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WOUND UP
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Brought to a state of great tension
Example:
all wound up for a fight
Synonyms:
aroused; wound up
Classified under:
Similar:
tense (in or of a state of physical or nervous tension)
Context examples:
Now, look here, you gives me food and drink and a old scarf or ankecher to tie my wound up, you do, and I'll tell you how to sail her, and that's about square all round, I take it.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Hence was it that the good burghers of Romsey were all in the streets, that gay flags and flowers brightened the path from the nunnery to the church, and that a long procession wound up to the old arched door leading up the bride to these spiritual nuptials.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He was so peaceful and resigned—clearly had his affairs in such perfect train, and so systematically wound up—that he was a man to feel touched in the contemplation of.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
They entered Oxford, but she could take only a hasty glimpse of Edmund's college as they passed along, and made no stop anywhere till they reached Newbury, where a comfortable meal, uniting dinner and supper, wound up the enjoyments and fatigues of the day.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
At Avigdor's she found the precious home letters and, giving the reins to Laurie, read them luxuriously as they wound up the shady road between green hedges, where tea roses bloomed as freshly as in June.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Mr. Creakle then made a speech, through Tungay, in which he thanked Steerforth for asserting (though perhaps too warmly) the independence and respectability of Salem House; and which he wound up by shaking hands with Steerforth, while we gave three cheers—I did not quite know what for, but I supposed for Steerforth, and so joined in them ardently, though I felt miserable.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Her story was as full of desperation and despair as her limited acquaintance with those uncomfortable emotions enabled her to make it, and having located it in Lisbon, she wound up with an earthquake, as a striking and appropriate denouement.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
