windup

1 of 3

noun

wind·​up ˈwīnd-ˌəp How to pronounce windup (audio)
1
a
: the act of bringing to an end
b
: a concluding act or part : finish
2
a
: a series of regular and distinctive motions (such as swinging the arms) made by a pitcher preparatory to releasing a pitch
b
: an exaggerated backswing (as in tennis)

windup

2 of 3

adjective

: operated by a spring mechanism wound by hand

wind up

3 of 3

verb

wound up also winded up; winding up; winds up

transitive verb

1
: to bring to a conclusion : end
2
a
: to put in order for the purpose of bringing to an end
winds up the meeting
b
British : to effectuate the winding up of

intransitive verb

1
a
: to come to a conclusion
b
: to arrive in a place, situation, or condition at the end or as a result of a course of action
wound up as millionaires
2
: to make a pitching windup

Examples of windup in a Sentence

Noun the windup of the negotiations He went into the windup, then threw the pitch. a pitcher with an unusual windup Her brother's act was just a wind-up to get her angry. Adjective She has an old windup record player in her attic. Verb try to wind up the performance, as we're almost out of time her speeches usually wind up with one last joke
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
This is merely director Carlos Saldanha’s sometimes sluggish windup. Miami Staff, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2024 Mueller used former Giants ace Tim Lincecum as an example of a windup that puts the pitcher’s body at risk. Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 17 Feb. 2024 Clever as all that is, the windup has problems, as is true for many new shows finding their final shape. Jesse Green, New York Times, 22 Oct. 2023 Into his windup and the two-one pitch to Kuenn: swung on and missed, strike two. Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 2023 Koufax, feet together, now to his windup and the one-two pitch: fastball outside, ball two. Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 2023 After a mound meeting with Heim, athletic trainer Matt Lucero, pitching coach Mike Maddux and Bochy, Scherzer attempted to take a warmup pitch, but stopped in mid windup. Evan Grant, Dallas News, 13 Sep. 2023 Music blasts through the speakers continuously, not stopping even for the pitcher’s windup. Emma Healy, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Aug. 2023 Anderson pitched free and easy out of the windup for most of his eight innings, striking out four and allowing just four hits and a walk on 94 pitches. Joe Noga, cleveland, 9 Sep. 2023
Adjective
First captured in a painting in 1899, Nipper is the dog in the old RCA logo, the one listening to a windup cylinder phonograph. WIRED, 17 Nov. 2023 At the moment, though, Tom Cruise is running in a straight line down the middle of a long air-terminal rooftop, pumping his arms like a windup toy. Tom Gliatto, Peoplemag, 5 July 2023 Say goodbye to Rooster Teeth’s longstanding rebus-style logo of the rooster and the windup chattering teeth. Todd Spangler, Variety, 22 Mar. 2023 She is perched on a wooden chair on stage as the audience finds their seats, shuttled around like a slow-moving windup car on a child’s racetrack. Chloe Schama, Vogue, 10 Mar. 2023 The nickname of Dune’s younger brother, David, came from a windup grandfather clock in the house. John Kelly, Washington Post, 4 Dec. 2022
Verb
Last year, the Daytime Emmys wound up being pushed six months to December, due to the Hollywood strikes. Michael Schneider, Variety, 12 Mar. 2024 Related Articles — Sam Darnold would seem to be a natural to wind up in Minnesota replacing Cousins. Jerry McDonald, The Mercury News, 12 Mar. 2024 The two later wound up working with cofounder Baptiste Pannier, now Adaptive’s chief technology officer, as part of the team that built the Falcon LLM family of open source models at the Technology Innovation Institute in Abu Dhabi. Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 11 Mar. 2024 But midway through the second period of the Florida Panthers’ eventual 4-2 win over the New York Rangers on Monday, Barkov and Reinhart wound up teaming up on what might be one of the NHL’s top plays of the year — and at the very least should have Barkov in consideration for best assist. Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 5 Mar. 2024 Dickerson, who spent nearly 40 years as an election official in North Carolina and with the Federal Election Commission, said he’s seen it all – death threats over early voting, rising anger over election losses and voting restrictions that wind up fueling get-out-the-vote efforts. Chris Kenning, USA TODAY, 1 Mar. 2024 And based on Goldman Sachs calculations, even if the actual figure winds up being closer to 35 million, this could boost productivity sufficiently to increase gross domestic product by 0.4%. Joshua Cohen, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024 China Evergrande Group, one of the world’s most indebted property developers with more than $300 billion in total liabilities, was ordered to be wound up in January after the company failed to come up with concrete restructuring terms. Yue Wang, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2024 But the economy overall wound up rebounding aggressively from the sudden, widespread closures of 2020, bolstered by historic government stimulus and vaccines that debuted faster than expected. Meryl Kornfield, Washington Post, 27 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'windup.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1665, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Adjective

1784, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1583, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of windup was in 1583

Dictionary Entries Near windup

Cite this Entry

“Windup.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/windup. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

windup

1 of 3 noun
wind·​up ˈwīn-ˌdəp How to pronounce windup (audio)
1
a
: the act of bringing to an end
b
: a last act or part : finish
2
: a series of motions (as swinging the arms over the head) made by a pitcher prior to releasing a pitch

windup

2 of 3 adjective
: having a spring wound by hand
windup toys

wind up

3 of 3 verb
(ˈ)wīn-ˈdəp
1
: to bring or come to a conclusion : end
let's wind up the meeting quickly
2
: to arrive in a place, situation, or state
wound up losing the game
wound up as millionaires
3
: to make a windup in pitching a baseball

Legal Definition

wind up

transitive verb
wound up; winding up
: to bring to an end by taking care of unfinished business
ordered to wind up his practice
specifically : to conclude by removing liabilities and distributing any remaining assets to partners or shareholders
wind up the business and affairs of a corporation in dissolution
wind up a receivership

More from Merriam-Webster on windup

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!