windle /ˈwɪndəl/noun 8verb 3forms 3 noun8 •Any dried-out grass leaf or stalk in a field.Some of them saw nothing more but some windle straws (larsar lena) blowing round the floor, but she I spoke to saw distinctly troops of fairies riding round on horses no bigger than small birds. — 1859 •Also any of several species of grasses that leave such leaves or stalks, such as dog-tail grass, Plantago lanceolata.That he has given a fair character of the Crested dog's tail, I have proved by repeated experiments; in the North of Ireland, we know its panicles but two well, under the name of windle straws. — 1813 •Bent grass (Agrostis spp.). •A windlass.A car-brake shalt provided with a tapering windle connected at its largest portion with a brake-chain which is thickest at the end nearest the windle, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. — 1885 •A reel for winding something into a bundle, such as winding string or yarn into skeins or straw into bundles.She comes—she comes—God's sake speak her fair and canny, or we will have a ravelled hasp on the yarn-windles. — 1822 •(dialect) A basket. •(dialect, UK) The redwing. •An old English measure of corn, half a bushel. verb3 •To bind straw into bundles. •(dialect) To wind yarn. •(dialect) To whirl around in the air; (of snow) to drift. formswindled · windling · windles
