winding

1. (comparable) Causing one to be breathless or out of breath.comparablenot-comparableusually

2. (not comparable, music) Of a horn or wind instrument: blown to make a sound.not-comparableusually

1. gerund of windExamples: "[T]here vvill be hurly burly, like as ye ſee in a man vvhen he dieth; vvhat deformity appeareth, hovv he ſtretcheth out all his members, vvhat a vvinding is there, ſo that all his body cometh out of frame?"; "Eugene Forsarde, the reviewer in question, follows Currer Bell [Brontë's pseudonym] through every winding, discerns every point, discriminates every shade, proves himself master of the subject, and lord of the aim."countableespeciallyin-pluraluncountable

2. gerund of windExamples: "Berenice ſtandeth upon the utmoſt vvinding and nouke of Syrtis, called ſometime the cittie of the above-named Heſperides, according to the vvandering tales of Greece."; "The Labyrinth] A building ſo entangled in vvindings and cyrcles, that it deceiueth all that come in it."; "This idol, like a worm, that less or more / Contracts or strains her, did itself convey, / Beyond the wards or windings of the key, / Into the chamber, and, above her head / Her seat assuming, thus she comforted / Distress'd Penelope: […]"countableespeciallyin-pluraluncountable

3. gerund of windExamples: "For that vvhich he hath novv attained vvith the begging of ſome ſmall peeces of ſiluer, a temporall happins, & preſent hearts eaſe, I cannot compaſſe vvith all my carefull vvindings, & running in & out."; "Its [facetiousness's] vvays are unaccountable and inexplicable, being anſvverable to the numberleſs rovings of fancy, and vvindings of language."; "It cannot be supposed that the confusion of the two youthful lovers escaped the observation of the wily lawyer, accustomed, by habit and profession, to trace human nature through all her windings."countablefigurativelyin-pluraluncountable

4. gerund of windBritishcountableuncountable

5. gerund of windExamples: "Among the windings of the violins / And the ariettes / Of cracked cornets / Inside my brain a dull tom-tom begins / Absurdly hammering a prelude of its own, / Capricious monotone / That is at least one definite "false note.""countableobsoleteuncountable

6. Something wound around another thing.countableuncountable

1. (figurative) Of speech, writing, etc.: not direct or to the point; rambling, roundabout.Examples: "I will not heare thee, wife; / The winding laborinth of thy straunge discourse / Will nere haue end."; "[A]ll vvriters are not of one and the ſame minde, as touching the very name and the firſt inhabitants of Britaine, and I feare me greatly, that no man is able to fetch out the truth, ſo deeply plunged vvithin the vvinding revolutions of ſo many ages, […]"Synonyms: circuitous, circumlocutionary, indirect, meandering, tortuousfiguratively

2. (obsolete)Examples: "To theſe blemiſhes and ſtaines in Court, vvere adjoyned the enormious tranſgreſſions of diſcipline in campe, vvhen the ſouldiour in ſtead of a joyfull ſhout, ſtudied to ſing vvanton ſonnets: neither had the armed man, as before time, a ſtone to couch himſelfe upon, but feathers and delicat vvinding beds: […]"obsolete

3. (obsolete)Examples: "I care not though men call me impudent, / Smooth-tongu'd, audacious, petulant, abhominable, / Forger of vvords and lie, contentious Barretour, / Old, vvinding, bragging, teſty, crafty fox."figurativelyobsolete