Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🎖️ A pilot badge 🕊️ A way to rise
wings

wings

13 5.6
A small badge with a bird design that pilots wear on their uniform
  • noun
  • /wɪŋz/
  • Specialized
translation icon : alas
  • The pilot proudly wore his wings after graduating from flight school.

Examples

  • Only qualified air crew members are allowed to wear the insignia of wings on their uniforms.

  • She received her wings as a symbol of her successful completion of the training program.

  • I sure am excited to be back with the Wings and look forward to playing the best hockey of my career right back here in Detroit.

    Goalie (2019)

  • Rick Newell played seven games for the Red Wings in the mid-1970s.

    Blog text (4)

  • Spikes has been a fixture since 1997 and even appears as the Wings' primary logo and on their hats.

    Blog text (26)

  • Get the latest scores for Tigers, Lions, Red Wings, and Pistons delivered daily to you from 97.1 for FREE.

    Blog text (3)

  • In hockey news, Detroit Red Wings goalie Harry Lumley has been traded to the Chicago Blackhawks.

    Goalie (2019)

Idioms

to wait in the wings
11 5.8

To be ready to take a job or role when a chance comes

to clip the wings
  • Informal
1 7.2

To limit someone's freedom, power, or plans

to spread your wings
  • Informal
1 4.2

To start living on your own and try new things

to clip someone's wings
  • Informal
7.5

Stop someone from using their power or doing what they want

like a rat with wings
  • Informal
9.9

Very quick and lively in a slightly surprising, playful way

Compounds

water wings
5 1.9

A pair of air-filled bags worn on the arms to help a child float while learning to swim

rat with wings
  • Offensive
1 9.8

An annoying person or thing that keeps coming back

Surface Forms

wing singular
wings plural

Morphology

wings = wing (transparent) = wing + s

The plural '-s' simply marks more than one 'wing'; the badge meaning is a direct reference to stylized wings.

Etymology

Wings comes from the simple idea of a bird's wing, meaning 'a part used for flying'. Pilots wear 'wings' as a small badge to show they can fly, like wearing a tiny pair of bird wings.