Definition
nounReal or perceived movement of atmospheric air usually caused by convection or differences in air pressure.
nounAir artificially put in motion by any force or action.
Sentence Examples
Someday I'll run like the wind.
The wind calmed down.
Wind power doesn't release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English wynd, wind, from Old English wind (“wind”), from Proto-West Germanic *wind, from Proto-Germanic *windaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥tos (“wind”), from earlier *h₂wéh₁n̥ts (“wind”), derived from the present participle of *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).
Cognates
Cognate with Yola weend, wyeene (“wind”), North Frisian win, winj (“wind”), Saterland Frisian Wíend (“wind”), West Frisian wyn (“wind”), Alemannic German wend, wind, winn, wénn (“wind”), Bavarian bint, Wind (“wind”), Cimbrian and Mòcheno bint (“wind”), Dutch wind (“wind”), German and German Low German Wind (“wind”), Luxembourgish Wand (“wind”), Yiddish ווינט (vint, “wind”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish vind (“wind”), Faroese and Icelandic vindur (“wind”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌳𐍃 (winds, “wind”), Latin ventus (“wind”), Welsh gwynt (“wind”), Sanskrit वात (vā́ta, “wind”), Russian ве́тер (véter, “wind”), perhaps Albanian bundë (“strong damp wind”). Doublet of athlete, vent, weather and nirvana.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles."
— 2013 June 29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29:
"Police got wind of the lottery, tried to track it down."
— 1953 August 6, Jet, volume 4, Johnson Publishing Company, →ISSN, page 22:
"But many of those issues failed to draw Spanish voters, or even scared them, and the country’s election results went contrary to Europe’s political winds."
— 2023 July 24, Jason Horowitz, “What the Collapse of Spain’s Far Right Means Going Forward”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
"Their instruments were various in their kind, / Some for the bow, and some for breathing wind."
— 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
"Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 37:9: