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Definition of wind up phrasal verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

wind up

phrasal verb
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wind up
  1. (informal) (of a person) to find yourself in a particular place or situation
    • I always said he would wind up in prison.
    • wind up doing something We eventually wound up staying in a little hotel a few miles from town.
    • + adj. If you take risks like that you'll wind up dead.
  2. (of a clock or machine) to be able to be made to work by turning a knob, handle, etc. several times
    • It was one of those old-fashioned gramophones that winds up.
wind up | wind something up
  1. to bring something such as a speech or meeting to an end
    • The speaker was just winding up when the door was flung open.
    • If we all agree, let's wind up the discussion.
wind somebody up
  1. (British English, informal) to deliberately say or do something in order to annoy somebody
    • Calm down! Can't you see he's only winding you up?
    • That can't be true! You're winding me up.
    related noun wind-up
wind something up
  1. to stop running a company, business, etc. and close it completely
  2. to make something such as the window of a car move upwards by turning a handle, pressing a button, etc.
    • Are all the windows wound up?
  3. to make a clock or machine work by turning a knob, handle, etc. several times
    • He wound up the clock every Saturday night.
See wind up in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
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