wing

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. One of a pair of movable organs for flying, as the feather-covered modified forelimb of a bird or the skin-covered modified digits of the forelimb of a bat.
2. n. Any of usually four membranous organs for flying that extend from the thorax of an insect.
3. n. A winglike organ or structure used for flying, as the folds of skin of a flying squirrel or the enlarged pectoral fin of a flying fish.
4. n. Botany A thin or membranous extension, such as of the fruit of the elm, maple, or ash or of the seed of the pine.
5. n. Botany One of the lateral petals of the flower of a pea or of most plants in the pea family.
6. n. Informal An arm of a human.
7. n. An airfoil whose principal function is providing lift, especially either of two such airfoils symmetrically positioned on each side of the fuselage of an aircraft.
8. n. Something that resembles a wing in appearance, function, or position relative to a main body.
9. n. The act or manner of flying.
10. n. A means of flight or rapid movement: Fear lent wings to his feet.
11. n. Something, such as a weathervane, that is moved by or moves against the air.
12. n. The sail of a ship.
13. n. Chiefly British The fender of a motor vehicle.
14. n. A folding section, as of a double door or of a movable partition.
15. n. Either of the two side projections on the back of a wing chair.
16. n. A flat of theatrical scenery projecting onto the stage from the side.
17. n. The unseen backstage area on either side of the stage of a proscenium theater.
18. n. A structure attached to and connected internally with the side of a main building.
19. n. A section of a large building devoted to a specific purpose: the children's wing of the hospital.
20. n. A group affiliated with or subordinate to an older or larger organization.
21. n. Either of two groups with opposing views within a larger group; a faction.
22. n. A section of a party, legislature, or community holding distinct, especially dissenting, political views: the conservative wing.
23. n. Either the left or right flank of an army or a naval fleet.
24. n. An air force unit larger than a group but smaller than a division.
25. n. Sports Either of the forward positions played near the sideline, especially in hockey.
26. n. Sports A player who plays such a position.
27. n. An outspread pair of stylized bird's wings worn as insignia by qualified pilots or air crew members.
28. v. To move on or as if on wings; fly.
29. v. To furnish with wings.
30. v. To cause or enable to fly or speed swiftly along.
31. v. To feather (an arrow).
32. v. To pass over or through with or as if with wings.
33. v. To carry or transport by or as if by flying.
34. v. To effect or accomplish by flying.
35. v. To throw or dispatch (a ball, for example).
36. v. To wound the wing of (a game bird, for example).
37. v. To wound superficially, as in an appendage.
38. v. To furnish with side or subordinate extensions, as a building or an altarpiece.
39. idiom. in the wings In the stage wings, unseen by the audience.
40. idiom. in the wings Close by in the background; available at short notice: a presidential candidate waiting in the wings.
41. idiom. on the wing In flight; flying.
42. idiom. take wing To fly off; soar away.
43. idiom. under (one's) wing Under one's protection; in one's care.
44. idiom. wing it Informal To say or do something without preparation, forethought, or sufficient information or experience; improvise: She hadn't studied for the exam, so she decided to wing it.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A cutter attached to the side of a colter making it a skim-colter. See skim-colter.
2. n. The characteristic part of a wing shovel (see under shovel) or of a wing sweep (see under sweep).
3. n. In chess, the extreme right or left of the board: as, the king's wing or the queen's wing.
4. n. That part of the line of forwards, in games such as foot-ball, hockey, etc., which stretches from the center to the end; also, the position of certain players in push-ball and similar games.
