render scant of wind; to put out of
breath. (b) To rest, as a horse, in order to
allow the breath to be recovered; to breathe.
To wind a ship (Naut.), to turn it end for
end, so that the wind strikes it on the opposite side.
Wind (wĭnd, in poetry and singing often
wīnd; 277), n. [AS. wind; akin to OS.,
OFries., D., & G. wind, OHG. wint, Dan. & Sw. vind,
Icel. vindr, Goth winds, W. gwynt, L. ventus,
Skr. vāta (cf. Gr. 'ah`ths a blast, gale,
'ah^nai to breathe hard, to blow, as the wind); originally a p.
pr. from the verb seen in Skr. vā to blow, akin to AS.
wāwan, D. waaijen, G. wehen, OHG.
wāen, wājen, Goth. waian. √131. Cf.
Air, Ventail, Ventilate, Window,
Winnow.]
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. Air artificially put in motion by any force or
action; as, the wind of a cannon ball; the wind of a
bellows.
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. Power of respiration; breath.
If my wind were but long enough to say my prayers, I
would repent.
Shak.
5. Air or gas generated in the stomach or bowels;
flatulence; as, to be troubled with wind.
6. Air impregnated with an odor or scent.
A pack of dogfish had him in the wind.
Swift.
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.
☞ This sense seems to have had its origin in the East. The Hebrews
gave to each of the four cardinal points the name of wind.
8. (Far.) A disease of sheep, in which the
intestines are distended with air, or rather affected with a violent
inflammation. It occurs immediately after shearing.
9. Mere breath or talk; empty effort; idle
words.
Nor think thou with wind
Of airy threats to awe.
Milton.
10. (Zoöl.) The dotterel. [Prov.
Eng.]
☞ Wind is often used adjectively, or as the first part of
compound words.
All in the wind. (Naut.) See under
All, n. -- Before the wind.
(Naut.) See under Before. -- 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. 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. (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.),
directly toward the point from which the wind blows. --
Three sheets in the wind, unsteady from drink.
[Sailors' Slang] -- To be in the wind, to be
suggested or expected; to be a matter of suspicion or surmise.
[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 the wind out of one's sails, to cause one to
stop, or lose way, as when a vessel intercepts the wind of another.
[Colloq.] -- To take wind, or To get
wind, to be divulged; to become public; as, the story got
wind, or took wind. -- Wind band
(Mus.), a band of wind instruments; a military band; the wind
instruments of an orchestra. -- Wind chest
(Mus.), a chest or reservoir of wind in an organ. --
Wind dropsy. (Med.) (a)
Tympanites. (b) Emphysema of the subcutaneous
areolar tissue. -- 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 (Mining), the opening or place where the ore is
taken out of the earth. -- Wind instrument
(Mus.), 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) (Naut.) A wide tube or funnel of canvas,
used to convey a stream of air for ventilation into the lower compartments
of a vessel. (b) The sail or vane of a
windmill. -- 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. [R.]
Mrs. Browning. -- Wind rush (Zoöl.),
the redwing. [Prov. Eng.] -- Wind wheel, a
motor consisting of a wheel moved by wind. -- Wood
wind (Mus.), the flutes and reed instruments of an
orchestra, collectively.
Wind (?), n. The act of winding or
turning; a turn; a bend; a twist; a winding.