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Wind up   /wɪnd əp/   Listen
verb
Wind  v. t.  (past & past part. wound, rarely winded; pres. part. winding)  
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."
2.
To entwist; to infold; to encircle. "Sleep, and I will wind thee in arms."
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." "In his terms so he would him wind." "Gifts blind the wise, and bribes do please And wind all other witnesses." "Were our legislature vested in the prince, he might wind and turn our constitution at his pleasure."
4.
To introduce by insinuation; to insinuate. "You have contrived... to wind Yourself into a power tyrannical." "Little arts and dexterities they have to wind in such things into discourse."
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. (Obs.)
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." "Thus they wound up his temper to a pitch."
(d)
To tighten (the strings) of a musical instrument, so as to tune it. "Wind up the slackened strings of thy lute."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Wind up" Quotes from Famous Books



... were almost as exuberant in their expressions of approval. Just a brief time before some of their number had been wondering what could be done to give them a short siege in the woods to wind up the vacation period; and here along comes this necessity calling to the other members of the "Wolf Patrol to awaken and defend the ...
— Afloat - or, Adventures on Watery Trails • Alan Douglas

... said in a tone that made Alan feel tremendously foolish. "If I got much richer too fast I'd wind up with a soft burn in the belly from a disgruntled customer. Look here, boy: how long would you go back to that casino if one player took 80% of the pots, and a hundred people competed with you for the 20% ...
— Starman's Quest • Robert Silverberg

... the wounded, and wind up the slain, and give them three guns for their funerals! Swabber, make clean the ship! Purser, record their names! Watch, be vigilant to keep your berth to windward, that we lose him not, in the night! Gunners, spunge your ordnance! ...
— Elizabethan Sea Dogs • William Wood

... tell all the details; wind up by putting the question squarely. 'Is not Fantomas still alive?' Then sum up in the affirmative. Now, be off. I want to read your article this evening in ...
— The Exploits of Juve - Being the Second of the Series of the "Fantmas" Detective Tales • mile Souvestre and Marcel Allain

... system, a general view of which is given in Fig. 1, and the arrangement in Figs. 2 and 3, the carbons, F F, which are horizontal and about fifty centimeters in length, are thrust toward each other by two barrels, K, K, which wind up two chains, E, E, passing around the pulleys, D, D, fitted to the extremities of the carbons. These latter are provided beneath with small glass rods, G, G, whose extremities toward the arc abut at a short distance from the latter against a nickel stop, L (Fig. 3), which supports them, moreover, ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 362, December 9, 1882 • Various


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