[f. WIND v.2 + -ER1.]
1. One who blows a wind-instrument.
1611. Florio, Cornettáro, a Cornet-maker or winder.
1818. Keats, Endym., I. 281. Winder of the horn, When snouted wild-boars routing tender corn Anger our huntsmen.
2. Something that takes one’s breath away; a blow that ‘knocks the wind’ out of one; a run, climb, or other exertion that puts one out of breath. colloq.
1825. C. M. Westmacott, Engl. Spy (1907), I. 158. I did give her [sc. a mare] a winder,… to be sure, only one day’s hunting, though, a good hard run over Somerset range.
1828. Blackw. Mag., XXIV. 212. Do you put it [sc. your hand] across your breast in case of an unexpected winder from your apparently peaceable acquaintance?
1861. Dickens, Gt. Expect., v. It was a run indeed now, and what Joe called, in the only two words he spoke all the time, ‘a Winder.’
1866. C. Brooke, 10 Yrs. Saráwak, I. 246. We had to ascend a hill of 500 feet high…. This was a winder.
