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.

---

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

---

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

I was in nylon, feeling like a windsock.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 4, 2022

"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

Automation soon eliminated Mabel’s job as the airport windsock.

From Washington Post • Mar. 25, 2021

A windsock at the end of the field, swollen with moderate gusts, pointed like an absurd finger past the control tower and to the far runway.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy