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Wind up   /wɪnd əp/   Listen
verb
Wind  v. t.  (past & past part. wound, rarely winded; pres. part. winding)  
1.
To turn completely, or with repeated turns; especially, to turn about something fixed; to cause to form convolutions about anything; to coil; to twine; to twist; to wreathe; as, to wind thread on a spool or into a ball. "Whether to wind The woodbine round this arbor."
2.
To entwist; to infold; to encircle. "Sleep, and I will wind thee in arms."
3.
To have complete control over; to turn and bend at one's pleasure; to vary or alter or will; to regulate; to govern. "To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus." "In his terms so he would him wind." "Gifts blind the wise, and bribes do please And wind all other witnesses." "Were our legislature vested in the prince, he might wind and turn our constitution at his pleasure."
4.
To introduce by insinuation; to insinuate. "You have contrived... to wind Yourself into a power tyrannical." "Little arts and dexterities they have to wind in such things into discourse."
5.
To cover or surround with something coiled about; as, to wind a rope with twine.
To wind off, to unwind; to uncoil.
To wind out, to extricate. (Obs.)
To wind up.
(a)
To coil into a ball or small compass, as a skein of thread; to coil completely.
(b)
To bring to a conclusion or settlement; as, to wind up one's affairs; to wind up an argument.
(c)
To put in a state of renewed or continued motion, as a clock, a watch, etc., by winding the spring, or that which carries the weight; hence, to prepare for continued movement or action; to put in order anew. "Fate seemed to wind him up for fourscore years." "Thus they wound up his temper to a pitch."
(d)
To tighten (the strings) of a musical instrument, so as to tune it. "Wind up the slackened strings of thy lute."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Wind up" Quotes from Famous Books



... shafts, stand aside; here's the battering-ram, Capricornus, or the Goat; full tilt, he comes rushing, and headlong we are tossed; when Aquarius, or the Water-bearer, pours out his whole deluge and drowns us; and to wind up with Pisces, or the Fishes, we sleep. There's a sermon now, writ in high heaven, and the sun goes through it every year, and yet comes out of it all alive and hearty. Jollily he, aloft there, wheels through toil and trouble; and so, alow here, ...
— Moby-Dick • Melville

... in line holding hands; while singing the first verse they wind up in a spiral, following the leader, who walks in a circle growing ever smaller until all are wound up, still holding hands. The leader then turns and unwinds, until all are ...
— Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium • Jessie H. Bancroft

... the state of the city was rendered worse by a proposal of Warwick to debase the currency yet more. As soon as the proposal got wind up went the price of provisions, in spite of every effort made by the lords of the council to keep it down. They sent for the mayor (Sir Andrew Judd) to attend them at Greenwich on Sunday, the 10th May, and soundly rated him—or, as the chronicler puts it, "gave ...
— London and the Kingdom - Volume I • Reginald R. Sharpe

... quantity of beer. When they had done eating, they amused themselves on the shore; and had magnificent games among the rocks, and in every fantastic nook of the romantic promontory. And then Eric suggested a bathe to wind up with, as it was the first day when it had been quite warm enough to ...
— Eric • Frederic William Farrar

... to that lunch with a sort of aching regret. It was the lunch of a lifetime, and I wasn't in a fit state to appreciate it. Subconsciously, if you know what I mean, I could see it was pretty special, but I had got the wind up to such a frightful extent over the ghastly situation in which young Bingo had landed me that its deeper meaning never really penetrated. Most of the time I might have been eating sawdust for all the good ...
— Death At The Excelsior • P. G. Wodehouse


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