5. Nautical, to move (an object having weight) from the middle of a vessel toward the sides.
6. n. In vertebrate zoöl., the fore limb, anterior extremity, or appendage of the scapular arch or shoulder-girdle, corresponding to the human arm, fitted in any way for flight or aërial locomotion; or the same limb, however rudimentary or functionless, of a member of a class of animals which ordinarily have this limb fitted for flight. That modification of a limb which makes it a wing occurs in several ways:
7. n. In entomology, an expansion of the crust of an insect, sufficing for flight, or a homologous expansion, however modified in form or function, or even functionless so far as aërial locomotion is concerned. Such a formation, though a wing by analogy of function with the wing of a vertebrate, is an entirely different structure, having no homology with the fore limb of a vertebrate. It consists of a fold of integument, supported on a tubular framework of so-called nerves or veins, which may be in communication with the tracheæ or breathing-organs, and is consequently a respiratory as well as a locomotory organ. Most insects are provided with functionally developed (thoracic) wings, of which there are usually two pairs (mesothoracic and metathoracic); but both may be entirely suppressed, or either pair may be mere rudiments (see cuts under halter and Stylops), or the anterior pair may be converted into a horny case covering the other pair, as in the great order Cleoptera, where the anterior pair are converted into elytra, and in Orthoptera, in which they become tegmina. (See wing-case.) The form, structure, and disposition of insects' wings are very variable, but quite constant in large groups, and therefore a basis of the division of insects into orders, and of their classification: whence the terms Coleoptera, Neuroptera, Lepidoptera, Orthoptera, Diptera, Aptera, etc. See phrases below, and cuts under nervure and venation.
8. n. In other invertebrates, some part resembling or likened to a wing in form or function; an alate formation, as the expanded lip of a strom-bus.
9. n. An organ resembling the wing of a bird, bat, or insect, with which gods, angels, demons, dragons, and a great variety of fabulous beings, as well as some inanimate objects, are conceived to be provided for the purpose of aërial locomotion or as symbolical of the power of omnipresence.
10. n. Loosely or humorously, the fore leg of a quadruped; also, the arm of a human being.
11. n. Figuratively, a means of travel, progress, or passage: usually emblematic of speed or elevation, but also used as a symbol of protecting care. See under one's wing, below.
12. n. The act or the manner of flying; flight, literally or figuratively.
13. n. Kind; species. Compare feather, 4.
14. n. Something resembling or likened to a wing. In anatomy, a part likened to a wing; an ala, or alate part: as, the wings of the sphenoid bone. See ala, 2, and cut under sphenoid.
15. n. A shoulder-knot, or small epaulet; specifically, a projecting piece of stuff, perhaps only a raised seam or welt, worn in the sixteenth century on the shoulder, at or near the insertion of the sleeve.
16. n. A strip of leather or the like attached to the skirt of the runner in a grain-mill to sweep the meal into the spout.
17. n. The side or displayed part of a dash-board.
18. n. A projecting part of a hand-seine on each side of the central part, or bag, serving to collect the fish, and lead them into the bag.
19. n. A thin, broad, projecting piece on a gudgeon, to prevent it from turning in its socket.
20. n. A flock or company (of plover).
21. n. Figuratively, in motion; traveling; active; busy.
22. n. Taking flight; departing; vanishing.
23. To equip with wings for flying; specifically, to feather (an arrow).
24. Figuratively, to qualify for flight, elevation, rapid motion, etc.; especially, to lend speed or celerity to.
25. To supply with wings or side parts, divisions, or projections, as an army, a house, etc.; flank.
26. To brush or clean with a wing, usually that of a turkey.
27. To bear in flight; transport on or as on wings.
28. To perform or accomplish by means of wings.
29. To traverse in flight.
30. To carve, as a quail or other small bird.
31. To wound or disable in the wing, as a bird; colloquially, to wound (a person) in the arm or shoulder, or some other not vital part.
32. To fly; soar; travel on the wing.

Wiktionary

1. n. An appendage of an animal's (bird, bat, insect) body that enables it to fly.
2. n. Human arm.
3. n. Part of an airplane that produces the lift for rising into the air.
4. n. Part of a building, an extension from the main building
5. n. Part of a huge room.
6. n. A fraction of a political movement. Usually implies a position apart from the mainstream center position.
