Chiefly Sc. (and north. dial.). Also 5, 8 wynde 6 vynd, wyne, 9 north. dial. wynnd), 5 winde, 8–9 wind (weind). [App. f. the stem of WIND v.1 (cf. OE. ʓewind winding ascent, spiral, etc.); the long vowel indicates an OE. disyllabic form *winde or *wynde.]
1. A narrow street or passage turning off from a main thoroughfare; a narrow cross-street; a lane or alley: a. In Scotland (and northern England.)
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xxvii. 4490. Þai til Edynburgh helde þe way, And at þe Freyr Wynde enteryt þai.
1439. Charters, etc., of Edinb. (1871), 64. The comon venale callit Sanct Leonardis wynde.
1506. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 617/1. Le Nudryis Vynd infra burgum de Edinburgh.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.), II. 174. Seing a possest persone with the deuil … rinn throuch gaites, houses, close, wynes, straits and streits frilie.
1612. in Halyburton’s Ledger (1867), 336. Bonnetts maid in Leith wynd.
1695. Sibbald, Autobiog. (1834), 127. A house neer to the head of Blackfriers Wynd.
1727. De Foe, Tour Gt. Brit., III. 30. Those Side Lanes which they call Wynds.
c. 1730. Burt, Lett. N. Scotl. (1818), I. 18. Being in my retreat to pass through a long narrow wynde or alley,… a guide was assigned me.
1782. Sir J. Sinclair, Observ. Scot. Dial., 165. Many narrow lanes, leading … down the sides of the hills; which lanes, from their being generally winding,… are called winds.
1822. Scott, Nigel, ii. A sma’ house at the fit of ane of the wynds.
1860. Sir J. B. Burke, Viciss. Families, Ser. II. 153. The site of Appleby is exceedingly beautiful…. From this main street are narrow lanes, called weinds, jutting out towards the river Eden.
1886. Masson, Edinb. Sketches (1892), 11. A multiplicity of narrow foot-passages called closes, with a few wider and more street-like cuttings called wynds.
b. Applied to similar lanes, etc., in other parts.
1863. Sir R. Alcock, Capital of Tycoon, I. 255. Black-teethed women … rush down the wynds and passages [in Yeddo] which lead to the great thoroughfare.
1871. Kingsley, At Last, ii. Fresh from the cities of the Old World, and the short and stunted figures … which crowd our alleys and back wynds.
1894. Weyman, Man in Black, viii. 168. The priest passed unharmed through the lowest wynds of Paris.
c. Without article.
1812. W. Tennant, Anster Fair, VI. xxi. From lane and wynd the sounds of gladness peal.
1856. W. E. Aytoun, Bothwell, 145. That cry … rung through street, and pealed through wynd.
2. attrib., as wynd house; wynd head, the higher end of a narrow street.
1530. Abstr. Protocols Town Clerks Glasgow (1897), IV. 34. Fra the Wyndheid of Glasgw to the Grayfreris.
1665. J. Nicoll, Diary (Bann. Cl.), 443. [He] errectit ane staige betwixt Niddries and Black Friers wynd head.
1888. Barrie, When a Man’s Single, i. The windows of the wynd houses.
