[f. WIND sb.1 + BREAK sb.1]
1. Something, esp. a row of trees, used to break the force of the wind, or serving as a protection against it. Chiefly U.S.
1868. Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869), 196. Among evergreen plants the Norway spruce (Abies excelsa) is the most valuable where a high, strong wind-break is necessary.
1883. W. H. Bishop, in Harper’s Mag., March, 502/1. A young orchard…, sheltered by a wind-break of three rows of ash-trees.
1894. Chamb. Jrnl., 7 July, 425/2. The margin of virgin hummock left standing to act as a wind-break.
2. A rippling change of color produced by the wind passing over foliage. nonce-use.
1892. Stevenson, Across the Plains, 205. The silver wind-breaks run among the olives.
