See Also: Window(medicine)
bow window(dictionary)
bay window(dictionary)
window(encyclopedia)
window box(dictionary)
window(dictionary)
WINDOW(law)
Window(money)
Window(finance)
window(dictionary)

window (iou)



window noun & verb. ME.
[Old Norse vindauga, from vindr WIND noun1 + auga EYE noun.]
A. noun.
An opening in a wall or roof of a building, vehicle, etc., now usu. fitted with glass in a fixed, hinged, or sliding frame, to admit light or air and provide a view of what is outside or inside; the glass filling this opening; this glass with its frame. ME.
French window, oriel window, rose window, stained-glass window, Venetian window, etc.
W. Cowper Trees are to be seen From ev'ry window. Spectator One of them wanting the window open and the other wanting it shut. Daily News The thieves..smashed the window. E. M. Brent-Dyer 'No walk this day!' said that young person, looking sadly out of the window.
The space or area beside or behind a window, spec. as used for displaying goods etc. at the front of a shop. Freq. in in the window. ME.
Dickens A..draper's shop, with goods of all kinds..in the window. Thackeray The ticket in the window which announced 'Apartments to Let'.
fig.
a. An organ of sense, esp. an eye (usu. in pl. in windows of the mind, windows of the soul); an opportunity for study or insight (freq. foll. by into, on). ME.
Notes & Queries A book which opens a window on one of the greatest periods of English history.
b. A continuous range of electromagnetic wavelengths for which the atmosphere (or some other medium) is relatively transparent. M20.
c. An interval during which astronomical and atmospheric conditions are suitable for the launch of a spacecraft (also launch window) or the weather allows oil-rig maintenance and construction at sea (also weather window); gen. a free or suitable interval or period of time, an opportunity for action, (freq. in window of opportunity, window of vulnerability). Chiefly US. M20.
An opening resembling or likened to a window; now spec. (a) a transparent panel in an envelope to show the contents or address; (b) an aperture in a wall or screen through which to serve customers in a bank, ticket office, etc.; (c) a facet cut on a gemstone, esp. a rough one. LME.
b. Anatomy. = FENESTRA 2. E17.
c. Geology. = FENSTER. E20.
d. (Freq. Window.) = CHAFF noun1 5. M20.
e. Computing. The screen of a VDU regarded as a means of displaying an image stored in a computer; the part of a drawing, program, etc., chosen for display. Also, a defined part of a VDU display allocated to a particular category of information etc. M20.
f. In pl. Windows. Computing. (Proprietary name for) any of a series of widely-used graphical user interface systems for PCs and desktop computers. L20.
Phrases: be thrown out of the window, go out of the window be abandoned or made worthless, be no longer taken into account. JUDAS window. open window unit: see OPEN adjective. PICCADILLY window. shop window: see SHOP noun. throw the house out of the window (now rare) make a great commotion, turn everything topsy-turvy. white window: see WHITE adjective.
Comb.: window-box a box placed on an outside window-sill in which to grow flowers; window-cleaner a person employed to clean windows; window display a display of goods in a shop window; window-dress verb trans. & intrans. engage in window-dressing (of); window-dresser a person, organization, etc., engaged or employed in window-dressing; window-dressing (a) the fittings and ornaments of a window; (b) the arrangement and display to the best advantage of goods in a shop window; (c) fig. the adroit presentation of facts etc. to give a deceptively favourable impression, esp. the arrangement of a balance-sheet so as to show a business etc. as more prosperous than it is; window-envelope: having a transparent panel to show the contents or address; window-ledge = window-sill s.v. SILL noun1 2a; window-pane (a) see PANE noun1 6; (b) arch. slang a monocle; (c) (in full window-pane check) a kind of large check pattern on clothes; a single square of this; (d) a flatfish, Scophthalmus aquosus, of the W. Atlantic; window plant (a) a plant grown indoors on a window-sill; (b) any of several South African and Namibian desert plants of the mesembryanthemum family, e.g. Lithops optica and Fenestraria rhopalophylla, which grow buried in sand with only a transparent section of the leaf-tip visible above ground; window-screen (a) an ornamental device for filling a window-opening, as lattice-work or stained glass; (b) US a mesh screen put across a window-opening to admit air but exclude insects etc.; window scrim = SCRIM noun 2; window-seat (a) a seat below a window, esp. in an alcove or bay; (b) a seat next to a window in a train, bus, aircraft, etc.; window-shop verb intrans. go from shop to shop to look at the goods displayed in shop windows without buying anything (chiefly as window-shopping verbal noun & ppl adjective); window-shopper a person engaged in window-shopping; window-sill: see SILL noun1 2a; window table a table by a window in a restaurant etc.; window-tax Hist. a duty levied on windows or similar openings; window-trimmer US = window-dresser above; window-trimming US = window-dressing above; window-washer (chiefly US) (a) = windscreen washer s.v. WIND noun1; (b) a window-cleaner.
b. verb trans.
Place in a window. rare. E17.
Provide with windows or similar openings. rare. M17.
windowed adjective (a) provided with or having windows (of a specified kind); having (esp. decorative) openings; spec. (of the thread mark of a banknote) having only some sections exposed to view; (b) poet. & joc. full of holes: LME.
windowful noun as much as will fill a window L19.
windowing noun (a) the fittings or furniture of a window; (b) Computing the process of selecting part of a stored image for display or enlargement: E17.
windowless adjective LME.
windowlessness noun E20.
window-like adjective resembling a window M19.
windowy adjective having many or large windows or similar openings M17.