▪ I. windmill, n.
(ˈwɪndmɪl, ˈwɪnmɪl)
(Formerly also as two words.)
[f. wind n.1 + mill n.1; cf. MHG. wintmül, G. windmühle, LG., Du. windmolen, and F. moulin à vent (from 13th c.).]
1. A mill the machinery of which is driven by the wind acting upon sails, used (chiefly in flat districts) for grinding corn, pumping water, etc. The older and most characteristic European form consists of a conical mill-house with a dome or ‘cap’ carrying (usually) four sails; the modern American type consists of a disk of sails mounted on a framework of girders, and is used chiefly for pumping or sawing.
The sails (sail n.1 5) are turned by the force of the wind around an axis or wind-shaft, usually nearly horizontal and having some contrivance (now often automatic) for turning it in any direction to enable the sails to catch the wind.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11383 Þe king of alemaine was in a windmulle inome. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 190, Y saugh him carien a wyndmelle Vnder a walsh note shale. a 1400 Gloss in Rel. Ant. I. 7 Ventagile, a wyndmylne. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 63 His winde-mille þat stondit vppon hoge wiþ-oute þe towne of doninton. 15.. Ladye Bessie (Percy Soc.) 77 He went up unto a wynde mylne, And stoode upon a hyll soe hye. 1546 Yks. Chantry Surv. (Surtees 1894) 11 The rente of a wynde mylle there, xxs. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. i. 162, I had rather liue With Cheese and Garlick in a Windmill. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 644 At no time there bloweth so much wind as will move a windmill. 1759 Smeaton in Phil. Trans. LI. 159 Windmills, such as the different species for raising water for drainage, &c. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 21 If we look upon the sails of a windmill moving, at a distance, they appear to go very slow. 1841 T. A. Trollope Western France I. xii. 212 Behind the town is a high bluff..entirely covered with windmills. 1885 Law Rep. 10 App. Cas. 411 Some spars and canvas were sacrificed in order to erect a windmill to assist in working the pumps. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 599/2 American windmills generally have the sails arranged in an annulus or disk. |
2. A figure of a windmill; a sign or character resembling this, as a cross or asterisk. Also
attrib. Now
rare or
Obs.| 1402 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 57, I know not an a from the wynd-mylne. 1581 Campion in Confer. ii. (1583) I ij, A note is a marke that may be remoued, that teacheth to turne..by this crosse, or by that windmill or marke. 1898 Morris Austral Engl., Windmill J.P., expression formerly used in New South Wales for any J.P. who was ill-educated and supposed to sign his name with a cross x. |
3. a. A model of a windmill.
b. A toy consisting of a cross-shaped piece of card or other light substance fixed at the end of a stick so as to revolve like the sails of a windmill when moved through the air.
| 1557 Will of E. Pettinger (Somerset Ho.), I giue..to my vncle..my wyndemylle whych hangeth in my hall. 1598 Florio, Ventaréllo,..a piece of a card or paper cut like a crosse, and with a pin put in at the end of a sticke, which running against the wind doth twirle about, our English children call it a wind-mill. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Virolet. 1836 [Hooton] Bilberry Thurland I. v. 113 Last week,..I sold windmills and lambs for children. 1853 Dickens Bleak Ho. xiv, I so conciliated Peepy's affections by buying him a windmill and two flour-sacks, that [etc.]. |
c. Cricket. A style of bowling with a high overarm delivery. ?
Obs.| 1867 Australasian 19 Jan. 76/3 A change in bowling was tried, Wardill going on with his ‘windmills’, vice Conway. 1900 W. A. Bettesworth Walkers of Southgate 124 Taking his run up to the wicket, swinging his arm in what has been described as ‘a windmill action’. 1920 in P. F. Warner Cricket 86 Spofforth's windmill deliveries. |
4. fig. and
allusively.
† a. A fanciful notion, a crotchet; a visionary scheme or project.
Obs.| 1612 Webster White Devil ii. ii. 12 Others that raise up their confederate spirits, 'Bout wind-mils. 1622 Massinger & Dekker Virg. Mart. ii. ii, Thy head is full of Winde⁓mils. 1639 J. Clarke Parœm. 158 He hath wind-milnes in 's head. 1648 W. Jenkyn Blind Guide iii. 39 You have a windmill upon your pate. 1728 Earl of Ailesbury Mem. (1890) 576 Frize, who had a windmill in her head like her husband. 1749 G. Lavington Enthus. Meth. & Papists (1820) 18 The wind-mill is indeed in all their heads. |
b. In allusions to the story of Don Quixote (see
Quixote) tilting at windmills under the delusion that they were giants.
