Adjacent Words

Winding definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WINDING, ppr.
1. Turning; binding about; bending.
2. a. Bending; twisting from a direct line or an even surface.
WINDING, n.
1. A turn or turning; a bend; flexure; meander; as the windings of a road or stream.
2. A call by the boastswains whistle.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: marked by repeated turns and bends; "a tortuous road up the mountain"; "winding roads are full of surprises"; "had to steer the car down a twisty track" [syn: tortuous, twisting, twisty, winding, voluminous]
2: of a path e.g.; "meandering streams"; "rambling forest paths"; "the river followed its wandering course"; "a winding country road" [syn: meandering, rambling, wandering, winding] n
1: the act of winding or twisting; "he put the key in the old clock and gave it a good wind" [syn: wind, winding, twist]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Date: before 12th century 1. material (as wire) wound or coiled about an object (as an armature); also a single turn of the wound material 2. a. the act of one that winds b. the manner of winding something 3. a curved or sinuous course, line, or progress II. adjective Date: 1530 marked by winding: as a. having a curved or spiral course or form <a winding stairway> b. having a course that winds <a winding road>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 in senses of WIND(2) v. 2 curved or sinuous motion or movement. 3 a a thing that is wound round or coiled. b Electr. coils of wire as a conductor round an armature etc. Phrases and idioms: winding-engine a machine for hoisting. winding-sheet a sheet in which a corpse is wrapped for burial.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wind Wind, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wound (wound) (rarely Winded); p. pr. & vb. n. Winding.] [OE. winden, AS. windan; akin to OS. windan, D. & G. winden, OHG. wintan, Icel. & Sw. vinda, Dan. vinde, Goth. windan (in comp.). Cf. 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. [Obs.] --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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wind Wind, v. t. [From Wind, moving air, but confused in sense and in conjugation with wind to turn.] [imp. & p. p. Wound (wound), R. Winded; p. pr. & vb. n. 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wind Wind, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Winded; p. pr. & vb. n. 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Winding Wind"ing, n. [From Wind to blow.] (Naut.) A call by the boatswain's whistle.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Winding Wind"ing, n. 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Winding Wind"ing, n. 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Out of harm's way, beyond the danger limit; in a safe place. Out of joint, not in proper connection or adjustment; unhinged; disordered. ``The time is out of joint.'' --Shak. Out of mind, not in mind; forgotten; also, beyond the limit of memory; as, time out of mind. Out of one's head, beyond commanding one's mental powers; in a wandering state mentally; delirious. [Colloq.] Out of one's time, beyond one's period of minority or apprenticeship. Out of order, not in proper order; disarranged; in confusion. Out of place, not in the usual or proper place; hence, not proper or becoming. Out of pocket, in a condition of having expended or lost more money than one has received. Out of print, not in market, the edition printed being exhausted; -- said of books, pamphlets, etc. Out of the question, beyond the limits or range of consideration; impossible to be favorably considered. Out of reach, beyond one's reach; inaccessible. Out of season, not in a proper season or time; untimely; inopportune. Out of sorts, wanting certain things; unsatisfied; unwell; unhappy; cross. See under Sort, n. Out of temper, not in good temper; irritated; angry. Out of time, not in proper time; too soon, or too late. Out of time, not in harmony; discordant; hence, not in an agreeing temper; fretful. Out of twist, winding, or wind, not in warped condition; perfectly plain and smooth; -- said of surfaces. Out of use, not in use; unfashionable; obsolete. Out of the way. (a) On one side; hard to reach or find; secluded. (b) Improper; unusual; wrong. Out of the woods, not in a place, or state, of obscurity or doubt; free from difficulty or perils; safe. [Colloq.] Out to out, from one extreme limit to another, including the whole length, breadth, or thickness; -- applied to measurements. Out West, in or towards, the West; specifically, in some Western State or Territory. [U. S.] To come out, To cut out, To fall out, etc. See under Come, Cut, Fall, etc. To put out of the way, to kill; to destroy. Week in, week out. See Day in, day out (above).

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Flexure, turning, meandering, twisting, twist, convolution, contortion, sinuosity, curvature, tortuosity, bend, crook, kink, crookedness. II. a. Flexuous sinuous, meandering, serpentine, bending, curving.

Moby Thesaurus

aberrant, aberrative, ambages, ambagious, anfractuosity, anfractuous, bending, circuitous, circuitousness, circumambages, circumbendibus, circumlocution, circumlocutory, circumvolution, convoluted, convolution, convolutional, crinkle, crinkling, crooked, curving, departing, desultory, deviant, deviating, deviative, deviatory, devious, digressive, discursive, errant, erratic, excursive, flexuose, flexuosity, flexuous, flexuousness, indirect, intorsion, involute, involuted, involution, involutional, labyrinthine, mazy, meander, meandering, meandrous, out-of-the-way, planetary, rambling, rivose, rivulation, rivulose, roundabout, roving, ruffled, serpentine, shifting, sinuate, sinuation, sinuose, sinuosity, sinuous, sinuousness, slinkiness, snakiness, snaky, stray, swerving, torsion, torsional, tortile, tortility, tortuosity, tortuous, tortuousness, turning, twisting, twisty, undirected, undulation, vagrant, veering, wandering, wave, waving, whorled, wreathlike, wreathy, zigzag