▪ I. wynd
obs. f. wind.
▪ II. wynd Chiefly Sc. (and north. dial.).
(weind)
Also 5, 8 wynde (6 vynd, wyne, 9 north. dial. wynnd), 5 winde, 8–9 wind (9 weind).
[App. f. the stem of wind v.1 (cf. OE. ᵹewind winding ascent, spiral, etc.); the long vowel indicates an OE. disyllabic form *winde or *wynde.]
1. A narrow street or passage turning off from a main thoroughfare; a narrow cross-street; a lane or alley: a. In Scotland (and northern England).
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxvii. 4490 Þai til Edynburgh helde þe way, And at þe Freyr Wynde enteryt þai. 1439 Charters, etc. of Edinb. (1871) 64 The comon venale callit Sanct Leonardis wynde. 1506 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 617/1 Le Nudryis Vynd infra burgum de Edinburgh. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 174 Seing a possest persone with the deuil..rinn throuch gaites, houses, close, wynes, straits and streits frilie. 1612 in Halyburton's Ledger (1867) 336 Bonnetts maid in Leith wynd. 1695 Sibbald Autobiog. (1834) 127 A house neer to the head of Blackfriers Wynd. 1727 De Foe Tour Gt. Brit. III. 30 Those Side Lanes which they call Wynds. c 1730 Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1818) I. 18 Being in my retreat to pass through a long narrow wynde or alley,..a guide was assigned me. 1782 Sir J. Sinclair Observ. Scot. Dial. 165 Many narrow lanes, leading..down the sides of the hills; which lanes, from their being generally winding,..are called winds. 1822 Scott Nigel ii, A sma' house at the fit of ane of the wynds. 1860 Sir J. B. Burke Viciss. Families Ser. ii. 153 The site of Appleby is exceedingly beautiful... From this main street are narrow lanes, called weinds, jutting out towards the river Eden. 1886 Masson Edinb. Sketches (1892) 11 A multiplicity of narrow foot-passages called closes, with a few wider and more street-like cuttings called wynds. |
b. Applied to similar lanes, etc., in other parts.
| 1863 Sir R. Alcock Capital of Tycoon I. 255 Black-teethed women..rush down the wynds and passages [in Yeddo] which lead to the great thoroughfare. 1871 Kingsley At Last ii, Fresh from the cities of the Old World, and the short and stunted figures..which crowd our alleys and back wynds. 1894 S. Weyman Man in Black viii. 168 The priest passed unharmed through the lowest wynds of Paris. |
c. Without article.
| 1812 W. Tennant Anster F. vi. xxi, From lane and wynd the sounds of gladness peal. 1856 W. E. Aytoun Bothwell 145 That cry..rung through street, and pealed through wynd. |
d. transf.
| 1952 Dylan Thomas Coll. Poems 170 Small fishes glide Through wynds and shells of drowned Ship towns to pastures of otters. |
2. attrib., as wynd house; wynd head, the higher end of a narrow street.
| 1530 Abstr. Protocols Town Clerks Glasgow (1897) IV. 34 Fra the Wyndheid of Glasgw to the Grayfreris. 1665 J. Nicoll Diary (Bann. Cl.) 443 [He] errectit ane staige betwixt Niddries and Black Friers wynd head. 1888 Barrie When a Man's Single i, The windows of the wynd houses. |