Dictionary

get wind of en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To hear about; to learn of, especially with respect to facts intended to have been kept confidential or secret.
   • [T]he secret was still a secret, except that you had got wind of it. 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter LI, in Great Expectations […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC:
   • "It's no easy matter," said Inspector Weymouth, "to patrol the vicinity of John Ki's Joy-Shop without their getting wind of it." 1917, Sax Rohmer, chapter 7, in The Hand of Fu-Manchu:
   • He asks that I don't identify his name and profession, saying he doesn't want colleagues to get wind of his habits. 2001 June 4, Ginny Parker, “Dating Game”, in Time:
   • The ensuing snarknado also seemed to goose the TV ratings. Hundreds of thousands of viewers switched on the movie after it began, suggesting that they’d gotten wind through Twitter of the bananas spectacle that was unfolding. 2023 July 10, James Poniewozik, “The Twitter Watch Party Is Over”, in The New York Times:
   • Fearing that if Mr. Altman got wind of their plan he would marshal his network against them, they acted quickly and secretly. 2023 December 9, Tripp Mickle, Cade Metz, Mike Isaac, Karen Weise, “Inside OpenAI’s Crisis Over the Future of Artificial Intelligence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Forms

Relateds

get wind

Translations (20)

ja 嗅ぎ付ける (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · da få nys om (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · el παίρνω χαμπάρι (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · ja 聞きこむ (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · ru почу́ять (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · da få færten af (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · pl wietrzyć (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · sv få nys om (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · ru проню́хать (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · fi ei olla hajuakaan (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · ru проню́хивать (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · de von etwas Wind bekommen (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · fr avoir vent de (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · fi päästä jyvälle (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · ru чу́ять (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · fi saada vihiä (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · da komme under vejr med (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · cmn 風聞 /风闻 (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · el παίρνω είδηση (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential) · pl zwietrzyć (To hear about; to learn of, especially especially with respect to facts intended to have been confidential)