Webster's Dictionary, 1913

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Wincey noun Linsey- woolsey.

Winch intransitive verb [ See Wince .] To wince; to shrink; to kick with impatience or uneasiness.

Winch noun A kick, as of a beast, from impatience or uneasiness. Shelton.

Winch noun [ Middle English winche , Anglo-Saxon wince a winch, a reel to wind thread upon. Confer Wink .]


1. A crank with a handle, for giving motion to a machine, a grindstone, etc.

2. An instrument with which to turn or strain something forcibly.

3. An axle or drum turned by a crank with a handle, or by power, for raising weights, as from the hold of a ship, from mines, etc.; a windlass.

4. A wince.

Wincing noun The act of washing cloth, dipping it in dye, etc., with a wince.

Wincing machine . (a) A wince. Ure. (b) A succession of winces. See Wince . Knight.

Wincopipe noun (Botany) A little red flower, no doubt the pimpernel, which, when it opens in the morning, is supposed to bode a fair day. See Pimpernel .

There is small red flower in the stubble fields, which country people call the wincopipe ; which if it opens in the morning, you may be sure a fair day will follow.
Bacon.

Wind transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Wound (wound) (rarely Winded ); present participle & verbal noun Winding .] [ Middle English winden , Anglo-Saxon windan ; akin to Old Saxon windan , D. & German winden , Old High German wintan , Icelandic & Swedish vinda , Danish vinde , Goth. windan (in comp.). Confer Wander , Wend .]


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 entwist; to infold; to encircle.

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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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. [ Obsolete] 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.

Wind intransitive verb
1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

Wind noun The act of winding or turning; a turn; a bend; a twist; a winding.

Wind (wĭnd, in poetry and singing often wīnd; 277) noun [ Anglo-Saxon wind ; akin to Old Saxon , OFries., D., & German wind , Old High German wint , Dan. & Swedish vind , Icelandic vindr , Goth winds , W. gwynt , Latin ventus , Sanskrit vāta (cf. Greek 'ah`ths a blast, gale, 'ah^nai to breathe hard, to blow, as the wind); originally a present participle from the verb seen in Sanskrit to blow, akin to Anglo-Saxon wāwan , Dutch waaijen , German wehen , Old High German wāen , wājen , Goth. waian . √131. Confer Air , Ventail , Ventilate , Window , Winnow .]


1. 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.

2. Air artificially put in motion by any force or action; as, the wind of a cannon ball; the wind of a bellows.

3. 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.

4. Power of respiration; breath.

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

5. Air or gas generated in the stomach or bowels; flatulence; as, to be troubled with wind .

6. Air impregnated with an odor or scent.

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

7. 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 .

8. (Far.) A disease of sheep, in which the intestines are distended with air, or rather affected with a violent inflammation. It occurs immediately after shearing.

9. Mere breath or talk; empty effort; idle words.

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

10. (Zoology) The dotterel. [ Prov. Eng.]

» Wind is often used adjectively, or as the first part of compound words.

All in the wind . (Nautical) See under All , noun -- Before the wind . (Nautical) See under Before . -- Between wind and water (Nautical) , 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 , adjective - - 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. [ Obsolete] "He went down the wind still." L'Estrange. -- In the wind's eye (Nautical) , 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 . (Medicine) (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) (Nautical) 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 (Zoology) , 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.

Wind transitive verb [ From Wind , moving air, but confused in sense and in conjugation with wind to turn.] [ imperfect & past participle Wound (wound), R. Winded ; present participle & verbal noun Winding .] 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.

Wind noun (Boxing) 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]

Wind signal In general, any signal announcing information concerning winds, and esp. the expected approach of winds whose direction and force are dangerous to shipping, etc. The wind- signal system of the United States Weather Bureau consists of storm , information , hurricane , hot wind , and inland storm signals .

Wind-break transitive verb To break the wind of; to cause to lose breath; to exhaust. [ R.]

'T would wind-break a mule to vie burdens with her.
Ford.

Wind-break noun A clump of trees serving for a protection against the force of wind. [ Local, U. S.]

