• snek_boi@lemmy.mlOP
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      23 hours ago

      I was quite sure when I originally posted.

      Then someone said it’s “wound” and not “winded”, but the dictionary said either is fine.

      Then you asked me if I was sure. And now I’m not so sure.

  • snek_boi@lemmy.mlOP
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    1 day ago

    The first “wind” is as in “I donned my wind-breaker because the weather was windy”. In this context, a “long-winded response” would be one in which the speaker had to inhale quite a bit to speak, a long wind!

    The second “wind” is as in “I wound up the toy car and, when I released it, it zoomed all the way to the other side of the room”. In this context, a “long-winded response” is one that metaphorically winded the coils that make the speaker go.

    • ɯᴉuoʇuɐ@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 hours ago

      The second “wind” is as in “I wound up the toy car and, when I released it, it zoomed all the way to the other side of the room”. In this context, a “long-winded response” is one that metaphorically winded the coils that make the speaker go.

      The more primary meaning is this one (copied from Oxford Dictionary of English): move in or take a twisting or spiral course. The etymology of the verb ‘wind’ (also from ODE) is: Old English windan ‘go rapidly’, ‘twine’, of Germanic origin; related to wander and wend. Long-winded = the speaker’s words/thoughts wander in circles for a long time.