different between softball vs windmill

English

Etymology

1926: soft +? ball. Compare hardball.

Noun

softball (countable and uncountable, plural softballs)

1. A game similar to baseball but played with a larger and softer ball which can be thrown overhand or underhand.
2. The ball used to play the sport.
3. (by analogy) A question designed to be easy to answer.

Synonyms

• diamond ball
• indoor baseball
• kitten ball
• mush ball
• pumpkin ball
• town ball

Translations

See also

• baseball
• hardball
• rounders

Finnish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English softball.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?softbo?l/, [?s?o?ft?bo??l]
• Syllabification: soft?ball

Noun

softball

1. softball

Declension

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• softbol

Etymology

From English softball.

Noun

softball m (uncountable)

1. softball (a sport similar to baseball)

Spanish

Etymology

From English softball.

Noun

softball m (uncountable)

1. softball

English

Etymology

From Middle English windmille, windmelle, windmulle, windmilne, wyndemylne, from Old English *windmylen, equivalent to wind +? mill. Cognate with Scots wyndmyln, wyndmyl, Saterland Frisian Wiendmäälne, West Frisian wynmûne, Dutch windmolen, Afrikaans windmeul, Dutch Low Saxon windmölle (Achterhooks), wiendmeule (Drents, Veluws), German Low German Windmöhl, German Windmühle, Danish vindmølle, Norwegian Bokmål vindmølle, Norwegian Nynorsk vindmølle, vindmylne, Swedish vindmölla, Icelandic vindmylla.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?w?nd.m?l/

Noun

windmill (plural windmills)

1. A machine which translates linear motion of wind to rotational motion by means of adjustable vanes called sails.
2. The structure containing such machinery.
3. A child's toy consisting of vanes mounted on a stick that rotate when blown by a person or by the wind.
4. (basketball) A dunk where the dunker swings his arm in a circular motion before throwing the ball through the hoop.
5. (baseball) A pitch where the pitcher swings his arm in a circular motion before throwing the ball.
6. A guitar move where the strumming hand mimics a turning windmill.
7. A breakdancing move in which the dancer rolls his/her torso continuously in a circular path on the floor, across the upper chest, shoulders and back, while twirling the legs in a V shape in the air.
8. Any of various large papilionid butterflies of the genus Byasa, the wings of which resemble the vanes of a windmill.
9. (juggling) The false shower.
10. (figuratively) An imaginary enemy, but presented as real.

Synonyms

• (child's toy): pinwheel
• (imaginary enemy): straw man

Hypernyms

• (machinery): machine
• (child's toy): toy

Hyponyms

• (child's toy): hand windmill

Derived terms

• tilt at windmills

Translations

Verb

windmill (third-person singular simple present windmills, present participle windmilling, simple past and past participle windmilled)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To rotate with a sweeping motion.

   She ran down the hill, windmilling her arms with glee.

   • 1969, Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five, New York: Dial, 2005, Chapter 2, p. 59,^[1]

     The main thing now was to find the steering wheel. At first, Billy windmilled his arms, hoping to find it by luck.

   • 2005, Gideon Defoe, The Pirates!: in an adventure with Ahab, page 140

     As the Pirate Captain strained at the ham, the whale began to spasm and buck about in the water. Its tail thrashed wildly up and down. Its flippers windmilled in the air uselessly.

2. (intransitive) Of a rotating part of a machine, to (become disengaged and) rotate freely.

   The axle broke and the wheel windmilled in place briefly before careening through the wall.

   • 2000, Walter J. Boyne, Philip Handleman, Brassey's Air Combat Reader, page 18

     When he went to switch on his rotary engine again, the Le Rhone refused to pick up. Nothing happened! The propeller simply windmilled in the slip stream. Garros knew immediately what was wrong and cursed himself for his imbecility.

   • 2006, James R. Hansen, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, page 134

     […] the propeller blade on number-four engine windmilled in the air stream. "I wasn't too concerned about it, really," recalls Butchart. "B-29 engines are not all that dependable."

Quotations

• 1978, Peter Hathaway Capstick, Death in the long grass, page 97:

  The engine windmilled in the afternoon heat for a few seconds, then gargled to a reluctant death.

Translations

Related terms

• mill
• molinology

See also

• windpump
• wind turbine