| 1644 Cleveland Char. Lond. Diurnall 3 The Quixotes of this Age fight with the Wind-mills of their owne Heads. 1646 M. Lluelyn Men-Miracles etc. 84 No doubty Don Quixote, like those that fight, With Warlike Wind mill, and then rise up Knight. a 1656 R. Cox Actæon & Diana 30 The Barber..vows to make you the windmill, whilest he plays Don Quixot against you furiously. a 1658 [see Quixote]. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia ix. iii, Our giants may indeed be only windmills. 1869 Le Fanu Wyvern Myst. III. 105 What have I to do wi' other folk's windmills? 1894 Farrar Christ 84 note, Dr. Edersheim is again—so far as I am concerned—fighting a windmill. 1898 [see tilter n.1 1]. 1937 A. Christie Death on Nile xxiv. 238 Rather eccentric..inclined to tilt at windmills. 1978 P. Bryers Cat Trapper viii. 57 Mike was into the sort of thing I'd like to be doing... Tilting at windmills? |
c. to fling (throw) one's cap over the windmill [
= F.
jeter son bonnet par-dessus les moulins]: to act recklessly and defiantly, fly in the face of convention.
| 1885 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton Chr. Kirkland xiii, A wild out⁓ward kind of young fellow, who had enjoyed his youth too freely and flung his cap too far over the windmill. 1920 Locke House of Baltazar xxii, You're going to make a bolt with Godfrey and throw your cap over the windmills. 1923 F. H. Kitchin Divers. Dawson 305 Throwing their caps over the windmill under the stimulus of war patriotism. |
† 5. fig. (from
wind n.1 10). A cause of ‘wind’.
| 1616 T. Draxe Bibl. Scholast. 80 A full stomacke is a winde⁓mill. |
6. An airscrew,
esp. one of the kind designed by Cierva for the autogiro. Now
Hist.| 1931 Cierva y Cadorniu Wings of Tomorrow 88, I designed the blades of the windmill. 1935 Sun (Baltimore) 31 Jan. 3/3 This new fast auto gyro will have no propeller. It will tilt its present windmill, gear it to the engine and so get its lift and forward drive. 1949 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) ii. 20 Windmill, an airscrew designed to produce power by axial transmission relative to the air. |
7. attrib. and
Comb. (See also 2.)
a. attrib., as
windmill country,
windmill hill,
windmill sail; moving like windmill-sails, as
windmill arms; having a radiating form like windmill-sails, as
† windmill battle (see
quot.); (sense 6 above)
windmill aeroplane,
windmill (air)plane,
windmill rotor,
windmill wing;
b. Comb., as
windmill-like,
windmill-studded adjs.;
windmill brake state Aeronaut. (see
quot. 1969);
windmill-cap, the upper story of a windmill when made movable so as to turn the sails to the wind (Knight
Dict. Mech. 1875);
windmill-grass, an Australian grass,
Chloris truncata, with long spreading flower-spikes;
windmill plant = telegraph-
plant;
windmill-pump, a pump worked by a windmill, a wind-pump;
† windmillward,
= millward.
| 1931 Statesman (Calcutta) 5 Dec., The Autogiro or ‘*windmill’ aeroplane has just been put on the public market in this country for the first time. |
| 1928 Daily Express 10 Aug. 11/4 A ‘*windmill’ airplane is to fly the channel. |
| 1891 Kipling City Dreadf. Nt. 88 The *windmill arms and the angry eyes fall. |
| 1639 Markham Soldier's Gram. ii. 65 This..forme of Battaile following, which is called by the name of the *Wind-Mill Battaile,..standeth every way ready prepared to entertaine fight. |
| 1948 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. 269/1 In the *windmill brake state, the rotor is again working in a regular slipstream. 1969 Gloss. Aeronaut. & Astronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) v. 19 Windmill-brake state, the operating condition of a rotor when the rotor thrust and the axial flow through and outside the rotor disc area are all in the same direction. |
| 1887 J. J. Hissey Holiday on Road 83 Approaching Mayfield, we entered upon the heart of a *windmill country. |
| 1889 J. H. Maiden Useful Pl. Australia 80 Chloris truncata, *Windmill Grass. |
| 1440 Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 395 In quodam ludo de ly Haliblude ludendo apud ly *Wyndmylhill. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 275 A little windemill hill heard by. 1577 Leigh Surv. I ij b, The most notable knowen markes,..as..Marlepittes,..Brokes,..Windmill hilles, etc. |
| 1587 Engl. Misc. (Surtees 1890) 91 The oulde walles of the toune from the castell-bridge alongeste the *wyndmylle hole. |
| 1848 tr. Hoffmeister's Trav. Ceylon, etc. vii. 277 Their *wind-mill-like wings. |
| 1927 Times 27 Apr. 16/3 It was agreed to use the word..aerodyne to designate all heavier-than-air craft, in which category the class name for the *windmill plane appears as gyro plane. |
| 1891 C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 149 A kind of patent *windmill⁓pump. |
| 1944 H. F. Gregory Anything Horse can Do iv. 48 The stick [of the Autogiro] was connected to the hub of the *windmill rotor by push-pull tubes and cables. |
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. i. (1879) 71 Sometimes they [sc. ruffs] are suffered to hang ouer their shoulders, like *windmil sayles fluttering in the winde. 1759 Smeaton in Phil. Trans. LI. 138 In trying experiments on windmill⁓sails, the wind itself is too uncertain to answer the purpose. 1864 Kingsley Let. from Biarritz in Life xxi. (1879) II. 169 The vulture [in the courtyard] has been..expanding concave wings as big as windmill sails. |
| 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain II. 585/2 Corrales under its *windmill-studded hill. |
| 1314–15 Cal. Rotul. Chartarum (1803) 241 Will'us *Wynd⁓milward. |
| 1931 Cierva y Cadorniu Wings of Tomorrow 82 A flying machine with a *windmill wing. |
† c. quasi-adj. (
fig.): Variable, flighty.
