Windeseile

German

Etymology

Wind +‎ -es- +‎ Eile

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɪndəsˌʔaɪ̯lə/

Noun

Windeseile f (genitive Windeseile, no plural)

1. (figurative, in set phrases) short while

   in Windeseile ― in no time

   • 1799, Friedrich Schiller, Das Lied von der Glocke [Song of the Bell]; republished as Thomas James Arnold, transl., The Lay of the Bell, a. 1877:

     Durch der Straßen lange Zeile / Wächst es fort mit Windeseile, / Kochend wie aus Ofens Rachen / Glühn die Lüfte, Balken krachen

     Through the streets' long lines it flies, / And with the wind in swiftness vies. / As from furnace jaws out-reeking, / Glows the hot air; beams are creaking

   • 1909 [1901], Thomas Mann, Buddenbrooks […] ‎^[1], Berlin: Deutsche Buch-Gemeinschaft, →OCLC, page 656; republished as Helen T. Lowe-Porter, transl., 1927:

     Die Kunde hatte sich mit Windeseile in der ganzen Stadt verbreitet.

     The news had gone like the wind through the whole town.

   • 2022, “Psychoanalyse”, in Psychoanalyse Vol. 2, performed by Brezel Göring ft. Françoise Cactus:

     Du siehst bedrückt aus / dabei bist du nur verrückt / Nichts, was eine Analyse / in Windeseile geraderückt

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “Windeseile” in Duden online
• “Windeseile” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache