▪ I. windy, a.
(ˈwɪndɪ)
Forms: 1 windiᵹ, 1, 4 windi, 4–5 wyndi, 4–6 wyndy, 6 -die, -dye, windye, Sc. vyndie, wondie, 6–7 windie, 5– windy.
[OE. windiᵹ: see wind n.1 and -y1. Cf. MHG. windic, G. windig.]
I. Literal and directly connected senses.
1. a. Consisting of wind; of or pertaining to (the) wind; having the command of the winds, as a heathen deity; indicating or suggesting wind.
c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke viii. 23 Ða com windi yst. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 313 The wyndy Storm began to skarse. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. viii. 48 As when a windy tempest bloweth hye. a 1593 Marlowe Ovid's Elegies ii. xvi, If stern Neptune's windy power prevail. 1602 W. Basse Three Past. Elegies ii. (1893) 49 March, departed with his windy rage. 1617 J. Taylor (Water P.) Three Weekes Observ. Ep. Ded., All the watery, windy, earthly, and drinking Deities. 1781 Cowper Retirement 432 While morning kindles with a windy red. 1873 Black Pr. Thule vi. 89 The sea that lay beyond..was of a windy green. |
b. Produced, or actuated, by ‘wind’ or compressed air: said of music played on wind-instruments, or of a wind-instrument.
1841 Thackeray Mem. Gormandising Wks. 1900 XIII. 576 Music, whether windy or wiry. 1871 Longfellow Wayside Inn ii. Cobbler of Hagenau 45 Two angels carved in wood, That by the windy organ stood. |
2. a. Of places, etc.: Full of, exposed to, blown upon or through by the wind.
Beowulf 1358 Windiᵹe næssas. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 322 Heora wyrtruma bið swa-swa windiᵹe ysla. 1483 Cath. Angl. 419/1 Wyndy, ventosus, ventuosus. 1552 Huloet, Wyndy houses, or places. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 279 A coulde and wyndy clime. 1573 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxix. 350 Then wes he worsland our ane wondie swyre. a 1593 Marlowe & Nashe Dido i. i, Iuno..Made Hebe to direct her ayrie wheeles Into the windie countrie of the clowdes. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 440 On this windie Sea of Land, the Fiend Walk'd up and down. 1833 Tennyson May Queen, New-Year's Eve v, The building rook 'ill caw from the windy tall elm-tree. 1864 Lowell Fireside Trav. 191 As he paces the windy deck. 1873 Longfellow Wayside Inn, Monk of Casal-Maggiore 84 My wretched lodging in a windy shed. |
b. Of times, conditions, etc.: Characterized by wind, in which wind is frequent or prevalent; accompanied by (much) wind.
c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 162 Windiᵹ lengten & reniᵹ sumer. 1431 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 2 Toward the ende of wyndy Februarie. 1579 J. Dee Diary (Camden) 5 A moyst Marche and not wyndy. 1600 Surflet Country Farm v. viii. 671 Windie drouthes. 1685 in Verney Mem. (1904) II. 382 The wettest & the windiest day that I have seene. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones i. iii, It is a good Night, only a little rainy and windy. 1877 Huxley Physiogr. 69 A windy day soon dries a wet pavement. 1904 W. E. Hodgson Trout Fishing 210 Meanwhile the rain goes on: no longer a slight windy spray. |
c. Stirred by or wavering in the wind; moving so as to produce a wind or current of air.
c 1450 tr. De Imitatione ii. vii. 47 Truste not ner leene not upon a windy rede. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. xii. 8 He..in his hand a windy fan did beare. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey vi. i, Hans quivered like a windy reed. |
d. Situated towards the wind, windward: in phr. on the windy side of (fig.), so as not to be ‘scented’ and attacked by (cf. wind n.1 4), out of the reach of; away from, clear of.
In modern use echoing Shakes.
