noun Winding n. (Naut.) A call by the boatswain's whistle.
Winding n. 1.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." 2.The material, as wire or rope, wound or coiled about anything, or a single round or turn of the material; as (Elec.), 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. 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 (Naut.), 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.
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."
Wind v. t. (past & past part. winded; pres. part. winding) 1.To expose to the wind; to winnow; to ventilate. 2.To perceive or follow by the scent; to scent; to nose; as, the hounds winded the game. 3.(a)To drive hard, or force to violent exertion, as a horse, so as to render scant of wind; to put out of breath. (b)To rest, as a horse, in order to allow the breath to be recovered; to breathe. To wind a ship (Naut.), to turn it end for end, so that the wind strikes it on the opposite side.
Wind v. t. (past & past part. wound, rarely winded; pres. part. winding) To blow; to sound by blowing; esp., to sound with prolonged and mutually involved notes. "Hunters who wound their horns." "Ye vigorous swains, while youth ferments your blood,... Wind the shrill horn." "That blast was winded by the king."
Wind v. i. (past & past part. wound, rarely winded; pres. part. winding) 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." 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." "He therefore turned him to the steep and rocky path which... winded through the thickets of wild boxwood and other low aromatic shrubs." 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. "To wind out, to extricate one's self; to escape. Long struggling underneath are they could wind Out of such prison."
adjective Winding adj. Twisting from a direct line or an even surface; circuitous.
Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48
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