winding
/ˈwɪndɪŋ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.71 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Causing one to be breathless or out of breath.
adj
Of a horn or wind instrument: blown to make a sound.
Example Sentences
- "Novv their opinions of the end of the vvorld, of Paradiſe, and of hell; exceede the vanity of dreames, and all old vviues fables. They ſay, that at the vvinding of a horne not only all fleſh ſhall die, but the Angels themſelues: & that the earth vvith earthquakes ſhall be kneaded together like a lumpe of dough, for forty daies ſo continuing."
- "[W]e savv a Fox run by the Foot of our Mount into an adjacent Thicket. A fevv Minutes after, vve heard a confuſed Noiſe of the opening of Hounds, the vvinding of Horns, and the roaring of Country Squires."
- "Not a man or woman in the town but has heard stories of apparitions in the forest, or about the old castle. Sometimes it is a pack of hounds that sweep along, and the whoops and hollos of the huntsman, and the winding of horns and the galloping of horse, […]"
- "Then there was […] a vast deal of screwing and tightening, and winding and tuning, during which Mrs. Briggs expatiated to those near her on the immense difficulty of playing a guitar, and hinted at the wondrous proficiency of her daughters in that mystic art."
- "[T]here vvill be hurly burly, like as ye ſee in a man vvhen he dieth; vvhat deformity appeareth, hovv he ſtretcheth out all his members, vvhat a vvinding is there, ſo that all his body cometh out of frame?"
- "Eugene Forsarde, the reviewer in question, follows Currer Bell [Brontë's pseudonym] through every winding, discerns every point, discriminates every shade, proves himself master of the subject, and lord of the aim."
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English winding, windinge, wyndynge (“act of exposing something to the wind, airing, ventilating; act of winnowing (?)”), from winden, wynden (“to expose (something) to the air or wind, ventilate; to cause (someone) to be out of breath; to winnow (wheat); of an animal: to catch the scent of (someone or something)”) + -ing, -inge (suffix forming gerund nouns, and the present participle forms of verbs). The adjective is derived from the verb. The English word is analysable as wind (“to blow air through (a wind instrument or horn) to make a sound; to cause (someone) to become breathless; to winnow (food grain), etc.”) + -ing (suffix forming present participial adjectives and verbs, and nouns denoting an action or the embodiment of an action).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈwɪndɪŋ/
- British English: /ˈwɪndɪŋ/
Usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
- British usage
- Obsolete