window
Pluralwindows
Pluralwindows
Formswindows, windowing, windowed
- 1An opening in a wall or car, usually with glass, that lets in light and air.
Like a clear gap in a wall that lets light and air come inside.
She opened the window to let in some fresh air.
Rain leaked through the broken window all night long.
UsageYou look out of the window.
- 2A box on a computer screen that shows one program or task.
Like a small frame on the screen, each one holding its own task.
I closed the window and opened my email instead.
Drag the window to the other side of the screen.
UsageYou open or close a window.
Note
- 3A short period of time when something can happen or be done.
Like a door that stays open for only a little while before it shuts.
We have a small window to catch the train before it leaves.
The doctors had a narrow window to operate safely.
UsageSay a small window of time.
Note
- 4An opening or counter where people are served, for example to buy tickets or pick up food.
Pay at the first window and pick up your food at the second.
We bought our movie tickets at the window.
UsagePay at the window.
Similarcounter
- 5Something that lets you see into or understand something else.
Like clear glass that lets you look at something you couldn't otherwise see.
Her diary was a window into her private thoughts.
For many kids, books are a window onto faraway places.
UsageSay a window into her life.
Note
- 6A glass opening at the front of a store where products are shown to people outside.
Like a glass stage where a store shows off what it sells.
The bakery's window was full of fresh cakes and pies.
Shoppers stopped to stare at the new shoes in the window.
UsageSay the shoes in the window.
Note
Less common meanings
- 7A small hole or clear part in something, like an envelope, that lets you see what is behind it.
Your address shows through the window on the envelope.
My watch has a little window that shows the date.
- 8
- 9To put something at or in a window so people can see it.
Wouldst thou be windowed in great Rome and see / Thy master thus with pleach'd arms, bending down / His corrigible neck?
c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”Here, windowed means placed at a window to look out.Similardisplay, showcase, exhibit
Note
- 10To put windows into a building or wall.
Like cutting openings in a wall so it can let light through.
The new kitchen is windowed on two sides, so it gets lots of light.
The new sunroom is windowed all the way around.
UsageSay a room is windowed on two sides.
- 11
- 12Thin strips of metal foil dropped from planes to confuse enemy radar.
Like throwing handfuls of shiny paper to confuse someone watching a screen.
Bombers scattered clouds of window to blind the German radar.
The crew released window over the coast to hide the fleet.
Similarchaff
Note
- 13A math tool multiplied with a signal so its frequencies can be measured more cleanly.
- 14To multiply a signal by a special function so its frequencies come out cleaner.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Old Norse vindauga, meaning "wind-eye" or "wind-hole," made from the words for "wind" and "eye." Early windows were just open holes in a wall or roof that let the wind through.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- The English word window comes from Old Norse vindauga. en.wikipedia.org
- Vindauga means literally wind-eye or wind-hole. en.wiktionary.org
- Vindauga combines the Old Norse words for wind and eye. en.wiktionary.org
- Early windows were unglazed openings in walls or roofs through which wind could pass. en.wiktionary.org