Wind-broken adjective Having the power of breathing impaired by the rupture, dilatation, or running together of air cells of the lungs, so that while the inspiration is by one effort, the expiration is by two; affected with pulmonary emphysema or with heaves; -- said of a horse. Youatt.

Wind-fertilized adjective (Botany) Anemophilous; fertilized by pollen borne by the wind.

Windage noun [ From Wind air in motion.]


1. (Gun.) The difference between the diameter of the bore of a gun and that of the shot fired from it.

2. The sudden compression of the air caused by a projectile in passing close to another body.

Windas noun See 3d Windlass . [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Windbore noun The lower, or bottom, pipe in a lift of pumps in a mine. Ansted.

Windbound adjective (Nautical) prevented from sailing, by a contrary wind. See Weatherbound .

Winder noun [ From Wind to turn.]


1. One who, or that which, winds; hence, a creeping or winding plant.

2. An apparatus used for winding silk, cotton, etc., on spools, bobbins, reels, or the like.

3. (Architecture) One in a flight of steps which are curved in plan, so that each tread is broader at one end than at the other; -- distinguished from flyer .

Winder transitive verb & i. [ Prov. English winder a fan, and to winnow. .... Confer Winnow .] To fan; to clean grain with a fan. [ Prov. Eng.]

Winder noun A blow taking away the breath. [ Slang]

Winder intransitive verb To wither; to fail. [ Obsolete] Holland.

Windfall noun
1. Anything blown down or off by the wind, as fruit from a tree, or the tree itself, or a portion of a forest prostrated by a violent wind, etc. "They became a windfall upon the sudden." Bacon.

2. An unexpected legacy, or other gain.

He had a mighty windfall out of doubt.
B. Jonson.

Windfallen adjective Blown down by the wind.

Windflower noun (Botany) The anemone; -- so called because formerly supposed to open only when the wind was blowing. See Anemone .

Windgall noun (Far.) A soft tumor or synovial swelling on the fetlock joint of a horse; -- so called from having formerly been supposed to contain air.

Windhover noun [ From its habit of hovering over one spot.] (Zoology) The kestrel; -- called also windbibber , windcuffer , windfanner . [ Prov. Eng.]

Windiness noun
1. The quality or state of being windy or tempestuous; as, the windiness of the weather or the season.

2. Fullness of wind; flatulence.

3. Tendency to generate wind or gas; tendency to produce flatulence; as, the windiness of vegetables.

4. Tumor; puffiness.

The swelling windiness of much knowledge.
Brerewood.

Winding noun [ From Wind to blow.] (Nautical) A call by the boatswain's whistle.

Winding adjective [ From Wind to twist.] Twisting from a direct line or an even surface; circuitous. Keble.

Winding noun A turn or turning; a bend; a curve; flexure; meander; as, the windings of a road or stream.

To nurse the saplings tall, and curl the grove
With ringlets quaint, and wanton windings wove.
Milton.

Winding engine , an engine employed in mining to draw up buckets from a deep pit; a hoisting engine. -- Winding sheet , a sheet in which a corpse is wound or wrapped. -- Winding tackle (Nautical) , a tackle consisting of a fixed triple block, and a double or triple movable block, used for hoisting heavy articles in or out of a vessel. Totten.

Winding noun The material, as wire or rope, wound or coiled about anything, or a single round or turn of the material; as (Electricity) , a series winding , or one in which the armature coil, the field-magnet coil, and the external circuit form a continuous conductor; a shunt winding , or one of such a character that the armature current is divided, a portion of the current being led around the field-magnet coils.

Windingly adverb In a winding manner.

Windjammer noun
1. (Nautical) A sailing vessel or one of its crew; -- orig. so called contemptuously by sailors on steam vessels. [ Colloq.]

2. An army bugler or trumpeter; any performer on a wind instrument. [ Slang]

Windlace noun & v. See Windlass . [ Obsolete]

Two arblasts, . . . with windlaces and quarrels.
Sir W. Scott.

Windlass noun [ Perhaps from wind to turn + lace .] A winding and circuitous way; a roundabout course; a shift.

