Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An implement or engine for turning or winding: used in different senses locally.
  • noun The windthrush or redwing, Turdus iliacus. See cut 2 under thrush.
  • noun A dry measure, equal to about 3½ Winchester bushels.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A spindle; a kind of reel; a winch.
  • noun (Zoöl.), Prov. Eng. The redwing.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A spindle, a kind of reel for winding yarn. See also windles.
  • noun UK, dialect The redwing.
  • noun An old English measure of corn, half a bushel.
  • noun Dog-tail grass, Plantago lanceolata.
  • noun Bent grass.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

This definition is lacking an etymology or has an incomplete etymology. You can help Wiktionary by giving it a proper etymology.

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Examples

  • LEVS: Yes, and they -- that's what I say, it's going to start to windle down.

    CNN Transcript Dec 22, 2007 2007

  • Quhan we wold ryd, we tak windle-strawes, or been-stakes

    The Witch-cult in Western Europe A Study in Anthropology Margaret Alice Murray 1913

  • It was a brave notion of the king to put the loyalty of the land to the test, that the daft folk might be dismayed, and that the clanjamphrey might be tumbled down before their betters, like the windle-straes in a hurricane.

    The World's Greatest Books — Volume 06 — Fiction Various 1909

  • -- So Paul being to return home after his long absence, I spent the forenoon on the fell shearing, and earned a stone of wool and a windle of rye.

    A Son of Hagar A Romance of Our Time Hall Caine 1892

  • From a windle the thread is conducted to the quills, and buzz, buzz goes Margaret's wheel, while a gray squirrel, squatted on her shoulder, inspects the operation with profound gravity.

    Margaret 1851

  • It was in the third scene of the second act; Spiegelberg discoursing with Razmann, observes, "An honest man you may form of windle-straws; but to make a rascal you must have grist: besides, there is a national genius in it, a certain rascal-climate, so to speak."

    The Life of Friedrich Schiller Comprehending an Examination of His Works Thomas Carlyle 1838

  • Well, as I was saying, it was a brave notion of the king to put the loyalty of his land to the test, that the daft folk might be dismayed, and that the clanjamphrey might be tumbled down before their betters, like windle-straes in a hurricane: -- and so they were.

    The Life of Mansie Wauch tailor in Dalkeith David Macbeth Moir 1824

  • Well, as I was saying, it was a brave notion of the king to put the loyalty of his land to the test, that the daft folk might be dismayed, and that the clanjamphrey might be tumbled down before their betters, like windle-straes in a hurricane: -- and so they were.

    The Life of Mansie Wauch Tailor in Dalkeith, written by himself David Macbeth Moir 1824

  • The _Spool_ receiveth the _Thread_, 13. which is drawn thence upon a _Yarn-windle_, 14.

    The Orbis Pictus Johann Amos Comenius 1631

  • Hide was directed by K.C. Bascombe (Fear of the Dark), written by Greg Rosati (Fish Out of Water), and produced by Nick Seferian ($windle).

    digitallyOBSESSED.com DVD News and Reviews 2009

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