WIND, n. [L., G. The primary sense is to move, flow, rush or drive along.]

1. Air in motion with any degree of velocity, indefinitely; a current of air. When the air moves moderately, we call it a light wind, or a breeze; when with more velocity, we call it a fresh breeze; and when with violence, we call it a gale, storm or tempest. The word gale is used by the poets for a moderate breeze, but seamen use it as equivalent to storm. Winds are denominated from the point of compass from which they blow; as, a north wind; an east wind; a south wind; a west wind; a southwest wind, &c.
2. The four winds, the cardinal points of the heavens. Come from the four winds, O breath, sad breathe upon these slain. – Ezek. xxxvii. This sense of the word seems to have had its origin with the Orientals, as it was the practice of the Hebrews to give to each of the four cardinal points the name of wind.
3. Direction of the wind from other points of the compass than the cardinal, or any point of compass; as, a compass of eight winds. [Obs.] – Heylin.
4. Breath; power of respiration. If my wind were but long enough to say my prayers, I would repent. – Shak.
5. Air in motion from any force or action; as, the wind of a cannon ball; the wind of a bellows.
6. Breath modulated by the organs or by an instrument. Their instruments were various in their kind, / Some for the bow, and some for breathing wind. – Dryden.
7. Air impregnated with scent. A pack of dog-fish had him in the wind. – Shak.
8. Any thing insignificant or light as wind. Think not with wind or airy threats to awe. – Milton.
9. Flatulence; air generated in the stomach and bowels; as, to be troubled with wind.
10. The name given to a disease of sheep, in which the intestines are distended with air, or rather affected with a violent inflammation. It occurs immediately after shearing. Down the wind, decaying; declining; in a state of decay; as, he went down the wind. [Not used.] – L'Estrange. To take or have the wind, to gain or have the advantage. – Bacon. To take wind, or to get wind, to be divulged; to become public. The story got wind, or took wind. In the wind's eye, in seamen's language, toward the direct point from which the wind blows. Between wind and water, denoting 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. To carry the wind, in the manege, is when a horse tosses his nose as high as his ears. Constant or perennial wind, a wind that blows constantly from one point of the compass; as the trade wind of the tropics. Shifting, variable or erratic winds, are such as are changeable, now blowing from one point and now from another, and then ceasing altogether. Stated or periodical wind, a wind that constantly returns at a certain time, and blows steadily from one point for a certain time. Such are the monsoons in India, and land and sea breezes. Trade wind, a wind that blows constantly from one point, such as the tropical wind in the Atlantic. [In poetry, wind often rhymes with find; but the common pronunciation is with i short, and so let it continue.]

1. To turn; to change. So swift your judgments turn and wind. – Dryden.
2. To turn around something; as, vines wind around a pole.
3. To have a circular direction; as, winding stairs.
4. To crook; to bend. The road winds in various places.
5. To move round; as, a hare pursued turns and winds. To wind out, to be extricated; to escape. Long lab'ring underneath, ere they could wind / Out of such prison. – Milton.

1. To blow; to sound by blowing or inflation. Wind the shrill horn. – Pope.
2. To turn; to move, or cause to turn. To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus. – Shell.
3. To turn round some fixed object; to bind, or to form into a ball or coil by turning; as, to wind thread on a spool; wind thread into a ball; to wind a rope into a coil.
4. To introduce by insinuation. The child winds himself into my affections. They have little arts and dexterities to wind in such things into discourse. – Gov. of the Tongue.
5. To change; to vary. Were our legislature vested in the prince, he might wind and turn our constitution at his pleasure. – Addison.
6. To entwist; to infold; to encircle. – Shak.
7. [With i short, as in win.] To nose; to perceive or to follow by the scent; as, hounds wind an animal.
8. To ventilate; to expose to the wind; to winnow. To wind off, [with i long,] to unwind. To wind out, to extricate. – Clarendon. To wind up, to bring to a small compass, as a ball of thread. – Locke. #2. To bring to a conclusion or settlement; as, to wind one's affairs. #3. To put in a state of renovated or continued motion. Fate seemed to wind him up for fourscore years. – Dryden. To wind up a clock, is to wind the cord by which the weights are suspended, round an axis or pin. To wind up a watch, is to wind the spring round its axis or pin. #2. To raise by degrees. Thus they wound up his temper to a pitch. – Atterbury. #3. To straiten, as a string; to put in tune. Wind up the slacken'd strings of thy lute. – Kell. #4. To put in order for regular action. – Shak.

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 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.

3. The act of winding or turning; a turn; a bend; a twist; a winding.
4. 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.

5. To expose to the wind] to winnow; to ventilate.
6. 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.

7. 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]
8. To entwist; to infold; to encircle.
   
   

   Sleep, and I will wind thee in arms. Shak.

9. 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.

10. Air artificially put in motion by any force or action; as, the wind of a cannon ball; the wind of a bellows.
11. To perceive or follow by the scent; to scent; to nose; as, the hounds winded the game.
12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. To drive hard, or force to violent exertion, as a horse, so as to render scant of wind; to put out of breath.
    
    
    (b)
16. 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.

17. Power of respiration; breath.
    
    

    If my wind were but long enough to say my prayers, I would repent. Shak.

18. 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.

19. Air or gas generated in the stomach or bowels; flatulence; as, to be troubled with wind.
20. Air impregnated with an odor or scent.
    
    

    A pack of dogfish had him in the wind. Swift.

21. 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.

22. A disease of sheep, in which the intestines are distended with air, or rather affected with a violent inflammation. It occurs immediately after shearing.
23. Mere breath or talk; empty effort; idle words.
    
    

    Nor think thou with wind
    Of airy threats to awe. Milton.

24. 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.