windmill

B1 Topic:Tools, Machines & Construction

US /ˈwɪndˌmɪl/ UK /ˈwɪn(d)mɪl/ See IPA manual

Freq #18331

Meanings

1

noun
a machine that uses wind-driven sails or blades to provide power, especially for grinding grain or pumping water

The old windmill once ground flour for the entire village.
2

noun
the building that contains a wind-powered mill

They restored the stone windmill beside the fields.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a machine that uses... wind-powered mill

2 noun · the building that contains... mill building

More wind machine

Word family

Forms windmills

Related forms millwind turbinewindpump

Appears in

Tongue twisters (1)

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Windmills and the Millwheel
To the windmills said the millwheel: “As the wind wills do you still wheel?” “Yes, we still wheel when the wind wills!” To the millwheel said the windmills.

Wind here means moving air and rhymes with pinned. Contrast the vowel in will with the longer vowel in wheel, keeping the final /l/ in both.

Etymology

From Middle English windmille, a compound of wind and mill. The name describes a mill whose machinery is driven by the force of moving air rather than water, animals, or people.

Topics

Tools, Machines & Construction

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