windmill

[ wind-mil ]

noun

1. any of various machines for grinding, pumping, etc., driven by the force of the wind acting upon a number of vanes or sails.
2. (loosely) a wind generator; wind plant.
3. Aeronautics. a small air turbine with blades, like those of an airplane propeller, exposed on a moving aircraft and driven by the air, used to operate gasoline pumps, radio apparatus, etc.
4. an imaginary opponent, wrong, etc. (in allusion to Cervantes' Don Quixote ):

   to tilt at windmills.

verb (used with or without object)

1. Aeronautics. (of a propeller engine or turbojet engine) to rotate or cause to rotate solely under the force of a passing airstream.

windmill

/ ˈwɪndˌmɪl; ˈwɪnˌmɪl /

noun

1. a machine for grinding or pumping driven by a set of adjustable vanes or sails that are caused to turn by the force of the wind
2. the set of vanes or sails that drives such a mill
3. Also calledwhirligig a toy consisting of plastic or paper vanes attached to a stick in such a manner that they revolve like the sails of a windmill US and Canadian namepinwheel
4. an imaginary opponent or evil (esp in the phrase tilt at or fight windmills )
5. a small air-driven propeller fitted to a light aircraft to drive auxiliary equipment Compare ram-air turbine
6. an informal name for helicopter
7. an informal name for propeller

verb

1. to move or cause to move like the arms of a windmill
2. an informal name for accommodation bill
3. intr (of an aircraft propeller, rotor of a turbine, etc) to rotate as a result of the force of a current of air rather than under power

Word History and Origins

Origin of windmill¹

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; wind ¹, mill ¹

Idioms and Phrases

see tilt at windmills .

Example Sentences

Especially a romantic one, who isn’t unhinged or tilting at windmills.

From Washington Post

Colleagues have cautioned him against chasing windmills in a quest that McConnell himself describes as “a little bit quixotic.”

From MIT Technology Review

There’s even up, in Yorkshire, a working windmill that actually produces flour.

From Freakonomics

Adding to the citizens’ misery are rolling electrical blackouts, possibly related to the fact that the state legislature has banned all sources of electricity except windmills and 9-volt batteries.

From Washington Post

Tim Hwang recognizes he is tilting at windmills here, trillion-dollar windmills.

From Freakonomics

Up next: a windmill prototype, which is a few months from being finished.

From The Daily Beast

But the American Dream is such a pretty windmill to chase that it's not a problem to get new arrivals to join in the pursuit.

From The Daily Beast

They are, across the board, quixotic characters hacking at the windmill of language.

From The Daily Beast

We are of as much consequence to an army, as wind to a windmill: the wings can't be put in motion without us.

From Project Gutenberg

And on a slight rise, but so concealed from him by the willows that only the great wings showed, stood the windmill.

From Project Gutenberg

The mills were presumably driven for the most part by water, though we have a reference to a windmill as early as the year 833.

From Project Gutenberg

The windmill shown in the sketch is one that will always face the wind, and it never requires adjustment.

From Project Gutenberg

With your colors to wear, I shall have the honor of breaking a lance against the biggest windmill in the world.

From Project Gutenberg