1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 327 Pedro. Infaith Lady you haue a merry heart. Beatr. Yea my Lord I thanke it, poore foole it keepes on the windy side of Care. 1601 ― Twel. N. iii. iv. 181 Still you keepe o'th windie side of the Law: good. 1814 Scott Wav. xii, He had just so much solidity as kept on the windy side of insanity. 1863 Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. vii. 190 You cut off his resources; while you yourself keep on the windy side of assassination and murder. |
3. Resembling the wind in storminess, quality of sound, swiftness, † changefulness, etc.
c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 388 Þeah þeos woruld wede, and windiᵹe ehtnysse astyriᵹe onᵹean Cristes ᵹelaðunge. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. pr. viii. (1868) 6 The amyable fortune maysthow sen alwey wyndy [MS. wyndynge; uentosam] and flowynge and euere mysknowynge of hir self. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 51 Then with her windie sighes, and golden heares, To fan, and blow them drie againe she seekes. 1595 ― John ii. i. 477 Zeale now melted by the windie breath Of soft petitions. 1614 Purchas Pilgrimage viii. v. (ed. 2) 756 The windy inconstancy of some of the companie. 1670 Dryden Tyr. Love ii. i, A fire which every windy passion blows. 1697 ― æneis xii. 1227 Indu'd with windy Wings to flit in Air. 1869 Mrs. Stowe Oldtown Folks xviii. (1870) 185 Polly gave a sudden windy dart from the room. 1883 R. Ritchie Bk. Sibyls i. 5 The sweet windy drone of the organ. 1915 Chamb. Jrnl. 20 Mar. 245/1 Singing the lines in a high, windy voice. |
4. a. Characterized by, arising from, or affected with ‘wind’ (wind n.1 10) in the stomach or bowels († or other parts): = flatulent 4.
c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 214 Wiþ þa þing þe windiᵹne æþm on men wyrcen. 1563 T. Gale Antidot. ii. 30 In all cold and wyndye infirmities of the brayne. 1598 Marston Pygmal., Sat. iv. 151 The windie-chollicke striu'd to haue some vent. 1620 Venner Via Recta viii. 185 Waterish and impure stomacks, by reason of windie crudities, wherewith they abound. 1799 Underwood Dis. Childhood (ed. 4) I. 56 A costive and windy state of the bowels. 1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 348 After some windy eructations. 1889 in J. Hutchinson Archives Surg. (1898) IX. 121 When well I am generally very windy. |
b. Of food or drink: Causing or liable to cause ‘wind’: = flatulent 3.
1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxxxvi. (Add. MS. 27944), Newe muste is ful wyndy & smoky. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 28 Nauews do not nouryshe so moche as rapes, but they be euen as wyndye. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 101 They..feede on bread very black, heauy and windy. 1698 Floyer Asthma ii. (1717) 25 When the Meat is crude, slimy, windy, acerb. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 494 If the food be poor and windy. |
II. Figurative senses. (See also 2 d, 3.)
5. Having ‘nothing in it’, ‘airy’, intangible, empty, unsubstantial, flimsy, vain, frivolous, trifling, worthless. (Often passing into other senses; see below.) Similarly of persons (rare).
1593 G. Harvey New Let. B 1, A wan, or windy Hope, is a notable breake-necke vnto itselfe. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres v. v. 165 There is nothing more vniust then to make men to liue by windy words & ayre. 1601 [see 6 a]. 1650 Milton Tenure Kings (ed. 2) 47 Neither is Cæsar to make Warr as head of Christ'ndom, Protector of the Church, Defender of the Faith; these Titles being fals and Windie. 1693 Dryden tr. Juvenal x. 219 Exchanging solid Quiet, to obtain The Windy satisfaction of the Brain. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Windy-fellow, without Sense or Reason. 1830 Carlyle Ess., Richter (1840) II. 340 What a hollow, windy vacuity of internal character this indicates. 1854 De Quincey War Wks. 1862 IV. 271 The windiest of levities. 1861 Thackeray Four Georges iv. (1862) 193 The Prince of Wales had some windy projects of encouraging literature, science, and the arts. 1877 Carlyle in Mrs. Carlyle's Lett. II. 116 note, Sending windy gossip to the newspapers. |
6. a. Of speech or discourse, with various shades of meaning: Verbose, long-winded; violent, vehement; empty and high-sounding, inflated, bombastic; exaggerated, extravagant.
