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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

WYND, n.¹ Also wynde, wind; and dim. forms wyn(n)ie (Abd. 1851 W. Anderson Rhymes 183). [wəin(d). See P.L.D. § 64.]

A narrow street, lane or alley, leading off a main thoroughfare in a town and freq. following a somewhat sinuous or curving course (Sc. 1782 J. Sinclair Ob. Sc. Dial. 164, 1808 Jam.; Per., Fif., Lth. 1915–26 Wilson; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein). Now chiefly in street-names. Gen.Sc. Also attrib. and in comb. wynd-head, the top end of a wynd.Edb. 1701 Burgh Rec. Edb. (1967) 2:
The Magistrats are ordained to lay doun effectuall methods for preserving the town and suburbs thereof from the nastiness of the streets wynds and closses.Slg. 1707 Minutes of Parliament (3 March):
Act anent Forestairs and Out-shots in that Wynd called Mary-Wynd in the Burgh of Stirling.Sc. 1750 W. Macfarlane Geneal. Coll. (S.H.S.) II. 183:
They were Heritors of a House in the Wynd now called the Butts Wynd [in St Andrews].Gsw. 1795 A. Brown Hist. Gsw. I. 162:
The other party entered the town by the wynd-head and college.Sc. 1822 Scott F. Nigel ii.:
At the fit of ane of the wynds that gang down to the water-side.e.Lth. 1845 Stat. Acc.² II. 146:
There was formerly an open public well in the wynd.Edb. 1886 D. Masson Edb. Sketches (1892) 11:
A multiplicity of narrow foot-passages called closes, with a few wider and more street-like cuttings called wynds.Ags. 1888 Barrie When a Man's Single i.:
The windows of the wynd houses.Arg. 1901 N. Munro Doom Castle xx.:
The wynds and closes of the Duke's burgh town.Kcd. 1933 L. G. Gibbon Cloud Howe (1937) 21:
In the houses of Segget, the spinners' wynds.Gsw. 1965 J. House Heart of Gsw. 91:
There were various wynds and closes on either side of the Trongate.Abd. 1970 Buchan Observer (6 Jan.) 3:
I wis brocht up in the toon, Near the wynie brae.Fif. 1985 Christopher Rush A Twelvemonth and a Day 12:
I tried to turn up the narrow wynd but the wind shot down there like an invisible battering ram and thudded me against the harbour wall, panting for breath.ne.Sc. 1993:
Ye get wynies maistly in e fisher toons. Lnk. 1998 Duncan Glen Selected New Poems 22:
Angles of streets, twisting wynds and vennels.
A steep slantit climb up to the Auld Toon.
Yet blind alleys, the cul-de-sacs without
warning signs. em.Sc. 2000 James Robertson The Fanatic 139:
The second man's hand and arm seem momentarily to separate; there is a spattering sound on the coach's upholstery. Blood and smoke everywhere. Mitchel understands that he does not have time to draw the other gun. He can feel men advancing on him. He ducks away and strides rapidly across the wynd.