windmill
Pronunciation
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Pronunciation
- (British, America) IPA: /ˈwɪnd.mɪl/
windmill (plural windmills)
- A machine which translates linear motion of wind to rotational motion by means of adjustable vanes called sails.
- The structure containing such machinery.
- A child's toy consisting of vanes mounted on a stick that rotate when blown by a person or by the wind.
- (basketball) A dunk where the dunker swings his arm in a circular motion before throwing the ball through the hoop.
- A guitar move where the strumming hand mimics a turning windmill.
- A breakdancing move in which the dancer rolls his/her torso continuously in a circular path on the floor, across the upper chest, shoulders and back, while twirling the legs in a V shape in the air.
- Any of various large papilionid butterflies of the genus Byasa, the wings of which resemble the vanes of a windmill.
- (juggling) The false shower.
- (metaphorical) An imaginary enemy, but presented as real.
- French: moulin à vent
- German: Windmühle
- Italian: mulino a vento
- Portuguese: moinho de vento
- Russian: ветряна́я ме́льница
- Spanish: molino de viento
- French: moulin à vent
- German: Windmühle
- Italian: mulino a vento
- Portuguese: moinho de vento
- Russian: ветряна́я ме́льница
- Spanish: molino de viento
- German: Windmühle
- Italian: girandola
- Portuguese: cata-vento
- Russian: верту́шка
- Spanish: molinillo de viento
windmill (windmills, present participle windmilling; past and past participle windmilled)
- (transitive, intransitive) To rotate with a sweeping motion.
- She ran down the hill, windmilling her arms with glee.
- 1969, Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five, New York: Dial, 2005, Chapter 2, p. 59,
- The main thing now was to find the steering wheel. At first, Billy windmilled his arms, hoping to find it by luck.
- 2005, Gideon Defoe, The Pirates!: in an adventure with Ahab, page 140
- As the Pirate Captain strained at the ham, the whale began to spasm and buck about in the water. Its tail thrashed wildly up and down. Its flippers windmilled in the air uselessly.
- (intransitive) Of a rotating part of a machine, to (become disengaged and) rotate freely.
- The axle broke and the wheel windmilled in place briefly before careening through the wall.
- 2000, Walter J. Boyne, Philip Handleman, Brassey's Air Combat Reader, page 18
- When he went to switch on his rotary engine again, the Le Rhone refused to pick up. Nothing happened! The propeller simply windmilled in the slip stream. Garros knew immediately what was wrong and cursed himself for his imbecility.
- 2006, James R. Hansen, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, page 134
- […] the propeller blade on number-four engine windmilled in the air stream. "I wasn't too concerned about it, really," recalls Butchart. "B-29 engines are not all that dependable."
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004