[f. WIND sb.1 + SAIL sb.1]
1. Naut. A long wide tube or funnel of sail-cloth used for ventilating a ship.
1741. Phil. Trans., XLII. 65. The Wind-Sails…. are usually between 25 and 30 Foot long, according to the Size of the Ship.
1835. Marryat, Olla Podr., iii. I trimmed my ear like a windsail in the tropics.
1842. Dickens, in Forster, Life (1872), I. 321. From the roof, a couple of windsails dangled and drooped, limp and useless.
2. A sail of a windmill.
1725. De Foe, Tour Gt. Brit., II. 151. Here are some wonderful Engines for throwing up Water,… one … goes by Wind-Sails, 12 Wings or Sails to a Mill.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVII. 450/2.
1883. Meredith, Poems, Sense & Spirit, 8. We go distraught, At best but circle-windsails of a mill.
