What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Wind vs Sail - What's the difference?

wind | sail |

As nouns the difference between wind and sail

is that wind is wind; movement of air usually caused by convection or differences of air pressure while sail is salt.

wind

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl), from (etyl) ; ultimately probably cognate with (weather).

Noun

(Beaufort scale)
  • (countable, uncountable) Real or perceived movement of atmospheric air usually caused by convection or differences in air pressure.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=29, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Unspontaneous combustion , passage=Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind , can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.}}
  • Air artificially put in motion by any force or action.
  • (countable, uncountable) The ability to exert oneself without feeling short of breath.
  • * Shakespeare
  • If my wind were but long enough to say my prayers, I would repent.
  • news of an event, especially by hearsay or gossip - used with catch often in past tense
  • (India, and, Japan) One of the five basic elements (see ).
  • (uncountable, colloquial) Flatus.
  • Breath modulated by the respiratory and vocal organs, or by an instrument.
  • * (John Dryden)
  • Their instruments were various in their kind, / Some for the bow, and some for breathing wind .
  • A direction from which the wind may blow; a point of the compass; especially, one of the cardinal points, which are often called the "four winds".
  • * Bible, (Ezekiel) xxxvii. 9
  • Come from the four winds , O breath, and breathe upon these slain.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.}}
  • A disease of sheep, in which the intestines are distended with air, or rather affected with a violent inflammation. It occurs immediately after shearing.
  • Mere breath or talk; empty effort; idle words.
  • * (John Milton)
  • Nor think thou with wind / Of airy threats to awe.
  • A bird, the dotterel.
  • Synonyms
    * (movement of air) breeze, draft, gale; see also * (flatus) gas (US); see also
    Derived terms
    * break wind * close to the wind * crosswind * downwind * fair wind * foul wind * get one's wind back * get the wind up * get wind of * headwind * like the wind * long-winded * pass wind * sail close to the wind * scattered to the four winds * second wind * see which way the wind is blowing * sow the wind and reap the whirlwind * tailwind * the winds * trade wind * take the wind out of someone's sails * three sheets to the wind * throw caution to the wind * throw to the wind * twist in the wind * upwind * whirlwind * willow in the wind * windbag * wind band * wind-blown * windboard * windbound * wind-break, windbreak * windbreaker * wind-breaker * windburn * wind chart * wind-cheater, windcheater * windchill * wind chimes * wind cone, windcone * wind egg * windfall * wind farm * windflaw * wind force * wind-gauge * wind gun * wind instrument * windily * windiness * windjammer * windless * windmill * window * windpipe * wind power * wind rose * wind scale * windscreen * wind shake * windshield * wind sleeve, windsleeve * wind sock, windsock * winds of change * windstorm * windsurf * windsurfer * windsurfing * wind-swept, windswept * wind tunnel * windward * windy
    See also
    * blizzard * breeze * cyclone * gale * gust * hurricane * nor'easter, northeaster * northwester * sou'easter, southeaster * sou'wester, southwester * storm * tempest * tornado * twister * typhoon * zephyr

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To blow air through a wind instrument or horn to make a sound.
  • *
  • To cause (someone) to become breathless, often by a blow to the abdomen.
  • The boxer was winded during round two.
  • (reflexive) To exhaust oneself to the point of being short of breath.
  • I can’t run another step — I’m winded .
  • (British) To turn a boat or ship around, so that the wind strikes it on the opposite side.
  • To expose to the wind; to winnow; to ventilate.
  • To perceive or follow by scent.
  • The hounds winded the game.
  • To rest (a horse, etc.) in order to allow the breath to be recovered; to breathe.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) (m), . Compare West Frisian (m), Low German (m), Dutch (m), German (m), Danish (m). See also the related term (m).

    Verb

  • (lb) To turn coils of (a cord or something similar) around something.
  • :
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:Whether to wind / The woodbine round this arbour.
  • *
  • *:It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.
  • (lb) To tighten the spring of the clockwork mechanism such as that of a clock.
  • :
  • To entwist; to enfold; to encircle.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Sleep, and I will wind thee in arms.
  • (lb) To travel, or to cause something to travel, in a way that is not straight.
  • :
  • *Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • *:He therefore turned him to the steep and rocky path whichwinded through the thickets of wild boxwood and other low aromatic shrubs.
  • *(Thomas Gray) (1716-1771)
  • *:The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.}}
  • *1969 , (Paul McCartney)
  • *:The long and winding road / That leads to your door / Will never disappear.
  • To have complete control over; to turn and bend at one's pleasure; to vary or alter or will; to regulate; to govern.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:to turn and wind a fiery Pegasus
  • * (1591-1674)
  • *:Gifts blind the wise, and bribes do please / And wind all other witnesses.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Were our legislature vested in the prince, he might wind and turn our constitution at his pleasure.
  • To introduce by insinuation; to insinuate.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:You have contrivedto wind / Yourself into a power tyrannical.
  • *Government of Tongues
  • *:little arts and dexterities they have to wind in such things into discourse
  • To cover or surround with something coiled about.
  • :
  • Derived terms
    * rewind * unwind * wind down * wind somebody round one's finger * wind up * windable * winder * winding * windlass * wind-up

    Statistics

    *

    sail

    English

    (wikipedia sail)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) 'to cut'. More at saw.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (nautical) A piece of fabric attached to a boat and arranged such that it causes the wind to drive the boat along. The sail may be attached to the boat via a combination of mast, spars and ropes.
  • * : Scene 1: 496-497
  • When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive / And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind;
  • (uncountable) The power harnessed by a sail or sails, or the use this power for travel or transport.
  • A trip in a boat, especially a sailboat.
  • Let's go for a sail .
  • (dated) A sailing vessel; a vessel of any kind; a craft. Plural sail .
  • Twenty sail were in sight.
  • The blade of a windmill.
  • A tower-like structure found on the dorsal (topside) surface of submarines.
  • The floating organ of siphonophores, such as the Portuguese man-of-war.
  • (fishing) A sailfish.
  • We caught three sails today.
  • (paleontology) an outward projection of the
  • Anything resembling a sail, such as a wing.
  • * Spenser
  • Like an eagle soaring / To weather his broad sails .
    Hyponyms
    * See also
    Derived terms
    * balloon sail * by sail * drag sail * dragon sail * point of sail * sailback * sailboard * sailboat * sailcloth * sailer * sailfish * sailing * studding sail * set sail * take the wind out of someone's sails * topsail * working sail

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) , cognate to earlier Middle Low German segelen and its descendant Low German sailen.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To be impelled or driven forward by the action of wind upon sails, as a ship on water; to be impelled on a body of water by steam or other power.
  • To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a waterfowl.
  • To ride in a boat, especially a sailboat.
  • To set sail; to begin a voyage.
  • We sail for Australia tomorrow.
  • To move briskly and gracefully through the air.
  • * Shakespeare
  • As is a winged messenger of heaven, / When he bestrides the lazy pacing clouds, / And sails upon the bosom of the air.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=April 15 , author=Saj Chowdhury , title=Norwich 2 - 1 Nott'm Forest , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=A hopeful ball from Forest right-back Brendan Moloney to the left edge of the area was met first by Ruddy but his attempted clearance rebounded off Tyson's leg and sailed in.}}
  • To move briskly.
  • Derived terms
    * sail close to the wind