windmill

[ wind-mil ]

/ ˈwɪndˌmɪl /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR windmill ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

any of various machines for grinding, pumping, etc., driven by the force of the wind acting upon a number of vanes or sails.

(loosely) a wind generator; wind plant.

Aeronautics. a small air turbine with blades, like those of an airplane propeller, exposed on a moving aircraft and driven by the air, used to operate gasoline pumps, radio apparatus, etc.

an imaginary opponent, wrong, etc. (in allusion to Cervantes' Don Quixote): to tilt at windmills.

verb (used with or without object)

Aeronautics. (of a propeller engine or turbojet engine) to rotate or cause to rotate solely under the force of a passing airstream.

Nearby words

windlass, windle, windless, windlessly, windlestraw, windmill, windmill grass, windom peak, window, window back, window blind

Origin of windmill

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at wind¹, mill¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for windmill

Up next: a windmill prototype, which is a few months from being finished.
Why the Clintons Love Sierra Leone’s Boy Genius|Nina Strochlic|September 26, 2013|DAILY BEAST
They are, across the board, quixotic characters hacking at the windmill of language.
Do You Speak Klingon?|Stephen Brown|June 14, 2009|DAILY BEAST
He didn't mean for you to turn yourself into a windmill, that's sartin sure.'
The Depot Master|Joseph C. Lincoln
A windmill was being erected and water pipes laid scientifically.
Exit Betty|Grace Livingston Hill

"I shall have plenty of time to get back," thinks he, and down he sits under a windmill and goes off to sleep.
Old Peter's Russian Tales|Arthur Ransome
There were by this time in Virginia, glass works, a windmill, iron works.
Pioneers of the Old South|Mary Johnston
So as soon as I could get away from the shack I went 237 out to the windmill tower again.
The Prairie Mother|Arthur Stringer

British Dictionary definitions for windmill

windmill

/ (ˈwɪndˌmɪl, ˈwɪnˌmɪl) /

noun

a machine for grinding or pumping driven by a set of adjustable vanes or sails that are caused to turn by the force of the wind

the set of vanes or sails that drives such a mill

Also called: whirligig British a toy consisting of plastic or paper vanes attached to a stick in such a manner that they revolve like the sails of a windmillUS and Canadian name: pinwheel

an imaginary opponent or evil (esp in the phrase tilt at or fight windmills)

a small air-driven propeller fitted to a light aircraft to drive auxiliary equipmentCompare ram-air turbine

an informal name for helicopter

an informal name for propeller (def. 1)

verb

to move or cause to move like the arms of a windmill

an informal name for accommodation bill

(intr) (of an aircraft propeller, rotor of a turbine, etc) to rotate as a result of the force of a current of air rather than under power

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with windmill

windmill

see tilt at windmills.