Wind

Wind, wind (poet. wīnd), n. air in motion: breath: flatulence: anything insignificant: the wind instruments in an orchestra: air impregnated with scent: a hint or suggestion of something secret, publicity: (slang) a part of the body near the stomach: a disease of sheep in which the inflamed intestines are distended by gases.—v.t. (wīnd) to sound or signal by blowing: to scent: (wind) to expose to the wind: to drive hard, so as to put out of breath: to allow to recover wind:—pr.p. wīnd′ing and wind′ing; pa.p. wind′ed and wound.—ns. Wind′age, the difference between the size of the bore of a gun and that of the ball or shell: the influence of the wind in deflecting a missile; Wind′bag, a person of mere words.—adjs. Wind′-bound, hindered from sailing by a contrary wind; Wind′-brō′ken, affected with convulsive breathing—of a horse; Wind′-chang′ing, fickle.—ns. Wind′-chart, a chart showing the direction of the wind; Wind′-chest, the box or reservoir that supplies compressed air to the pipes or reeds of an organ; Wind′-drop′sy, tympanites; Wind′-egg, an addle-egg, one soft-shelled or imperfectly formed; Wīnd′er, one who sounds a horn: one who, or that which, winds or rolls; Wind′fall, fruit blown off a tree by the wind: any unexpected money or other advantage.—adj. Windfall′en, blown down by wind.—ns. Wind′-flow′er, the wood-anemone; Wind′-fur′nace, any form of furnace using the natural draught of a chimney without aid of a bellows; Wind′-gall, a puffy swelling about the fetlock joints of a horse; Wind′-gauge, an instrument for gauging or measuring the velocity of the wind: an appliance fixed to a gun by means of which the force of the wind is ascertained so that allowance may be made for it in sighting; Wind′-gun, air-gun; Wind′-hō′ver, the kestrel.—adv. Wind′ily.—ns. Wind′iness; Wind′-in′strument, a musical instrument sounded by means of wind or by the breath.—adj. Wind′less, without wind.—ns. Wind′mill, a mill for performing any class of work in which fixed machinery can be employed, and in which the motive-power is the force of the wind acting on a set of sails; Wind′pipe, the passage for the breath between the mouth and lungs, the trachea.—adj. Wind′-rode (naut.), riding at anchor with head to the wind.—ns. Wind′rose, a graphic representation of the relative frequency of winds from different directions drawn with reference to a centre; Wind′row, a row of hay raked together to be made into cocks, a row of peats, &c., set up for drying; Wind′-sail (naut.), a wide funnel of canvas used to convey a stream of air below deck.—adj. Wind′-shā′ken, agitated by the wind.—ns. Wind′side, the side next the wind; Wind′-suck′er, the kestrel: a critic ready to fasten on any weak spot, however small or unimportant.—adjs. Wind′-swift, swift as the wind; Wind′-tight, air-tight.—adv. Wind′ward, toward where the wind blows from.—adj. toward the wind.—n. the point from which the wind blows.—adj. Wind′y.—A capful of wind, a slight breeze; Before the wind, carried along by the wind; Between wind and water, that part of a ship's side which is now in, now out of, the water owing to the fluctuation of the waves: any vulnerable point; Broken wind, a form of paroxysmal dyspnœa; Cast, or Lay, an anchor to windward, to make prudent provision for the future; Down the wind, moving with the wind; Fight windmills, to struggle with imaginary opposition, as Don Quixote tilted at the windmill; Get one's wind, to recover one's breath; Get the wind of, to get on the windward side of; Get to windward of, to secure an advantage over; Get wind of, to learn about, to be informed of; Have the wind of, to be on the trail of; How the wind blows, or lies, the state of the wind: the position of affairs; In the wind, astir, afoot; In the wind's eye, In the teeth of the wind, right against the wind; Sail close to the wind, to keep the boat's head near enough to wind as to fill but not shake the sails: to be almost indecent; Second wind, new powers of respiration succeeding to the first breathlessness; Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind, to act wrongly and receive a crushing retribution. [A.S. wind; Ice. vindr, Ger. wind, L. ventus, Gr. aētēs, Sans. vāta, wind.]