wind-up
3
4.6
A toy that moves after you turn a key or handle
- noun
- /ˈwɪndˌʌp/
:
juguete de cuerda
- In his arms, he held a wind-up tin Godzilla.
- a wind-up toy
- a wind-up clock
- wind-up mechanism
Examples
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As a child, I loved my wind-up toy that danced across the table when I turned the key.
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It was a whole week into the new year before I found them, these stupid wind-up toys and a note.
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- When I get my hands on that wind-up toy...
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Frank extracts the item—it is a wind-up mechanical beaver with a hand-painted sign hung around its neck:
Fiction book (1992) -
My brother brought home a wind-up car that zoomed around the room after being wound up.
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At the fair, I found a colorful wind-up bird that chirped as it hopped along.
Synonyms
windup
vswind-up
4.4
Works when you turn a key to move a spring
uses a hyphenated spelling as an alternate form
How Complex
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Wind-up: The word wind-up for a toy comes from the verb wind meaning 'to turn', like when you 'wind' a clock; you turn a key to tighten a spring, so a wind-up toy moves after you have 'wound' it.