# What does ‘get wind of’ mean?

To “get wind of” means to hear a rumour or first indication of something. An old English idiom drawn from hunting — animals catching the scent on the wind. Brewer's records the phrase in that literal sense.

## What it means

- An old English idiom drawn from hunting — animals catching the scent on the wind. Brewer's records the phrase in that literal sense.

## Action steps

1. Standard way to describe an early tip-off.
2. Example: The press got wind of the merger before it was announced.

## Sources

- [Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — Internet Archive scan](https://archive.org/details/brewers-dictionary-of-phrase-and-fable)

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Published: 2026-07-18T04:16:35.376097+00:00
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Last verified: 2026-07-18
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