Wimble, wim′bl, adj. (Spens.) active, nimble. [Sw. vimmel, giddy—vima, to be giddy; allied to whim.]
Wimple, wim′pl, n. a hood or veil folded round the neck and face (still a part of a nun's dress): a flag.—v.t. to hide with a wimple: (Shak.) to hoodwink: to lay in folds.—v.i. to ripple: (Spens.) to lie in folds. [A.S. wimpel, a neck-covering; cf. Ger. wimpel, a pennon, Fr. guimpe, a nun's veil, Eng. gimp, a thin cloth for trimming.]
Win, win, v.t. to get by labour: to gain in contest: to allure to kindness, to gain: to achieve, effect: to attain: to induce: in mining, to sink down to a bed of coal: to obtain the favour of.—v.i. to gain the victory: to gain favour: (prov.) to make one's way, to succeed in getting:—pr.p. win′ning; pa.t. and pa.p. won (wun).—n. a victory, success.—ns. Win′ner; Win′ning, the act of one who wins: that which is won (usually in pl.): a shaft or pit to open a bed of coal.—adj. influencing: attractive.—adv. Win′ningly.—ns. Win′ningness; Win′ning-post, the goal of a race-course.—Win by a head, to win very narrowly; Win in a canter, to win easily, as it were at an easy gallop; Win on, upon, to gain upon, to obtain favour with; Win, or Gain, one's spurs, to earn one's knighthood by valour on the field, hence to gain recognition or reputation by merit of any kind. [A.S. winnan, to suffer, to struggle; Ice. vinna, to accomplish, Ger. gewinnen, to win.]
Win, win, v.t. (Scot.) to dry by exposure to the wind. [Wind.]
Wince, wins, v.i. to shrink or start back: to be affected acutely, as by a sarcasm: to be restive, as a horse uneasy at its rider.—n. Win′cer, one who winces. [O. Fr. guinchir, ganchir, to wince—Old High Ger. wenkan (Ger. wanken), to wince. Allied to Eng. wink, and Ger. winken, to nod.]
Wincey, Winsey, win′si, n. a cloth, plain or twilled, usually with a cotton warp and woollen filling—same as linsey-woolsey (q.v.).
Winch, winsh, n. the crank of a wheel or axle: a kind of hoisting machine: a dyer's reel suspended horizontally by the ends of its axis over the vat, so as to allow the cloth to descend into either compartment of the bath according as it is turned on the right or left.—Also Wince. [A.S. wince, prob. orig. 'a bent handle,' and so akin to Eng. wink.]
Wind, wind (poet. wīnd), n. air in motion: breath: flatulence: anything insignificant: the wind instruments in an orchestra: air impregnated with scent: a hint or suggestion of something secret, publicity: (slang) a part of the body near the stomach: a disease of sheep in which the inflamed intestines are distended by gases.—v.t. (wīnd) to sound or signal by blowing: to scent: (wind) to expose to the wind: to drive hard, so as to put out of breath: to allow to recover wind:—pr.p. wīnd′ing and wind′ing; pa.p. wind′ed and wound.—ns. Wind′age, the difference between the size of the bore of a gun and that of the ball or shell: the influence of the wind in deflecting a missile; Wind′bag, a person of mere words.—adjs. Wind′-bound, hindered from sailing by a contrary wind; Wind′-brō′ken, affected with convulsive breathing—of a horse; Wind′-chang′ing, fickle.—ns. Wind′-chart, a chart showing the direction of the wind; Wind′-chest, the box or reservoir that supplies compressed air to the pipes or reeds of an organ; Wind′-drop′sy, tympanites; Wind′-egg, an addle-egg, one soft-shelled or imperfectly formed; Wīnd′er, one who sounds a horn: one who, or that which, winds or rolls; Wind′fall, fruit blown off a tree by the wind: any unexpected money or other advantage.—adj. Windfall′en, blown down by wind.—ns. Wind′-flow′er, the wood-anemone; Wind′-fur′nace, any form of furnace using the natural draught of a chimney without aid of a bellows; Wind′-gall, a puffy swelling about the fetlock joints of a horse; Wind′-gauge, an instrument for gauging or measuring the velocity of the wind: an appliance fixed to a gun by means of which the force of the wind is ascertained so that allowance may be made for it in sighting; Wind′-gun, air-gun; Wind′-hō′ver, the kestrel.