Aeronautics. a small air turbine with blades, like those of an airplane propeller, exposed on a moving aircraft and driven by the air, used to operate gasoline pumps, radio apparatus, etc.
4.
an imaginary opponent, wrong, etc. (in allusion to Cervantes' Don Quixote):
to tilt at windmills.
verb (used without object), verb (used with object)
5.
Aeronautics. (of a propeller engine or turbojet engine) to rotate or cause to rotate solely under the force of a passing airstream.
He lunges for a towel and staggers into the hallway as the ship's windmill-sized propeller spins out of the water.
Let them buy windmill power that produces huge amounts of unclean electricity into their homes.
Depending on the hight of the building, the updraft will turn the windmill and produce power.
He skirts the fact that each windmill actually uses only a small proportion of that land, permitting multiple use around it.
The reconstructed windmill is a unique interpretive element.
The town's historic windmill was heavily damaged as a result of fighting and has only recently been beautifully restored.
Landowners are concerned that illuminating every windmill in a farm could add annoying light pollution to remote areas.
The candles are too close to the wooden structure of the windmill, and can cause the product to catch on fire.
British Dictionary definitions for windmill
windmill
/ˈwɪndˌmɪl; ˈwɪnˌmɪl/
noun
1.
a machine for grinding or pumping driven by a set of adjustable vanes or sails that are caused to turn by the force of the wind
2.
the set of vanes or sails that drives such a mill
3.
(Brit) Also called whirligig. a toy consisting of plastic or paper vanes attached to a stick in such a manner that they revolve like the sails of a windmill US and Canadian name pinwheel
4.
an imaginary opponent or evil (esp in the phrase tilt atorfight windmills)
5.
a small air-driven propeller fitted to a light aircraft to drive auxiliary equipment Compare ram-air turbine
(intransitive) (of an aircraft propeller, rotor of a turbine, etc) to rotate as a result of the force of a current of air rather than under power
Word Origin and History for windmill
n.
c.1300, from wind (n.1) + mill (n.). Cf. German Windmühle, Dutch windmolen, French moulin à vent (13c.). Verb meaning "to swing the arms wildly" is recorded from 1927.