windmill

Meanings

1. 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. 2
   noun

   the building that contains a wind-powered mill

   They restored the stone windmill beside the fields.

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.

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