Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for get wind of. Search instead for get+wind.
Synonyms

get wind of

Idioms  

  1. Learn of; hear a rumor about. For example, “If my old aunt gets wind of it, she'll cut me off with a shilling” (William Makepeace Thackeray, in Paris Sketch Book, 1840). This expression alludes to an animal perceiving a scent carried by the wind. [First half of 1800s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The exact measures are not being disclosed so enemy forces don’t get wind of them, Farmer said.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2026

It was the one point the SBU worried most that the FSB might get wind of the operation.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 10, 2025

Investors use them to shadow chief executives to get wind of corporate mergers.

From New York Times • Feb. 3, 2022

But a dishonest former IRS agent and a thuggish Bahamian customs official get wind of it and hope to trick Doc into revealing the location of the rest of the treasure.

From Washington Times • Feb. 12, 2020

“I get wind of much misplaced criticism, by men as clever even as Burnham, because of impressions from incomplete work and undeveloped compositions,” he wrote.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.