26984 words

windup

13 definitions • 18 examples
1
to close a business or organization:

Examples:

Lawyers were called in to wind up the company.
2
to find yourself in an unexpected and usually unpleasant situation, especially as a result of what you do:

Examples:

If he keeps doing stuff like that he's going to wind up in prison!
You don't want to wind up homeless, do you?
3
to end, or to make an activity end:

Examples:

I think it's about time we wound this meeting up.
We need to wind up now, we only have five minutes left.
4
to annoy or upset someone:

Examples:

It really winds me up when he goes on about teachers having an easy life.
She just knows how to wind me up.
5
to tell someone something that is not true in order to make a joke:

Examples:

Are you serious or are you just trying to wind me up?
6
something that is not true that you tell someone in order to make a joke:

Examples:

You can't be serious - is this a wind-up?
7
in baseball, the movement of the body that a pitcher makes before throwing the ball to the batter, usually involving lifting up the front leg and raising the hands above the head:

Examples:

He looked at the catcher for a sign and went into his wind-up.
He changed his windup so that he would put less stress on his ankles.
8
A wind-up toy, watch, etc. has a key or part that you turn in order to make it operate:

Examples:

a wind-up alarm clock
9
to come to be in a particular situation or condition, esp. a bad one:

Examples:

If you aren’t careful lifting weights, you could wind up hurting yourself.
10
to end something:

Examples:

We should be able to wind (things) up by 10 o’clock.
11
to close a business, especially when it is not successful and has debts:

Examples:

The company was wound up in February with debts of $5.2 million.
12
to end a meeting, discussion, or an activity:

Examples:

We need to start winding up now as someone else has booked the meeting room.
They announced that they would be winding up the negotiations today.
13
the process of formally ending the existence of a company, usually because it is bankrupt:

Examples:

The firm collapsed and a wind-up order was given.

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