Obs.| a 1644 Quarles New Distemper Wks. (Grosart) I. 151/1 Your windmill fancies. 1657 J. Sergeant Schism Dispach't 134 Your vertible and wind-mill uncertainty. |
Hence
† windmill v.;
ˈwindˌmiller [
cf. G.
windmüller], the keeper of a windmill;
ˈwindˌmilly a., abounding in windmills.
| a 1530 J. Heywood Wether (Brandl) 509, I am a *wynd myller as many mo be. 1654 Vilvain Theorem. Theol. iii. 113 Like Wind-millers, they make every wind serv their turns. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4170/4 John Childs,..a Wind-Miller by Trade. 1865 W. White East. Eng. II. iii. 40 It ‘blew hard enough to winner taters’, as a windmiller in Warwickshire once said to a friend of mine. |
| 1863 Dickens Uncomm. Trav. xxvii, A *windmilly country this. |
▪ II. windmill, v. (
ˈwɪndmɪl,
ˈwɪnmɪl)
[f. the n.] † a. intr. To turn or change direction like a windmill
obs. nonce-wd.| 1694 N. H. Ladies Dict. 230/2 Not many days had passed ere this extraordinary Passion Wind-mill'd about to the contrary point of the Compass. |
b. trans. and intr. To move (one's arms or legs) in a manner suggestive of a windmill.
| 1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 18 At this school we had our first taste of fighting or rather windmilling with the arms. 1928 Daily Express 6 Nov. 8 They..set about their efforts again, windmilling his arms and legs until he gasped with unconscious exhaustion. 1959 R. Collier City that wouldn't Die v. 67 Windmilling your arms to keep the blood coursing. 1979 S. Brett Comedian Dies v. 55 Lennie Barber..seemed to lose his balance and sank back, arms windmilling, on to the side of his chair. 1982 W. Boyd Ice-Cream War 4 The colonel windmilled his arms and cracked his knuckles. |
c. intr. Aeronaut. Of the propeller or rotor of an aircraft: to spin unpowered;
to windmill down, to descend with the rotor spinning; also
fig.| 1934 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVIII. 18 Captain Barnwell said..that it could be assumed that when an engine was fully throttled the airscrew was windmilling freely. 1942 Flight 26 Mar. 296/2 When an airscrew is wind-milling..the effect is exactly opposite to its normal one. 1958 Listener 2 Jan. 10/1 The rotor windmilling freely as on an autogiro. 1963 Sobey & Suggs Control of Aircraft & Missile Powerplants vii. 181 The forward flight of the airframe will cause the engine to windmill and create sufficient airflow through the engine to minimize the probability of a hot start. 1976 Shooting Times & Country Mag. 16–22 Dec. 29/2, I shot at another goose which peeled off, flew fluttering for a hundred yards, and then windmilled down stone dead. 1978 M. Babson Tightrope for Three xxvi. 152 Autorotation was a standard and perfectly safe manoeuvre, the helicopter windmilling down with the pilot still in complete control. |
Hence
ˈwindmilling ppl. a. and vbl. n.| 1945 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLIX. 716 With the windmilling propeller the changed air-flow over the aircraft does not impair the handling characteristics. 1959 C. A. Meyer in O. E. Lancaster Jet Propulsion Engines 149 A typical curve showing the drag of a turbo⁓jet engine during windmilling is shown in Fig. C, 11f. 1973 J. Wainwright Touch of Malice 98 The young man was obviously a nutter... His slobbing mouth. His windmilling arms. 1978 M. Farren Feelies 33 The other girl was spun, flat on her back with windmilling arms and legs. |