"air in motion," Old English wind, from Proto-Germanic *wendas (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Middle Dutch, Dutch wind, Old Norse vindr, Old High German wind, German Wind, Gothic winds), from PIE *we-nt-o- "blowing," from root *we- "to blow" (cf. Sanskrit va-, Greek aemi-, Gothic waian, Old English wawan, Old High German wajan, German wehen, Old Church Slavonic vejati "to blow;" Sanskrit vatah, Avestan vata-, Hittite huwantis, Latin ventus, Old Church Slavonic vetru, Lithuanian vejas "wind;" Lithuanian vetra "tempest, storm;" Old Irish feth "air;" Welsh gwynt, Breton gwent "wind").
Normal pronunciation evolution made this word rhyme with kind and rind (Donne rhymes it with mind), but it shifted to a short vowel 18c., probably from influence of windy, where the short vowel is natural. A sad loss for poets, who now must rhyme it only with sinned and a handful of weak words. Symbolic of emptiness and vanity since late 13c.
I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind. [Ernest Dowson, 1896]Meaning "breath" is attested from late Old English; especially "breath in speaking" (early 14c.), so long-winded, also "easy or regular breathing" (early 14c.), hence second wind in the figurative sense (by 1830), an image from the sport of hunting.
"an act of winding round," 1825, from wind (v.1) . Earlier, "an apparatus for winding," late 14c., in which use perhaps from a North Sea Germanic word, e.g. Middle Dutch, Middle Low German winde "windlass."
"move by turning and twisting," Old English windan "to turn, twist, wind" (class III strong verb; past tense wand, past participle wunden), from Proto-Germanic *wendanan (cf. Old Saxon windan, Old Norse vinda, Old Frisian winda, Dutch winden, Old High German wintan, German winden, Gothic windan "to wind"), from PIE *wendh- "to turn, wind, weave" (cf. Latin viere "twist, plait, weave," vincire "bind;" Lithuanian vyti "twist, wind").
Related to wend, which is its causative form, and to wander. Wind down "come to a conclusion" is recorded from 1952; wind up "come to a conclusion" is from 1825. Winding sheet "shroud of a corpse" is attested from early 15c.
"to perceive by scent, get wind of," early 15c., from wind (n.1). Of horns, etc., "make sound by blowing through," from 1580s. Meaning "tire, put out of breath; render temporarily breathless by a blow or punch" is from 1811, originally in pugilism. Related: Winded; winding.
wind (wĭnd) A current of air, especially a natural one that moves along or parallel to the ground, moving from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure. Surface wind is measured by anemometers or its effect on objects, such as trees. The large-scale pattern of winds on Earth is governed primarily by differences in the net solar radiation received at the Earth's surface, but it is also influenced by the Earth's rotation, by the distribution of continents and oceans, by ocean currents, and by topography. On a local scale, the differences in rate of heating and cooling of land versus bodies of water greatly affect wind formation. Prevailing global winds are classified into three major belts in the Northern Hemisphere and three corresponding belts in the Southern Hemisphere. The trade winds blow generally east to west toward a low-pressure zone at the equator throughout the region from 30° north to 30° south of the equator. The westerlies blow from west to east in the temperate mid-latitude regions (from 30° to 60° north and south of the equator), and the polar easterlies blow from east to west out of high-pressure areas in the polar regions. See also Beaufort scale, chinook, foehn, monsoon, Santa Ana. |
A hamburger sandwich
Related Terms[fr J Wellington Wimpy, an obsessive lover and seeker of such sandwiches in the Popeye comic strip]