1382 Wyclif Job xvi. 3 Whethir windi woordis [Vulg. verba ventosa] shul not han ende? 1590 J. Davidson in Wodrow Soc. Misc. (1844) 517 Notwithstanding all the windye volumes written by them. 1601 B. Jonson Poetaster v. iii. (1602) M 3 b, Tibullus. O, terrible, windy words! Gallus. A signe of a windy Braine. 1638 Junius Paint. Ancients 209 Windie and unmeasurable babbling was not long since brought to Athens out of Asia. 1660 Fuller Mixt Contempl. xii. 19 By such windy particulars [he] did blow up his losses to the summe by him nominated. 1810 Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1839) IV. 379 To what purpose then this windy declamation about John Calvin? 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Org. v. 245 A vague and windy rhetoric has supplanted solid acquisition. 1886 Illustr. Lond. News 21 Aug. 194/1 The windy speeches made at public political meetings. |
b. Of a speaker or writer: Full of talk or verbiage, talkative, loquacious, long-winded; violent or extravagant in utterance, ‘blustering’; bragging, boastful (cf. 7 b).
1513 Douglas æneis xi. viii. 33 Quhidder, gif thi marcial deidis, as thai war ay, Into thy wyndy clattryng toung sal be. 1581 J. Hamilton Cath. Traict. in Cath. Tract. (S.T.S.) 85 Ane vyndie sophist. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 127 Windy Atturnies to their Clients Woes. 1648 Milton Observ. Art. Peace Wks. 1851 IV. 566 There will not need more words to this Windy Railer, convicted..of all those Crimes which he..charges upon others. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet ch. x, He is a windy body when he gets on his..stories. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Windy, noisy, verbose, marvellous in narration. 1855 Motley Dutch Rep. vi. ii. III. 450 The windy demagogue, who had filled half Flanders with his sound and fury. |
7. a. That ‘puffs one up’; inducing pride or vain-glory. Obs. or merged in other senses.
1590 Nashe Pasquils Apol. D 4 b, Let witte, which is windie obtaine the lesse, that Charitie which edifieth may gaine the more. [Cf. 1 Cor. viii. 1.] 1597 J. Payne Royal Exch. 43 Puffed vp wth wynd[i]e knowledge. [1693 Penn Fruits Sol. ii. cx. Wks. 1782 V. 181 We may be too easily swelled beyond our just proportion, by the windy compliments of men. 1784 Cowper Task v. 269 Inflated and astrut with self-conceit, He gulps the windy diet.] |
b. ‘Puffed up’; inflated with, or showing, pride or vain conceit; vain-glorious, proud. Now Sc. colloq. (const. of).
1603 [see windy-headed in 9]. 1625 T. Adams Five Serm., Job xlii. 6 (1626) 10 After these blustring insolencies, and windie ostentations. 1695 Dryden tr. Dufresnoy's Art Paint. 63 He who has a windy Head, and flatters himself with the empty hope of deserving the praise of the common people. 1888 Barrie Auld Licht Idylls ix, I'm thinking he was windier of the cock. |
8. a. Apt to ‘get the wind up’; ‘funky’. slang.
