Upwind

//ʌpˈwɪnd// adj, adv, verb

adj, adv, verb ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To wind upwards. archaic, transitive

    "The cries of all on board were drowned in wind, And wind in thunder drowned; With useless sails upwound."

  2. 2
    To wind up (a mechanism). archaic, transitive

    "Tell me not of a huge machine, / Going like a clock upwound; / All measured out each space between, / Marked out each weary round."

Adjective
  1. 1
    exposed to the wind not-comparable, usually
Adjective
  1. 1
    towards the side exposed to wind wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    in the direction from which the wind is blowing not-comparable, usually
Adverb
  1. 1
    in the direction opposite to the direction the wind is blowing wordnet
  2. 2
    away from the wind wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
leewardwindwardagainst the windagainst windaleealight

Example

More examples

"When I left home in my younger days, grandpa always told me, "May you have an upwind journey!" It was only when I grew up did I realise that I was the high-flying kite in his eyes."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From up- + wind.

Etymology 2

From Middle English upwinden, equivalent to up- + wind (verb).

Related phrases

wind up

More for "upwind"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.