▪ I. windle, n.1 Now dial. or local.
(ˈwɪnd(ə)l)
Forms: 1–3 windel, (1 -il), 3–6 wyndel, 6 wyndle, -dille, -dell, 8–9 dial. winnel, 6– windle.
[OE. windel str. m., ‘cartellus’, ‘fiscella’, ‘canistrum’, ‘corbis’, f. windan to plait, wind v.1: see -le 1.
Parallel in formation are OHG. wintilâ (MHG., G. windel) swaddling-clothes, ON. vindill wisp.]
1. A basket. Now only dial. (see quot. 1879): app. associated or confused with windle n.2
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) C 10 Cartellus, windil. c 1000 ælfric Gen. xl. 16 Ic ᵹeseah swefn, þæt is, ðæt ic hæfde ðry windlas mid melewe ofer min heafod. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 17973 Thei did brynge the kiddis drye..And colis also In bollis & wyndel. 1879 Norfolk Archæol. VIII. 174 Windle, a basket used in winnowing corn. |
2. A measure of corn and other commodities, varying in different localities; of wheat, usually about 3 bushels. local (north.).
| [1268, 1282 in Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xviii. 428 [Nuts] are purchased in Cumberland by the windle.] 1281–2 Inq. post mortem Edw. I 31/3 (P.R.O.), Et sciendum quod quelibet eskeppa continet sexdecim Windellos, et illi sexdecim Windelli faciunt quarterium Londiniense et dimidium. 1309 Crt. Rolls Wakefield (1906) II. 194 One wynd[el ?] of barley and a quarter of oats. 1521 Pleadings Duchy Lancaster (1896) 106 [Dealing of corn by] mettes and wyndilles. 1525 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 216 To everichon of the same Orders a wyndle of wheate, or the price therof. 1566 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 86 One wyndle containing 56 quarts of wine measure up heaped shall..be the right and just standard. 1636 Farington Papers (Chetham Soc. 1856) 13, 8 windles of wheat Lanc{supr} measure. 1729 P. Walkden Diary (1866) 62 Spent the day wholly at home in winnowing my barley, and I measured a windle and an awkendale for going to the malt-kilns. 1790 Grose Prov. Gloss. (ed. 2), Windle, or Winnel, a bushel. 1849 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. X. i. 18 The cost [of limestone] at the kiln is 11 d a windle, and two windles are equal to 3 cwt. 1881 Daily News 17 Jan. 3/4 Preston. Jan. 15... Wheat 19 s. to 22 s. per windle. |
3. A bundle or band (of straw or hay). Sc.
| 1825 Jamieson, Winnle, the same with Windlen, a bottle of straw. 1893 Mackintosh Around the Orkney Peat Fires (1905) 207 [He] had the kegs tied up in windles of straw. |
▪ II. † ˈwindle, n.2 Obs.
Forms: 3 (Orm.) winndell, 4 wyndel, 5 -dylle, -dle, 6 windle.
[f. stem of OE. windwian winnow v. + -le 1. Cf. wind v.3]
A winnowing-fan.
| c 1200 Ormin 10483 Himm shollde brinngenn inn hiss hannd Hiss winndell forr to winndwenn. a 1400 N. T. (Paues) Matt. iii. 12 Whos wyndel is in his honde, & he schal clense fully his korne. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 664/7 Hoc uentilabrum, wyndylle. 1550 Coverdale Spir. Perle vii. 65 When the corne is threshed, the kernel lyeth mixed among the chaf, and afterwarde are they disseuered a sonder wyth the fanne or wyndle. |
▪ III. windle, n.3 Obs. exc. dial.
(ˈwɪnd(ə)l)
Forms: 8–9 Sc. winnel, win(n)le, 7– windle.
[The second element of garnwindle, yarnwindle, q.v. for earlier examples.]
