windmill

[ wind-mil ]

/ ˈwɪndˌmɪl /

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See 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.

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Origin of windmill

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

Words nearby windmill

windlass, windle, windless, windlestraw, wind machine, windmill, windmill grass, Windom Peak, window, window back, window blind

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use windmill in a sentence

Especially a romantic one, who isn’t unhinged or tilting at windmills.
Christopher Lloyd is still playing characters who are unhinged — and larger than life|Karen Heller|August 26, 2021|Washington Post
Colleagues have cautioned him against chasing windmills in a quest that McConnell himself describes as “a little bit quixotic.”
The quest to learn if our brain’s mutations affect mental health|Roxanne Khamsi|August 25, 2021|MIT Technology Review
There’s even up, in Yorkshire, a working windmill that actually produces flour.
Should Traffic Lights Be Abolished? (Ep. 454)|Stephen J. Dubner|March 11, 2021|Freakonomics
Adding to the citizens’ misery are rolling electrical blackouts, possibly related to the fact that the state legislature has banned all sources of electricity except windmills and 9-volt batteries.
Dave Barry’s Year in Review 2020|Dave Barry|December 27, 2020|Washington Post

Tim Hwang recognizes he is tilting at windmills here, trillion-dollar windmills.
Does Advertising Actually Work? (Part 2: Digital) (Ep. 441)|Stephen J. Dubner|November 26, 2020|Freakonomics
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
But the American Dream is such a pretty windmill to chase that it's not a problem to get new arrivals to join in the pursuit.
Why I Love the Mosque|Elizabeth Wurtzel|August 4, 2010|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
We are of as much consequence to an army, as wind to a windmill: the wings can't be put in motion without us.
The Battle of Hexham;|George Colman
And on a slight rise, but so concealed from him by the willows that only the great wings showed, stood the windmill.
The Amazing Interlude|Mary Roberts Rinehart
The mills were presumably driven for the most part by water, though we have a reference to a windmill as early as the year 833.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3|Various
The windmill shown in the sketch is one that will always face the wind, and it never requires adjustment.
The Boy Mechanic, Book 2|Various
With your colors to wear, I shall have the honor of breaking a lance against the biggest windmill in the world.
In Search of the Unknown|Robert W. Chambers

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with windmill

windmill

see tilt at windmills.

windmill

Origin of windmill

Words nearby windmill

Words related to windmill

How to use windmill in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for windmill

Other Idioms and Phrases with windmill