Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Windmill |
WindmillNoun1. A mill that is powered by the wind. 2. Generator that extracts usable energy from winds. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "windmill" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Mechanical Engineering | Power unit which directly converts into mechanical energy the action of the wind on the blades of a propeller or rotor. Source: European Union. (references) |
Dream Interpretation | To see a windmill in operation in your dreams, foretells abundant accumulation of fortune and marked contentment. To see one broken or idle, signifies adversity coming unawares. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Energy | A WECS that is used to grind grain, and that typically has a high-solidity rotor; commonly used to refer to all types of WECS. (references) |
Finance | A document drawn up between banks or between a bank and its customer in order to obtain finance ; a bill which the accommodating party has signed as drawer, acceptor, or indorser, without receiving value therefore and for the purpose of lending his name to some other person; he is liable on the bill to a holder for value. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Windmill near Leiden, NetherlandsA windmill is an engine powered by the energy of wind. It often refers to an engine contained in a large building as in traditional post mills, smock mills and tower mills. It also refers to small tower mounted windmills used to pump water on farms and modern wind turbines generating electricity.
History
In Europe
In Europe, windmills have been used since the Middle Ages and are especially popular in Netherlands. Windmills were developed from the 12th century, apparently from technology gained by crusaders who came into contact with windmills in the Middle East. Persian sources indicate windmill use as early as the 7th century B.C. Common applications of windmills are grain milling, water pumping, threshing, and saw mills. Over the ages, windmills have evolved into more sophisticated and efficient wind-powered water pumps and power generators.
In the United States
The development of the American type water-pumping windmill was the major factor in allowing the farming of vast areas of North America, which was otherwise devoid of readily accessible water, and also allowed the extension of rail transport systems, throughout the world, into areas where water could be pumped up from underground to supply the needs of the steam locomotives of those early times. They are still used today for the same purpose in some areas of the world where reticulated electricity is not a realistic option (including the American .The many-bladed wind turbine atop a lattice tower made of wood or steel was, for many years, a fixture of the rural landscape throughout rural America. These mills, made by a variety of manufacturers, featured a large number of blades so that they would turn slowly but with considerable torque. A tower-top gearbox converted the rotary motion into reciprocating strokes carried downward through a pole or rod to the wellhead below.
In areas not prone to freezing weather, a pump jack (or standard) was mounted at the top of the well below. This was the connection between the windmill and the pump rod, which generally went through the drop pipe to the cylinder below. The pump jack provided a means for manual operation of the pump when the wind was not blowing. Some pump jacks provided a sealed connection, allowing water to be forced out under pressure, but many had a simple spout allowing water to flow away in a trough by gravity.
The drop pipe and pump rod continued down deep into the well, terminating at the pump cylinder below the lowest likely water level. A suction tube usually continued a short distance more. This arrangement allowed wells as deep as 400 feet to be constructed, though most were much more shallow.
The number of moving parts led to the whole arrangement to be rather trouble prone, and "well men," as they were called in the early days, had a profitable business in repair and maintenance work.
The wind turbines and related equipment are still manufactured and installed today in remote parts of the western United States where electric power is not readily available. The arrival of electricity in rural areas, brought by the REA in the 1930s through 1950s, made these windmills obsolete in the Midwest and other more built-up areas. The mills and towers remained for a time. Today, most are gone, victims of storms, rust, and progress.
See also:
- List of windmills
- watermill
- windpump
- wind generator
Links
Indexes
- Google: Wind, Windmills, Business: Wind
mixed
- Windmills at Windmill World
- Paul Gipe has worked with wind energy since 1976. His experience with the technology runs the gamut from measuring wind resources to installing residential wind turbines
- DTU: Danish wind turbine manufacturers
- windmission, Windmission: books
- 2/98 Power from the sky Search for: "Power from the sky".
History
- Google: Mills
- windmillworld: history
Theory
Test and construction
- Paul Gipe: Testing the Power Curves of Small Wind Turbines
- Building the brakedrum permanent magnet alternator as originally designed by Hugh Piggott
- Hugh Piggott - Scoraig Wind Electric, Small wind systems for battery charging
- Article: C. John Dakin, ss. 56-58, Elektor Electronics, 1996.''
- "A low-cost wind generator driven battery charger (January) 1 ? (Page) 56" Look under the topic: "Power Supplies & Battery Chargers". Power output: 10 mi/h: 1 Watt; 20 mi/h: 6 Watt; 30 mi/h: 21 Watt. Propeller design: Scrapyard Windmill Realities - Building Windmills with Recycled Parts by Hugh Piggott. Published by The Centre for Alternative Technology. Machynlleth, Powys. Wales SY20 9AZ. Telephone: (01654) 702400.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Windmill."
