WING, n.

1. The limb of a fowl by which it flies. In a few species of fowls, the wings do not enable them to fly; as is the case with the dodo, ostrich, great auk, and penguin; but in the two former, the wings assist the fowls in running.
2. The limb of an insect by which flies.
3. In botany, the side petal of a papilionaceous coral; also, an appendage of seeds, by means of which they are wafted in the air and scattered; also, any membranous or leafy dilatation of a footstalk, or of the angles of a stem, branch or flower-stalk, or of a calyx. – Martyn. Cyc.
4. Flight; passage by the wing; as, to be on the wing; to take wing.
5. Means of flying; acceleration. Fear adds wings to flight.
6. Motive or incitement of flight. Then fiery expedition be my wing. – Shak.
7. The flank or extreme body or part of an army. – Dryden.
8. Any side-piece. – Mortimer.
9. In gardening, a side-shoot. – Cyc.
10. In architecture, a side building, less than the main edifice.
11. In fortification, the longer sides of horn-works, crown-works, &c. – Cyc.
12. In a fleet, the ships on the extremities, when ranged in a line, or when forming the two sides of a triangle.
13. In a ship, the wings are those parts of the hold and orlop deck, which are nearest the sides.
14. In Scripture, protection; generally in the plural. – Ps. lxiii. Exod. xix. On the wings of the wind, with the utmost velocity. – Ps. xviii.

1. To furnish with wings; to enable to fly or to move with celerity. Who heaves old ocean, and who wings the storms. – Pope.
2. To supply with side bodies; as, on either side well winged.
3. To transport by flight. – I‚ an old turtle, / Will wing me to some wither'd bough. – Shak. Edge the keen sword, and wing th' unerring ball. – Trumbull. To wing a flight, to exert the power of flying.

1. 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.
   
   

   As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings. Deut. xxxii. 11.

   * In the wing of a bird the long quill feathers are in series. The primaries are those attached to the ulnar side of the hand; the secondaries, or wing coverts, those of the forearm: the scapulars, those that lie over the humerus; and the bastard feathers, those of the short outer digit. See Illust. of Bird, and Plumage.

2. To furnish with wings] to enable to fly, or to move with celerity.
   
   

   Who heaves old ocean, and whowings the storms. Pope.

   Living, to wing with mirth the weary hours. Longfellow.

3. Any surface used primarily for supporting a flying machine in flight, whether by edge-on motion, or flapping, or rotation; specif., either of a pair of supporting planes of a flying machine.
4. Any similar member or instrument used for the purpose of flying.
   
   
   Specifically: (Zoöl.) (a)
5. To supply with wings or sidepieces.
   
   

   The main battle, whose puissance on either side
   Shall be well winged with our chiefest horse. Shak.

6. Passage by flying; flight; as, to take wing.
   
   

   Light thickens; and the crow
   Makes wing to the rooky wood. Shak.

7. To transport by flight; to cause to fly.
   
   

   I, an old turtle,
   Will wing me to some withered bough. Shak.

8. Motive or instrument of flight; means of flight or of rapid motion.
   
   

   Fiery expedition be my wing. Shak.

9. To move through in flight; to fly through.
   
   

   There's not an arrow wings the sky
   But fancy turns its point to him. Moore.

10. 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.
11. To cut off the wings of; to wound in the wing; to disable a wing of; as, to wing a bird.
    
    

    To wing a flight, to exert the power of flying; to fly.

12. An ornament worn on the shoulder; a small epaulet or shoulder knot.
13. Any appendage resembling the wing of a bird or insect in shape or appearance.
    
    
    Specifically: (a) (Zoöl.)
14. One of two corresponding appendages attached; a sidepiece.
    
    
    Hence: (a) (Arch.)