—adv. Wind′ily.—ns. Wind′iness; Wind′-in′strument, a musical instrument sounded by means of wind or by the breath.—adj. Wind′less, without wind.—ns. Wind′mill, a mill for performing any class of work in which fixed machinery can be employed, and in which the motive-power is the force of the wind acting on a set of sails; Wind′pipe, the passage for the breath between the mouth and lungs, the trachea.—adj. Wind′-rode (naut.), riding at anchor with head to the wind.—ns. Wind′rose, a graphic representation of the relative frequency of winds from different directions drawn with reference to a centre; Wind′row, a row of hay raked together to be made into cocks, a row of peats, &c., set up for drying; Wind′-sail (naut.), a wide funnel of canvas used to convey a stream of air below deck.—adj. Wind′-shā′ken, agitated by the wind.—ns. Wind′side, the side next the wind; Wind′-suck′er, the kestrel: a critic ready to fasten on any weak spot, however small or unimportant.—adjs. Wind′-swift, swift as the wind; Wind′-tight, air-tight.—adv. Wind′ward, toward where the wind blows from.—adj. toward the wind.—n. the point from which the wind blows.—adj. Wind′y.—A capful of wind, a slight breeze; Before the wind, carried along by the wind; Between wind and water, that part of a ship's side which is now in, now out of, the water owing to the fluctuation of the waves: any vulnerable point; Broken wind, a form of paroxysmal dyspnœa; Cast, or Lay, an anchor to windward, to make prudent provision for the future; Down the wind, moving with the wind; Fight windmills, to struggle with imaginary opposition, as Don Quixote tilted at the windmill; Get one's wind, to recover one's breath; Get the wind of, to get on the windward side of; Get to windward of, to secure an advantage over; Get wind of, to learn about, to be informed of; Have the wind of, to be on the trail of; How the wind blows, or lies, the state of the wind: the position of affairs; In the wind, astir, afoot; In the wind's eye, In the teeth of the wind, right against the wind; Sail close to the wind, to keep the boat's head near enough to wind as to fill but not shake the sails: to be almost indecent; Second wind, new powers of respiration succeeding to the first breathlessness; Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind, to act wrongly and receive a crushing retribution. [A.S. wind; Ice. vindr, Ger. wind, L. ventus, Gr. aētēs, Sans. vāta, wind.]
Wind, wīnd, v.t. to turn: to twist: to coil: to haul or hoist, as by a winch: to encircle: to change: (Spens.) to weave.—v.i. to turn completely or often: to turn round something: to twist: to move spirally: to meander: to beat about the bush:—pr.p. wīnd′ing; pa.t. and pa.p. wound.—n. Wīnd′er, one who winds: an instrument for winding: a twisting plant.—adj. Wīnd′ing, curving, full of bends: twisted.—n. a turning: a twist.—n. Wīnd′ing-en′gine, a machine for hoisting.—adv. Wīnd′ingly.—ns. Wīnd′ing-machine′, a twisting or warping machine; Wīnd′ing-sheet, a sheet enwrapping a corpse: the dripping grease which clings to the side of a candle; Wīnd′-up, the close.—Wind a ship, to turn her about end for end; Wind up, to come to a conclusion: to tighten, to excite very much: to give new life to: to adjust for final settlement: (Shak.) to restore to harmony. [A.S. windan; Ger. winden, Ice. vinda, Goth. windan. Cf. Wend, Wander.]
Windlass, wind′las, n. a modification of the wheel and axle, used for raising weights, consisting of a revolving cylinder.—v.i. to use a windlass.—v.t. to hoist by means of such. [Skeat explains as a corruption, due to confusion with the succeeding word, of M. E. windas, a windlass—Ice. vindáss—vinda, to wind; Dut. windas.]