winding

American  

[wahyn-ding] / ˈwaɪn dɪŋ /

noun

1. the act of a person or thing that winds.

2. a bend, turn, or flexure.

3. a coiling, folding, or wrapping, as of one thing about another.

4. something that is wound or coiled, or a single round of it.

5. Electricity.

   1. a symmetrically laid, electrically conducting current path in any device.

   2. the manner of such coiling.

      a series winding.

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adjective

1. bending or turning; sinuous.

2. spiral, as stairs.

winding British  

/ ˈwaɪndɪŋ /

noun

1. a curving or sinuous course or movement

2. anything that has been wound or wrapped around something

3. a particular manner or style in which something has been wound

4. a curve, bend, or complete turn in wound material, a road, etc

5. (often plural) devious thoughts or behaviour

   the tortuous windings of political argumentation

6. one or more turns of wire forming a continuous coil through which an electric current can pass, as used in transformers, generators, etc

7. another name for wind 2

8. a coil of tubing in certain brass instruments, esp the French horn

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adjective

1. curving; sinuous

   a winding road

Other Word Forms

• windingly adverb
• windingness noun

Etymology

Origin of winding

before 1050; Middle English (noun), Old English windung (noun); wind ², -ing ¹, -ing ²

Example Sentences

They have refused to play some nights, on one occasion putting on a free al fresco show a few winding streets away instead.

From The Wall Street Journal

The case is one of thousands of similar lawsuits brought by families, state prosecutors and school districts currently winding their way through US courts.

From BBC

The U.S. is rapidly winding down its own military presence in the country, vacating the strategic Al Tanf base last week and handing it over to the government.

From The Wall Street Journal

Then he hopped down from the rock and led them downhill, down a winding offshoot trail toward a crevice behind the rock.

From Literature

Fury revelled in the spotlight at Monday's news conference, delivering his trademark long and winding answers as he came face-to-face with Makhmudov at the north London venue.

From BBC

Related Words

• bending
• curving
• meandering
• serpentine
• sinuous
• snaking
• tortuous
• turning
• twisting
• twisty
• windy
• zigzag