wound

Noun from Middle English wund, from Old English wund, from Proto-Germanic *wundō. Verb from Middle English wunden, from Old English wundian, from Proto-Germanic *wundōną.

• (UK, US) enPR: wo͞ond, IPA^(key): /wuːnd/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (MLE) IPA^(key): /wyːnd/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /wʉːnd/
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ʋuːnd/, /ʋuːɳɖ/
• (obsolete) enPR: wound, IPA^(key): /waʊnd/^[1][2]
• Rhymes: -uːnd

wound (plural wounds)

2. An injury, such as a cut, stab, or tear, to a (usually external) part of the body.
   • 2013 September 1, Phil McNulty, “Liverpool 1-0 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport:

     The visitors were without Wayne Rooney after he suffered a head wound in training, which also keeps him out of England's World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine.

   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act 3, scene 3]:

     Showers of blood / Rained from the wounds of slaughtered Englishmen.

   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     I went below, and did what I could for my wound; it pained me a good deal, and still bled freely; but it was neither deep nor dangerous, nor did it greatly gall me when I used my arm.

3. (figuratively) A hurt to a person's feelings, reputation, prospects, etc.

   It took a long time to get over the wound of that insult.

4. (criminal law) An injury to a person by which the skin is divided or its continuity broken.

• (injury): injury, lesion
• (something that offends a person's feelings): slight, slur, insult
• See also Thesaurus:injury

wound (third-person singular simple present wounds, present participle wounding, simple past and past participle wounded)

1. (transitive) To hurt or injure (someone) by cutting, piercing, or tearing the skin.

   Synonyms: damage, harm; see also Thesaurus:harm, Thesaurus:hurt

   The police officer wounded the suspect during the fight that ensued.

2. (transitive) To hurt (a person's feelings).

   Synonyms: affront, hurt; see also Thesaurus:offend

   The actor's pride was wounded when the leading role went to his rival.

   • 1984 December 8, Michael Bronski, Andrea Loewenstein, “Family & Friends: Writers Talk Community”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 21, page 12:

     I find neglect or rejection from my own community much harder to take and more wounding than the same thing or worse from the outside world.

See wind (Etymology 2)

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /waʊnd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊnd

wound

1. simple past and past participle of wind
   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Fate of the Artemis”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

     “ […] Captain Markam had been found lying half-insensible, gagged and bound, on the floor of the sitting-room, his hands and feet tightly pinioned, and a woollen comforter wound closely round his mouth and neck ; whilst Mrs. Markham's jewel-case, containing valuable jewellery and the secret plans of Port Arthur, had disappeared. […]”