winds
plural of “wind” — air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure
An inflected form of wind · plural.
How often you will meet it
Rank 2,838 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 5,825 times across 175,160 chapters — 0.003% of every word in the library.
What it means
noun
- air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure also: air current, current of air trees bent under the fierce windswhen there is no wind, row
- a tendency or force that influences events the winds of change
- breath the collision knocked the wind out of him
- empty rhetoric or insincere or exaggerated talk also: malarkey, malarky, idle words, jazz, nothingness that's a lot of winddon't give me any of that jazz
- an indication of potential opportunity also: tip, lead, steer, confidential information, hint he got a tip on the stock marketa good lead for a job
- a musical instrument in which the sound is produced by an enclosed column of air that is moved by bellows or the human breath also: wind instrument
winds in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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Love, love, the Trade Winds urge abaft, And thee, from thee, they steadfast waft.
John Marr and Other Poems · Herman Melville · Chapter 1
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He cut up the rest of the body into little bits and strewed them to the four winds.
The Yellow Fairy Book: The Grateful Beasts · World Traditions (Celtic, Norse, Asian & Persian) · Chapter 1
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I wrote that nothing lives forever, and that it's time that the winds of democracy blow over the East.
William Gibson Interviewed · Giuseppe Salza · Chapter 1
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And the song of our hearts shall be, While the winds and the waters rave, A home on the rolling sea!
Poems Every Child Should Know · Mary E. (Mary Elizabeth) [Editor] Burt · Chapter 1
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From the land of the Cyclops, Odysseus and his company sailed to the Isle of Aeolus, the king of the winds.
The Odyssey of Homer · 751? BCE-651? BCE Homer · Chapter 1