Windmill Definition
wĭndmĭl
windmills
noun
windmills
A mill operated by the wind's rotation of large, oblique vanes radiating from a shaft: the rotating vanes generate power for the mill in grinding grain, pumping water, etc.
Webster's New World
A machine that runs on the energy generated by a wheel of adjustable blades or slats rotated by the wind.
American Heritage
Webster's New World
Anything like a windmill, as a propellerlike toy (pinwheel) revolved by wind.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
- wind generator
- aerogenerator
- smock-mill
- post mill
- water pump
- tower mill
- wind-driven wheel
- wind-charger
- rotating wheel
verb
windmills
To move or cause to move like the wheel of a windmill; rotate sweepingly.
American Heritage
To rotate like a windmill.
Webster's New World
(intransitive) Of a rotating part of a machine, to (become disengaged and) rotate freely.
The axle broke and the wheel windmilled in place briefly before careening through the wall.
Wiktionary
idiom
tilt at windmills
- To confront and engage in conflict with an imagined opponent or threat.
American Heritage
tilt at windmills
- to fight imaginary evils or opponents
Webster's New World
Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Windmill
Origin of Windmill
-
From Middle English windmille, windmelle, windmulle, windmilne, wyndemylne, from Old English *windmylen, equivalent to wind +"Ž mill. Cognate with Scots wyndmyln, wyndmyl (“windmill"), Saterland Frisian Wiendmäälne (“windmill"), West Frisian wynmûne (“windmill"), Dutch windmolen (“windmill"), Dutch Low Saxon windmölle (Achterhooks), wiendmeule (“windmill") (Drents, Veluws), German Windmühle (“windmill"), Danish vindmølle (“windmill"), Swedish vindmölla (“windmill"), Icelandic vindmylla (“windmill").
From Wiktionary
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