Synonyms: WindmillSynonyms: aerogenerator (n), wind generator (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Rotation | Carousel, merry-go-round; Ferris wheel; top, dreidel,teetotum; gyroscope; turntable, lazy suzan; screw, whirligig, rollingstone, water wheel, windmill; wheel, pulley wheel, roulette wheel, potter's wheel, pinwheel, gear; roller; flywheel; jack; caster; centrifuge, ultracentrifuge, bench centrifuge, refrigerated centrifuge, gas centrifuge, microfuge; drill, augur, oil rig; wagon wheel, wheel, tire, tyre. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Windmill |
| English words defined with "windmill": Chloris, Chloris truncata, creeping windmill grass ♦ genus Chloris ♦ Molendinarious ♦ Post mill ♦ Smock mill, star grass ♦ Wind pump, Wind sail, windmill grass. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "windmill": QUIXOTE ♦ WIND-GENERATING-ELECTRIC-POWER INSTALLER, Windmill Street. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | It's a windmill! (Man of La Mancha; writing credit: Dale Wasserman) | |
Lyrics | Go on, my little windmill (All the Small Things; performing artist: Blink 182) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Black Windmill (1974) Secrets of a Windmill Girl (1966) Murder at the Windmill (1949) The Windmill (1937) Windmill Revels (1937) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | View from Danish windmill ruin of Buck Island Reef National Monument. Credit: America's Coastlines. |  | Amish farm with a windmill and sorghum in Delaware. Credit: Dot Abbott-Donnelly. |
 | A windmill in the Agua Fria National Monument area. Credit: Beth Perault. |  | A wise man stands in front of the the entrance to the Agua Fria National Monument just beyond Sunset Point (marked by windmill). Credit: Chris Tincher. |
 | A now uncommon and romantic building type, the Beebe Windmill provided mechanization to the grinding of grain. This rare survivor teaches us about the evolution of industrial technologies and the ingenuity of early American craftsman who fashioned the moving parts out of the most readily available material at hand, wood. HABS and HAER documentation provides information for the care and maintenance of structures for which the original drawings typically do not survive. The formats of HAER documentation for this windmill include a written history, photographs, and measured drawings. The selected drawings and photographs shown here demonstrate how the nformation in each format can supplement the other. The photographs record information as the camera sees it in a one-point perspective. The drawings illustrate the grain mill and clarify how its parts fit together, what dimensions they are, and how they interact to grind the grain. West elevation. Photograph by Jet Lowe, 1978. (Reproduction Number: HAER, NY,52-BRIG,4-1). Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Beebe Windmill, Bridgehampton, New York. Floor 4; Brake wheel with iron bevel cogs, cast iron bevel wallower. Photograph by Jet Lowe, 1978. (Reproduction Number: HAER, NY,52-BRIG,4-6). Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Windmill from Shikhiri village (mid-19th century), reassembled at Khokhlovka Architectural Preserve, Russia. Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540. |  | Windmill. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Peche Island and Windmill Point, Lake St. Clair, Ont. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The Windmill, Hammerstein's Paradise Gardens, New York. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Old Windmill" by Kim Groves Commentary: "Windmill in Crossfield, Alberta, Canada." | "Windmill" by Andrea Bianchi Commentary: "Windmill in Copenhagen." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | In the yard was a litter, piled furniture, the blades and motor of the windmill, bedsteads, chairs, tables |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Egypt | In the power sector, upcoming projects include a 650 MW thermal power plant, a pump/storage power plant at Mt. Ataka near Suez, a windmill power farm at Zafarana, a 600 MW combined cycle power plant at North Cairo, and a 3 x 100MW gas operated power plant in Kafr El Dawar (in the Nile Delta). (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Windmill" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 68.94% of the time. "Windmill" is used about 161 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 68.94% | 111 | 30,796 |
| Noun (proper) | 28.57% | 46 | 50,285 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 1.24% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 1.24% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 161 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "windmill": creeping windmill grass ♦ throw one's cap over the windmill ♦ weather of a windmill sail ♦ windmill grass ♦ Windmill Point. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "windmill": windmill-tilting. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