1916 D. Hankey Student in Arms vii. (1917) 130 The anticipation of danger makes many men ‘windy’. 1918 C. J. Biddle Fighting Airman (1968) 147 He thought what made the men more ‘windy’ than anything else..was the thought of..having to lie there all day before being able to get to a doctor. a 1948 D. Welch Voice through Cloud (1950) iv. 39 He [sc. a patient facing an operation] laughed so much that the man with the bandaged ear became exasperated and said, ‘Why do you make so much noise? That shows you're windy. If you didn't care, you wouldn't say anything.’ 1960 J. R. Ackerley We think World of You 123 'E was windy, but I swore it was safe and that nothing could 'appen. 1985 D. Clark Performance ii. 40 ‘Are you feeling windy?’ ‘Do I look as if I am?’ |
b. Applied to a frightening or nerve-wracking place or situation. Services'.
1919 Narrative Battery A, 101st Field Artillery (U.S. Artillery) 118 It was a ‘windy’ place to be.., as the enemy raked it with machine gun and trench mortar fire all day and night. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 305 Windy Corner,..any place specially dangerous or trying to the nerves on account of enemy fire. 1927 A. M. Sullivan Old Ireland xi. 226 All the ‘windy corners’ of his front. 1928 T. E. Lawrence Let. 1 May (1938) 599 Such performances require a manner to carry them off... A windy business. |
9. advb. and Comb., as windy-blowing, windy clear, windy-footed (cf. 3), windy-headed (cf. 6, 7 b), windy-looking adjs.; Windy City (U.S.), a nickname for Chicago.
a 1629 T. Goffe Orestes ii. iii, With a North gale of *windy blowing sighs. |
1887 Courier-Jrnl. (Louisville, Kentucky) 31 Jan. 5/1 An alleged anarchist dynamite plot from the *Windy City. 1908 K. McGaffey Show Girl 58 Chicago is surely rightly named when they call it the Windy City. 1948 News-Dispatch (Michigan) 3 Apr. 9/3 The handsome Windy City youngster has an enormous following. 1979 K. Bonfiglioli After you with Pistol xvi. 120 The scent of the Chicago River as it slides greasily under the nine bridges in the centre of the Windy City. |
1899 T. S. Moore Vinedresser, Duet iii, Cloudless eyes, blue eyes so *windy clear. |
c 1611 Chapman Iliad xv. 163 The *windie-footed Dame. |
1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 81 The great..applause of the *windie headed people. |
1879 Stevenson Trav. Cevennes 26 The sun had gone down into a *windy-looking mist. |
▪ II. windy, a.2
(ˈwaɪndɪ)
[f. wind v.1 + -y1.]
Of a road, path, etc.: that winds about; tortuous, twisting.
1972 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 4 June 11/1 One drives about five miles from the ferry slip..and down a steep windy road to a plateau above the beach. 1976 Daily Tel. 15 July 2/5 The existing by-pass which is a bit windy could be improved as an adequate alternative. 1983 Truckin' Life Sept. 15/2 His worst load was moving a complete school building in 1960. There were no escorts available, and the distance was 120 km on the State's windiest road. |
▪ III. windy, n.1
(ˈwɪndɪ)
Repr. colloq. and dial. pronunc. of window n. Cf. winder n.5
1830 W. Carleton Traits & Stories Irish Peasantry I. 193 Will you hand me over that other clew out of the windy-stool [= window-sill] there? c 1883 D. Boucicault Shaughraun ii. i. 11 He got sight of my face agin the windy. 1921 V. Jacob Bonnie Joann 37 Lowse ye the windy-sneck a wheen. 1977 Hot Car Oct. 15/2 Another problem with fitting 'lectric windys to English cars is their narrow door design. |
▪ IV. windy, n.2 N. Amer. local slang.
(ˈwɪndɪ)
[f. windy a. 6 a.]
A tall story; a piece of boasting or exaggeration.
1933 Amer. Speech VIII. i. 53/2 Windy,..a tall tale, a wildly unreasonable story. 1933 J. V. Allen Cowboy Lore iii. 60/2 Telling a windy, telling a boastful story. 1935 H. L. Davis Honey in Horn iii. 24 He could invent windies about his stand-in with the girls. |