win

verb (used without object)

to finish first in a race, contest, or the like.

to succeed by striving or effort: He applied for a scholarship and won.

to gain the victory; overcome an adversary: The home team won.

verb (used with object)

to succeed in reaching (a place, condition, etc.), especially by great effort: They won the shore through a violent storm.

to get by effort, as through labor, competition, or conquest: He won his post after years of striving.

to gain (a prize, fame, etc.).

to be successful in (a game, battle, etc.).

to make (one's way), as by effort or ability.

to attain or reach (a point, goal, etc.).

10.

to gain (favor, love, consent, etc.), as by qualities or influence.

11.

to gain the favor, regard, or adherence of.

12.

to gain the consent or support of; persuade (often followed by over ): The speech won them over to our side.

13.

to persuade to marry; gain in marriage.

14.

British Mining.

to obtain (ore, coal, etc.).

to prepare (a vein, bed, mine, etc.) for working, by means of shafts or the like.

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Win is one of our favorite verbs.

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to spend time idly; loaf.

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noun

15.

a victory, as in a game or horse race.

16.

the position of the competitor who comes in first in a horse race, harness race, etc. Compare place ( def 27b ), show ( def 27 ).

Verb phrases

17.

win out, to win or succeed, especially over great odds; triumph: His finer nature finally won out.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English winnen (v.), Old English winnan to work, fight, bear; cognate with German gewinnen, Old Norse vinna, Gothic winnan

Related forms

win·na·ble, adjective

Synonyms
5. obtain, secure, acquire, achieve, reach, procure. See gain¹. 12. convince.

Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used with object), winned, win·ning. Scot. and North England.

to dry (hay, wood, etc.) by exposure to air and sun.

Origin:
1550–60; perhaps variant of winnow

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To win

Collins

World English Dictionary

win¹ (wɪn)

—vb (when intr, foll by out, through, etc) , wins, winning, won
1.	(intr) to achieve first place in a competition
2.	(tr) to gain or receive (a prize, first place, etc) in a competition
3.	(tr) to succeed in or gain (something) with an effort: we won recognition
4.	win one's spurs
	a. to achieve recognition in some field of endeavour
	b. history to be knighted
5.	to gain victory or triumph in (a battle, argument, etc)
6.	(tr) to earn or procure (a living, etc) by work
7.	(tr) to take possession of, esp violently; capture: the Germans never won Leningrad
8.	to reach with difficulty (a desired condition or position) or become free, loose, etc, with effort: the boat won the shore; the boat won through to the shore
9.	(tr) to turn someone into (a supporter, enemy, etc): you have just won an ally
10.	(tr) to gain (the sympathy, loyalty, etc) of someone
11.	(tr) to obtain (a woman, etc) in marriage
12.	(tr)
	a. to extract (ore, coal, etc) from a mine
	b. to extract (metal or other minerals) from ore
	c. to discover and make (a mineral deposit) accessible for mining
13.	informal you can't win an expression of resignation after an unsuccessful attempt to overcome difficulties

—n
14.	informal a success, victory, or triumph
15.	profit; winnings
16.	the act or fact of reaching the finishing line or post first

[Old English winnan; related to Old Norse vinna, German gewinnen]

'winnable¹

—*adj*

win² (wɪn)

—vb , wins, winning, won, winned
1.	to dry (grain, hay, peat, etc) by exposure to sun and air
2.	a less common word for winnow

[Old English, perhaps a variant of winnow]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

win

fusion of O.E. winnan "struggle for, work at, strive, fight," and gewinnan "to gain or succeed by struggling, to win," both from P.Gmc. *wenwanan (cf. O.S. winnan, O.N. vinna, O.Fris. winna, Du. winnen "to gain, win," Dan. vinde "to win," O.H.G. winnan "to strive, struggle, fight," Ger. gewinnen "to

gain, win," Goth. gawinnen "to suffer, toil"). Perhaps related to wish, or from PIE *van- "overcome, conquer." Sense of "to be victorious" is recorded from c.1300. The noun in O.E. meant "labor, strife, conflict;" modern sense of "a victory in a game or contest" is first attested 1862, from the verb. Breadwinner (see bread) preserves the sense of "toil" in O.E. winnan. Phrase you can't win them all (1954) first attested in Raymond Chandler.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

win

[MIT; now common everywhere]
1. vi. To succeed. A program wins if no unexpected conditions arise, or (especially) if it sufficiently robust to take exceptions in stride.
2. n. Success, or a specific instance thereof. A pleasing outcome. "So it turned out I could use a lexer generator instead of hand-coding my own pattern recognizer. What a win!" Emphatic forms: `moby win', `super win', `hyper-win' (often used interjectively as a reply). For some reason `suitable win' is also common at MIT, usually in reference to a satisfactory solution to a problem. Oppose lose; see also big win, which isn't quite just an intensification of `win'.

Jargon
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FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

win definition

jargon
(Said of people, computers, algorithms, programs) (To be) a success at a given task.
E.g. "WYSIWYG is a clear win for small documents".
"winnitude" is the quality that something which wins has. "winning" is often (ab)used as an adjective.
Synonyms: cuspy, elegant. Antonym: lose. Compare lossy, lossless.
[Jargon File]
(1996-09-08)

American Heritage

Abbreviations & Acronyms

WIN