Picture fingers on a small key, turning it round and round. Inside, a spring is being pulled tighter with every turn, and the power you are putting in has nowhere to go yet. Two things can happen next: the tension is let go, or the turning simply reaches its last round and the job is done. Almost every use of wind-up sits on one of those two moments.
From the word’s history
The source records both the noun and the adjective as deverbal from the phrasal verb wind up.
來源把名詞和形容詞都記為從動詞片語 wind up 直接轉過來的（deverbal from wind up）：先有「把東西轉緊、捲完」這個動作，再把整個動作拿來當名詞和形容詞用。
Wiktionary (kaikki extract) wind-up: etymology_text 'Deverbal from wind up.' (noun and adj entries)
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料6 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
wind-upnoun/ˈwaɪndˌʌp/
- 1
The end or conclusion of something.
- Everyone is invited to our end-of-term wind-up party.
- The wind-up is, that the father becomes bankrupt; the wife and daughters town-traders; the sons Greeks, Fancy-swells, Conveyancers (pickpockets), or Cracksmen (house breakers), and the New Drop is the last drop they ever take.
- 2
The punch line of a joke or comedy routine.
- 3
A humorous attempt to fool somebody; a practical joke in which the victim is encouraged to believe something untrue.
- "Is this a wind-up, or what?" "No, no, it's true. He can really do it."
- 4
ball-gamesbaseballgamesThe phase of making a pitch where the pitcher moves his or her arm backwards before throwing the ball.
- He's into his wind-up. Here comes the pitch. Strike on the inside corner!
- 5
broadcastingmediatelevisionA circular hand gesture, supposed to represent the winding on of film, used to signal to a performer to finish quickly.
wind-upadj/ˈwaɪndˌʌp/
- 1
Of a machine, requiring winding up in order to function.
- Maybe you could get a wind-up toy to distract him.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。