Now dial. Forms: 1 wiþo-, wiþewinde, 2 wiþwinde, 4 weþewinde, withe-, wythe-, weythwynde, 6 with-, wythwynde, 6–7 withwinde, 6– withwind. [OE. wiþowinde, wiþe-, later wiþwinde, f. wiþo-, wiþe- (related to WITHE) + winde WIND sb.2; corresp. to OS. withewind ‘caprifolium,’ MLG., MDu. wedewinde ‘caprifolium,’ ‘periclymena,’ ‘hedera,’ ‘ligustrum’; for the first element cf. OE. weoþobend WITHBIND, for the second, OE. widuwinde ivy, convolvulus; see also WITHYWIND.] Bindweed, Convolvulus arvensis or C. sepium; also C. Soldanella (Sea Withwind: see SEA sb. 23 f). Applied also, like BINDWEED, to other climbing plants, e.g., dodder, smilax, traveller’s joy.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 34. Wiþ eaʓece ʓenim wiþowindan twiʓu. Ibid., 122. Wiþewindan twiʓ foreweard.
c. 1050. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 428/36. Inuoluco, wiþewinde.
c. 1100. Gloss., ibid., 138/28. Uiticella, wiþwinde.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 525. In a withewyndes wise ywounden aboute.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xxix. (Bodl. MS.). A tree þat is biclipped wt yuye oþer wiþ weþewinde.
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1541), 11 b. Thynges good for the Lyuer: Wormewode: Wyth wynde.
1548. Turner, Names Herbes (E.D.S.), 30. Conuoluulus … called of the herbaries Volubilis, in english wythwynde or byndeweede.
1552. Huloet, Withwinde herbe, cassutha, cascuta, cissampelos, conuoluulus.
1580. T. Newton, Approved Medicines, 20 b. Smilax hortensis, Gardein withwinde.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 382. Giving their lands a second tillage, perhaps to destroy the withwind.
1899. R. Bridges, Idle Flowers, xiv. Thro’ the hedgerow peer Withwind and Snapdragon.
attrib. 1891. T. Hardy, Noble Dames, ii. 90. One of those sweet-pea or with-wind natures which require a twig of stouter fibre than its own to hang upon and bloom.
