wind

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act of winding or twisting

   They put the key in the old clock and gave it a good wind.

2. 2
   noun

   breath

   the collision knocked the wind out of him

3. 3
   noun

   empty rhetoric or insincere or exaggerated talk

   that's a lot of wind

4. 4
   noun

   a tendency or force that influences events

   the winds of change

5. 5
   noun

   air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure

   trees bent under the fierce winds

6. 6
   verb

   coil the spring of (some mechanical device) by turning a stem

   wind your watch

7. 7
   verb

   to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course

   the river winds through the hills

8. 8
   verb

   catch the scent of

   get wind of

Etymology

From Middle English wynd, wind, from Old English wind (“wind”), from Proto-West Germanic *wind, from Proto-Germanic *windaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥tos (“wind”), from earlier *h₂wéh₁n̥ts (“wind”), derived from the present participle of *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”). Cognates Cognate with Yola weend, wyeene (“wind”), North Frisian win, winj (“wind”), Saterland Frisian Wíend (“wind”), West Frisian wyn (“wind”), Alemannic German wend, wind, winn, wénn (“wind”), Bavarian bint, Wind (“wind”), Cimbrian, Mòcheno bint (“wind”), Dutch wind (“wind”), German, German Low German Wind (“wind”), Luxembourg…