Pronunciation: (wind'mil"), Strict Standards: Non-static method FenSites::linkTo() should not be called statically in /site/html/dictionary/windmill.html on line 71 [key]
1. any of various machines for grinding, pumping, etc., driven by the force of the wind acting upon a number of vanes or sails.
2. (loosely) a wind generator; wind plant.
3. Aeron.a small air turbine with blades, like those of an airplane propeller, exposed on a moving aircraft and driven by the air, used to operate gasoline pumps, radio apparatus, etc.
4. an imaginary opponent, wrong, etc. (in allusion to Cervantes' Don Quixote): to tilt at windmills.
Aeron.(of a propeller engine or turbojet engine) to rotate or cause to rotate solely under the force of a passing airstream.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.