windsock

American  

[wind-sok] / ˈwɪndˌsɒk /

Or wind sock

noun

1. a tapered, tubular cloth vane, open at both ends and having at the larger end a fixed ring pivoted to swing freely, installed at airports or elsewhere to indicate wind direction and approximate intensity.

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windsock British  

/ ˈwɪndˌsɒk /

noun

1. Also called: air sock.   drogue.   wind sleeve.   wind cone.  a truncated cone of textile mounted on a mast so that it is free to rotate about a vertical axis: used, esp at airports, to indicate the local wind direction

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Etymology

Origin of windsock

First recorded in 1925–30; wind ¹ + sock ¹

Example Sentences

For one of McKay’s major numbers, a blow-up windsock man you might see promoting a business on the side of a freeway was an unexpected inspiration.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 13, 2024

"The airport’s windsock was horizontal and the aircraft was being rocked from side to side by the wind," Thomson added.

From Fox News • Feb. 23, 2022

And at the top of the final jump, a bright red windsock stuck straight out almost all afternoon.

From Washington Post • Feb. 5, 2022

As Booth approached the canyon, he took note that other parked helicopters were pointing different directions and saw a windsock “waving like a waffle.”

From Seattle Times • Jan. 14, 2021

It was a wind that offered no relief from the heat, but it caught Lillian’s hair and pushed it softly back, an auburn shining pennant, a surrogate windsock, revealing a long, elegant neck.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy