680 WIN 
WINDISCH, a village of Switzerland, in the canton of 
Berne; 3 miles west of Baden. 
WI'NDLACE, or Wi'ndlass, s. A handle by which 
a rope or lace is wrapped together round a cylinder. A han¬ 
dle by which any thing is turned. 
Thus do we of wisdom and of reach, 
With windlasses, and with assays of bias, 
By indirections find directions out. Shahspeare. 
To WI'NDLACE, or Wi'ndlass, v. n. To act indi¬ 
rectly ; to go warily to work.—She is not so much at leisure 
as to windlace, or use craft, to satisfy them. Hammond. 
WINDLASTRAE LAW, a mountain of Scotland, in 
Selkirkshire, 2295 feet above the level of the sea. 
WI'NDLE, s. A spindle. 
WINDLE, a township of England, in Lancashire; 4 
miles north-east of Prescot. Population 4294. 
WINDLESHAM, a township of England, in Surrey, on 
the borders of Windsor Forest; 1 mile east-north-east of 
Bag shot. 
WI'NDLESS, adj. Wanting wind; out of breath. 
Barret. 
The weary hounds at last retire. 
Windless, displeased, from the fruitless chace. 'Fairfax. 
WINDLESTONE, a township of England, county of 
Durham ; 1J mile west-north-west of Rushy Ford. 
WINDLEY, a hamlet of England, in Derbyshire ; 5 miles 
north-by-west of Derby. 
WI'NDMILL, s. A mill turned by the wind. 
We, like Don Quixote, do advance 
Against a •windmill our vain lance. Waller. 
His fancy has made a giant of a windmill, and he’s now 
engaging it. Atterbury. 
A machine which is put in motion by the force of the 
wind. Wind-mills are in general applied to the purpose of 
grinding corn, but are occasionally used to give motion 
to machines for raising water, sawing mills, or for other 
purposes. 
The invention of wind-mills is not of very remote date. 
According to some authors they were first used in France 
in the sixth century; while others maintain that they were 
brought to Europe in the time of the crusades, and that they 
had long been employed in the East, where the scarcity of 
water precluded the application of that powerful agent to 
machinery. 
The wind-mill, though a common machine, has some 
things in it more ingenious than is usually imagined. Add, 
that it is commonly allowed to have a degree of perfection, 
which few of the popular engines have attained to, and 
which the makers are but little aware of: though the aid 
of mathematics has furnished ample matter for its improve¬ 
ment. 
The vertical wind-mill, which is the kind in most com¬ 
mon use, consists of an axis or shaft placed in the direction 
of the wind, and usually inclining a little upwards from the 
horizontal line. At one end of this, four long arms or yards 
are fixed perpendicular to the axis, and cross each other at 
right angles; into these arms small cross-bars are mortised 
at right angles; and other long bars are joined to them, 
which are parallel to the length of the arms; so that the 
bars intersect each other in the manner of lattice-work, and 
form a surface, on which a cloth can be spread to receive the 
action of the wind. These are called the sails; they are in 
form of a trapezium, and are usually nine yards long and 
two wide. 
The circular motion is produced by the obliquity of the 
planes of these surfaces, from the plane in which all the four 
arms are situated; by these means, when the wind blows in 
the direction of the axis, it does not impinge upon the sails 
at right angles to their surfaces, but strikes obliquely ; hence 
the effort of the sail to recede from the wind, causes it to 
turn round with the common axis, and the four sails are all 
made oblique in the same direction, so as to unite their 
efforts for the common object. 
W I N 
That the wind may act with the greatest efficiency upon 
the sails, the wind-shaft must have the same direction as the 
wind. But as this direction is perpetually changing, some 
apparatus is necessary for bringing the wind-shaft and sails 
into their proper position : this is done by turning the axis 
and sails round in an horizontal direction. There are two 
methods of effecting this. In the old mills the whole of the 
mill or building which contains the machinery is sustained 
upon a vertical post, firmly fixed as a stand or foot, upon 
which the whole machine can be turned by 3 lever, to pre¬ 
sent the sails to any quarter of the horizon from whence the 
wind blows; and hence these are called post wind-mills, and 
are necessarily made of wood. The other kind is called a 
smock-mill, in which only the dome-cap or head, which 
contains the axis of the sails, and covers the great cog¬ 
wheel, turns round horizontally; the other parts of the ma¬ 
chinery being contained in a fixed building, which rises up 
in form of a conical tower of masonry, and is surmounted by 
this moveable cap or dome, which is supported on rollers, 
so as to turn round easily. 
As both the common methods of adjusting the wind-shaft 
require human assistance, it would be very desirable that the 
same effect should be produced solely by the action of the 
wind. This may be done by fixing a large wooden vane or 
weathercock at the extremity of a long horizontal arm, which 
lies in the same vertical plane with the wind-shaft. 
On the shaft of the post-mill are constructed two large cog¬ 
wheels; that nearest the sails is the largest, and is called the 
head-wheel; the smallest is called the tail-wheel: these res¬ 
pectively act on small cog-wheels attached to the spindle, 
which turns the stones. For the bolting machinery, &c. see 
Mill and Mechanics. 
WINDORF, a market town of Bavaria, on the Danube ; 
9 miles above Passau. Boats are built here for navigating the 
river. 
WPNDOW, s. \yindue, Danish. Skinner thinks it ori¬ 
ginally wind-door. Dr. Johnson.—Serenius most satisfacto¬ 
rily offers the Icel. windauge, q. d. oculus tecti, ab intromissa 
luce.]—An aperture in a building by which air and light are 
intromitted. 
Being one day at my window all alone. 
Many strange things happened me to see. Spenser. 
The frame of glass or any other materials that covers the 
aperture. 
To thee I do commend my watchful soul. 
Ere I let fall the windows of mine eyes: 
Sleeping or waking, oh defend me still! Shakspeare. 
Lines crossing each other. 
The fav’rite, that just begins to prattle, 
Is very humoursome, and makes great clutter. 
Till he has windows on his bread and butter. King. 
An aperture resembling a window. 
To WI'NDOW, v. a. To furnish with windows. 
With pert flat eyes she window'd well its head, 
A brain of feathers, and a heart of lead. Pope. 
To place at a window. 
Would’st thou be window'd in great Rome, and see 
Thy master thus with pleacht arms, bending down 
His corrigible neck, his face subdu’d 
To penetrative shame ? Shakspeare. 
To break into openings. 
Poor naked wretches, whersoe’er you are, 
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, 
How shall your houseless heads, and unfed sides. 
Your loop’d and window'd raggedness, defend you 
From seasons such as these ? Shakspeare. 
WI'NDOWY, adj. Like a window ; having little cross¬ 
ings. 
Or treacherously poor fish beset 
With strangling snare, or windowy net. Donne. 
WI'NDPIPE, s. The passage for the breath; the aspera 
arteria. 
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