Windlass intransitive verb To take a roundabout course; to work warily or by indirect means. [ Obsolete] Hammond.

Windlass noun [ Middle English windelas , windas , Icelandic vindilāss , vindās , from vinda to wind + āss a pole; confer Goth. ans a beam. See Wind to turn.]


1. A machine for raising weights, consisting of a horizontal cylinder or roller moving on its axis, and turned by a crank, lever, or similar means, so as to wind up a rope or chain attached to the weight. In vessels the windlass is often used instead of the capstan for raising the anchor. It is usually set upon the forecastle, and is worked by hand or steam.

2. An apparatus resembling a winch or windlass, for bending the bow of an arblast, or crossbow. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Chinese windlass . See Differential windlass , under Differential .

Windlass transitive verb & i. To raise with, or as with, a windlass; to use a windlass. The Century.

Windle noun [ From Wind to turn.]


1. A spindle; a kind of reel; a winch.

2. (Zoology) The redwing. [ Prov. Eng.]

Windless adjective
1. Having no wind; calm.

2. Wanting wind; out of breath.

Windlestrae, Windlestraw noun (Botany) A grass used for making ropes or for plaiting, esp. Agrostis Spica-ventis . [ Prov. Eng. & Scot.] Shelley.

Windmill noun A mill operated by the power of the wind, usually by the action of the wind upon oblique vanes or sails which radiate from a horizontal shaft. Chaucer.

Windore noun [ A corrupt. of window ; or perhaps coined on the wrong assumption that window is from wind + door .] A window. [ Obsolete] Hudibras.

Window noun [ Middle English windowe , windoge , Icelandic vindauga window, properly, wind eye; akin to Danish vindue . ............. See Wind , noun , and Eye .]


1. An opening in the wall of a building for the admission of light and air, usually closed by casements or sashes containing some transparent material, as glass, and capable of being opened and shut at pleasure.

I leaped from the window of the citadel.
Shak.

Then to come, in spite of sorrow,
And at my window bid good morrow.
Milton.

2. (Architecture) The shutter, casement, sash with its fittings, or other framework, which closes a window opening.

3. A figure formed of lines crossing each other. [ R.]

Till he has windows on his bread and butter.
King.

French window (Architecture) , a casement window in two folds, usually reaching to the floor; -- called also French casement . -- Window back (Architecture) , the inside face of the low, and usually thin, piece of wall between the window sill and the floor below. -- Window blind , a blind or shade for a window. -- Window bole , part of a window closed by a shutter which can be opened at will. [ Scot.] -- Window box , one of the hollows in the sides of a window frame for the weights which counterbalance a lifting sash. -- Window frame , the frame of a window which receives and holds the sashes or casement. -- Window glass , panes of glass for windows; the kind of glass used in windows. -- Window martin (Zoology) , the common European martin. [ Prov. Eng.] -- Window oyster (Zoology) , a marine bivalve shell ( Placuna placenta ) native of the East Indies and China. Its valves are very broad, thin, and translucent, and are said to have been used formerly in place of glass. -- Window pane . (a) (Architecture) See Pane , noun , 3 (b) . (b) (Zoology) See Windowpane , in the Vocabulary. -- Window sash , the sash, or light frame, in which panes of glass are set for windows. -- Window seat , a seat arranged in the recess of a window. See Window stool , under Stool . -- Window shade , a shade or blind for a window; usually, one that is hung on a roller. -- Window shell (Zoology) , the window oyster. -- Window shutter , a shutter or blind used to close or darken windows. -- Window sill (Architecture) , the flat piece of wood, stone, or the like, at the bottom of a window frame. -- Window swallow (Zoology) , the common European martin. [ Prov. Eng.] -- Window tax , a tax or duty formerly levied on all windows, or openings for light, above the number of eight in houses standing in cities or towns. [ Eng.]

Window transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Windowed ; present participle & verbal noun Windowing .]


1. To furnish with windows.

2. To place at or in a window. [ R.]

Wouldst thou be windowed in great Rome and see
Thy master thus with pleach'd arms, bending down
His corrigible neck?
Shak.