get wind of something, to
get wind of something
COMMON If you get wind of something such as a plan or information, you find out about it, often when other people did not want you to. Singapore authorities got wind of the plot. The local press recently got wind of the story, and published an article about it. Note: You can also say that you catch wind of something. It wasn't long before Hollywood had caught wind of the story. Note: This expression refers to animals being able to smell hunters or other animals when they are some way off, because the smell is carried to them on the wind.
See also: get, of, something, wind
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
get ˈwind of something
(informal) hear about something secret or private: A journalist got wind of a story about the nuclear research centre.See also: get, of, something, wind
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
get wind of something, to
To acquire knowledge; to hear a rumor. This expression transfers the ability of many animals to detect the approach of others from their scent carried by the wind. Originating about 1800, the term appeared in print in B. H. Malkin’s translation of Gil Blas (1809): “The corregidor . . . got wind of our correspondence.”
See also: get, of, wind
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- be whistling in the wind
- blow in
- blow in(to)
- blow into
- in the wind
- be in the wind
- bend before
- bend before (something)
- like the wind, go/run
- go, run, etc. like the wind