Synonyms for winds
- air
- blast
- breeze
- cyclone
- gale
- gust
- blow
- breath
- chinook
- draft
- draught
- flurry
- flutter
- mistral
- puff
- tempest
- typhoon
- wafting
- whiff
- whirlwind
- whisk
- zephyr
Antonyms for winds
EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR WINDS
Thus across all the globe there harshly blow the winds of change.
The bay is merely an elbow, half the winds blowing in from the open sea.
It was in the dead of winter, and the winds hung to the westward for a long time.
And up danced the Four Winds, and they said: "May we not serve you, too?"
What art thou when the 'winds' come roaring 'out of their treasures?'
The winds cooled them in summer; in winter, skins kept them warm.
There she broke down, poor thing, and gave the other seventeen to the four winds.
Many suns and winds have browned me in the line, but those were my pale days.
He ordered the Four Winds to lift her gently and bring her to him in his sky palace.
Even the winds shall not be quicker than I am in the work it is my duty to do.
WORD ORIGIN
"air in motion," Old English wind, from Proto-Germanic *wendas (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Middle Dutch, Dutch wind, Old Norse vindr, Old High German wind, German Wind, Gothic winds), from PIE *we-nt-o- "blowing," from root *we- "to blow" (cf. Sanskrit va-, Greek aemi-, Gothic waian, Old English wawan, Old High German wajan, German wehen, Old Church Slavonic vejati "to blow;" Sanskrit vatah, Avestan vata-, Hittite huwantis, Latin ventus, Old Church Slavonic vetru, Lithuanian vejas "wind;" Lithuanian vetra "tempest, storm;" Old Irish feth "air;" Welsh gwynt, Breton gwent "wind").
Normal pronunciation evolution made this word rhyme with kind and rind (Donne rhymes it with mind), but it shifted to a short vowel 18c., probably from influence of windy, where the short vowel is natural. A sad loss for poets, who now must rhyme it only with sinned and a handful of weak words. Symbolic of emptiness and vanity since late 13c.
Meaning "breath" is attested from late Old English; especially "breath in speaking" (early 14c.), so long-winded, also "easy or regular breathing" (early 14c.), hence second wind in the figurative sense (by 1830), an image from the sport of hunting.
Figurative phrase which way the wind blows for "the current state of affairs" is suggested from c.1400. To get wind of "receive information about" is by 1809, perhaps inspired by French avoir le vent de. To take the wind out of (one's) sails in the figurative sense (by 1883) is an image from sailing, where a ship without wind can make no progress. Wind-chill index is recorded from 1939. Wind energy from 1976. Wind vane from 1725.