An appliance for winding yarn or thread.
| 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii, Windles, or Blades to wind Yarn on, un Devidoir. 17.. Loving Lass in Ramsay's Tea-t. Misc. (1762) 172 My hanks of yarn, my rock and reel, My winnels and my spinning-wheel. 1791 Alex. Wilson in Poems & Lit. Prose (1876) II. 45 Jennock turn't the winles' blade An' waft in lapfu's left her. 1845 S. Judd Margaret ii. (1871) 5 From a windle the thread is conducted to the quills. |
▪ IV. ˈwindle, n.4 local.
Also whindle.
[? f. wind n.1]
The redwing (Turdus iliacus), also called wind-thrush, -throstle.
| 1674 N. Cox Gentl. Recr. iii. (1677) 63 The Wind-throstle (or Whindle). a 1698 C. Morton Enquiry in Harl. Misc. (1744) II. 558/2 The..Wind-Thrush (or the Redwing, Wheenerd, Whindle; for so many Names it has in divers Countries). 1772 Rutty Nat. Hist. Dublin I. 342. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 5 Redwing.., Winnard (Cornwall). Windle (Devon). |
▪ V. ˈwindle, v.1 Now dial.
Forms: 4 Sc. pres. pple. wynland, vyndland, 6 windill, 6– windle, (9 dial. winnle).
[f. wind v.1 + -le 3. With sense 2 cf. MDu., MHG., G. windeln to swathe, swaddle.]
1. intr. To move circularly or sinuously; to turn over and over, or round and round; to whirl; to meander: = wind v.1 7 b. Hence ˈwindling vbl. n. and ppl. a.1
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xvii. 721 Sum dede, sum dosnyt, come doun vyndland. 1623 Lisle ælfric on O. & N. Test. To Rdr. p. xxviii, The one hoodwinked with his implicite faith, as with a bumble on his head, thinkes he goes forth⁓right, when he windles in a mill. 1802 Mrs. Radcliffe Gaston de Blondeville iv. (1826) 140 Beside some windling brook. 1856 P. Thompson Hist. Boston 730 Windling, snow-drifting. 1905 Engl. Dial. Dict. s.v. (Lincolnsh.), The snow windles under the tiles. |
2. trans. To wind (thread, etc.); also absol.: = wind v.1 15. Also Sc. (see quot. 1808, and cf. windle n.1 3, windling n.).
| 1587 W. Fowler Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 117/132 Than did I spye Chrysippus..with a large and brodest roll his threid & webbs to windill. 1599 T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 1 These flocks as white as milke, That make, and spinne, and die, and windle silke. 1808 Jamieson, Windle, to make up (straw or hay) into bottles. 1859 A. Whitehead Leg. Westmld. 14 (E.D.D.) The sarvant lasses they'd begun To winnle, wind, and spin. |
▪ VI. † ˈwindle, v.2 Obs. rare.
[f. as windle n.2 + -le 3. Cf. wimble v.2]
trans. To winnow.
| 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 696/23 Hoc ventilabrum, a wyndyllynge. [The English gloss appears to be incomplete.] 1550 Coverdale Spir. Perle vii. 65 When they are fanned or wyndled, and when the wynde of trouble and afflyccion begynneth once a litle to blowe. 1887 Jamieson's Sc. Dict. Suppl., Winnel-claith, v. Windin-claith. |
▪ VII. windle, v.3 Obs. exc. dial.
Also 5 winele, 6 windell.
[? Back-formation from windlestraw; but cf. winder v.]
intr. To lose strength or vigour; to wither, waste away, dwindle. Hence windling ppl. a.2
| c 1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 161 Jo ay la mayn si estomye [gloss so acomeled, v.r. wineled]. 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Fam. Love 31 b, The fruite thereof for want of moysture begynneth to windell. 1620 Gataker David's Instruct. 6 Tender plants..are in danger else to windle and wither away. 1888 Sheffield Gloss., Windle, v. to dwindle... Windling, adj., feeble, delicate. |