7. n. An organizational grouping in a military aviation service:
8. n. A unit of command consisting of two or more squadrons and itself being a sub-unit of a group or station.
9. n. A larger formation of two or more groups, which in turn control two or more squadrons.
10. n. A panel of a car which encloses the wheel area, especially the front wheels.
11. n. A platform on either side of the bridge of a vessel, normally found in pairs.
12. n. A position in several field games on either side of the field.
13. v. To injure slightly (as with a gunshot), especially in the arm.
14. v. To fly.
15. v. To add a wing (extra part) to.
16. v. To act or speak extemporaneously; to improvise; to wing it.
17. v. To throw.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. One of the two anterior limbs of a bird, pterodactyl, or bat. They correspond to the arms of man, and are usually modified for flight, but in the case of a few species of birds, as the ostrich, auk, etc., the wings are used only as an assistance in running or swimming.
2. n. Any similar member or instrument used for the purpose of flying.
3. n. One of the two pairs of upper thoracic appendages of most hexapod insects. They are broad, fanlike organs formed of a double membrane and strengthened by chitinous veins or nervures.
4. n. One of the large pectoral fins of the flying fishes.
5. n. Passage by flying; flight.
6. n. Motive or instrument of flight; means of flight or of rapid motion.
7. n. Anything which agitates the air as a wing does, or which is put in winglike motion by the action of the air, as a fan or vane for winnowing grain, the vane or sail of a windmill, etc.
8. n. An ornament worn on the shoulder; a small epaulet or shoulder knot.
9. n. Any appendage resembling the wing of a bird or insect in shape or appearance.
10. n. One of the broad, thin, anterior lobes of the foot of a pteropod, used as an organ in swimming.
11. n. Any membranaceous expansion, as that along the sides of certain stems, or of a fruit of the kind called samara.
12. n. Either of the two side petals of a papilionaceous flower.
13. n. One of two corresponding appendages attached; a sidepiece.
14. n. A side building, less than the main edifice.
15. n. The longer side of crownworks, etc., connecting them with the main work.
16. n. A side shoot of a tree or plant; a branch growing up by the side of another.
17. n. The right or left division of an army, regiment, etc.
18. n. That part of the hold or orlop of a vessel which is nearest the sides. In a fleet, one of the extremities when the ships are drawn up in line, or when forming the two sides of a triangle.
19. n. One of the sides of the stags in a theater.
20. n. Any surface used primarily for supporting a flying machine in flight, especially the flat or slightly curved planes on a heavier-than-air aircraft which provide most of the lift. In fixed-wing aircraft there are usually two main wings fixed on opposite sides of the fuselage. Smaller wings are typically placed near the tail primarily for stabilization, but may be absent in certain kinds of aircraft. Helicopters usually have no fixed wings, the lift being supplied by the rotating blade.
21. n. One of two factions within an organization, as a political party, which are opposed to each other; as, right wing or left wing.
22. n. An administrative division of the air force or of a naval air group, consisting of a certain number of airplanes and the personnel associated with them.
23. v. To furnish with wings; to enable to fly, or to move with celerity.
24. v. To supply with wings or sidepieces.
25. v. To transport by flight; to cause to fly.
26. v. To move through in flight; to fly through.
27. v. To cut off the wings of or to wound in the wing; to disable a wing of; ; also, [fig.] to wound the arm of a person.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the side of military or naval formation
2. n. a unit of military aircraft
3. n. one of the horizontal airfoils on either side of the fuselage of an airplane
4. n. an addition that extends a main building
5. n. a hockey player stationed in a forward position on either side
6. n. a stage area out of sight of the audience
7. n. (in flight formation) a position to the side and just to the rear of another aircraft
8. n. a group within a political party or legislature or other organization that holds distinct views or has a particular function
9. n. a barrier that surrounds the wheels of a vehicle to block splashing water or mud
10. n. a movable organ for flying (one of a pair)
11. v. travel through the air; be airborne
12. n. the wing of a fowl