windmill | 3,157 | ornamental windmill | 22 |
windmill picture | 83 | windmill part | 22 |
comstock festival windmill | 75 | decorative windmill | 22 |
garden windmill | 54 | pitching windmill | 21 |
palm windmill | 53 | windmill energy | 21 |
dutch windmill | 51 | aeromotor windmill | 20 |
windmill of my mind | 49 | windmill design | 19 |
windmill for sale | 48 | windmill electricity | 19 |
windmill plan | 47 | windmill work | 18 |
windmill power | 43 | windmill lighter | 18 |
festival windmill | 39 | electric windmill | 18 |
farm windmill | 38 | windmill texas | 17 |
windmill inn | 35 | comstock windmill | 16 |
windmill blade | 34 | windmill photo | 16 |
cycle windmill | 34 | break dance windmill | 16 |
build a windmill | 32 | windmill water pump | 16 |
windmill aermotor | 32 | old windmill | 16 |
holland windmill | 30 | windmill kit | 16 |
windmill generator | 29 | water windmill | 16 |
wooden windmill | 23 | history windmill | 15 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "windmill"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | rrotë me erë, mulli me erë, helikopter (copter, egg beater, helicopter, whirly bird). (various references) | |
Arabic | طاحونة هوائية, دولاب الهواء. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | хеликоптер (chopper, gyroplane, helicopter, hoverplane, rotors-plane, whirlybird), вятърна мелница, детска книжна въртележка (pinwheel). (various references) | |
Chinese | 风车, 風車 . (various references) | |
Czech | vìtrník (vane), vìtrný mlýn (wind-mill). (various references) | |
Danish | vindmotor (wind engine), vindmoelle (wind engine), vindmølle (wind generator), vindkraftanlæg (wind generator), tjenesteveksel (accommodation bill, cerf volant, fictitious bill, finance bill, financial bill, financial note, financial paper, fraudulent note, kite, wind bill), låneveksel (accommodation bill, finance bill, financial bill, financial note, financial paper, kite), kreditveksel (accommodation bill, finance bill, financial bill, financial note, financial paper, kite), finansveksel (accommodation bill, finance bill, financial bill, financial note, financial paper, kite), blæser (fan, ventilator, wind generator), akkomodationsveksel (accommodation bill, finance bill, financial bill, financial note, financial paper, kite). (various references) | |
Dutch | wissel ter zake van financieringen (accommodation bill, finance bill, financial bill, financial note, financial paper, kite), windmotor (wind engine), windmolen (wind engine, wind generator), financiële wissel (accommodation bill, Finance Bill, financial bill, financial note, financial paper, kite, Tax Bill). (various references) | |
Farsi | هرچیزی شبیه اسیاب بادی , چرخیدن (Pivot, Reel, Revolve, Rollup, Rotate, Swing, Trill, Troll, Trundle, Turquoise, Twirl, Wheel, Whirl, Wry), اسیاب بادی . (various references) | |
Finnish | tuulimylly. (various references) | |
French | moulin à vent. (various references) | |
German | Windmühle (wind mill). (various references) | |
Greek | ανεμόμυλος (wind generator). (various references) | |
Hebrew | טחנת רוח. (various references) | |
Hungarian | szélmalom, szélkerék. (various references) | |
Indonesian | baling-baling (propeller, rotor, toy windmill, vane, weathercock). (various references) | |
Italian | mulino a vento (wind mill). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 風車小屋 , 風車 (pinwheel). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ふうしゃごや, ふうしゃ (millionaire, rich person, the wealthy), かざぐるま (pinwheel). (various references) | |
Manx | mwyllin geayee. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | indmillway.(various references) | |
Portuguese | moinho de vento (wind generator). (various references) | |
Romanian | motor eolian, moarã de vânt. (various references) | |
Russian | ветряк, ветряной мельница, ветряная мельница. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | vetrenjača. (various references) | |
Spanish | molino de viento. (various references) | |
Swedish | väderkvarn. (various references) | |
Turkish | yeldeğirmeni, rüzgâr gülü (compass rose, rose, vane, weather vane, weathercock), fırıldak (weather vane, weathercock, whirligig). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | вітряк. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | cối xay gió. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "windmill": windmilled, windmilling, windmills. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "windmill" (pronounced wi"ndmi'l) |
| 4 | -d m i' l | treadmill. |
| 3 | -m i' l | sawmill. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "d-i-i-l-l-m-n-w" | |
-4 letters: dill, imid, limn, midi, mild, mill, mind, mini, nidi, nill, wild, will, wind. | |
-5 letters: dim, din, ill, lid, lin, mid, mil, nil, nim, win. | |
| Words containing the letters "d-i-i-l-l-m-n-w" | |
+1 letter: windmills. | |
+2 letters: windmilled. | |
+3 letters: windmilling. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
