windscreen

UK/ˈwɪn(d).skɹiːn/US/ˈwɪn(d).skɹiːn/

nounB1+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,251 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: windscreens

A windscreen is the big front glass of a car. Clean the windscreen, windscreen wipers, a cracked windscreen.

It is laminated — two sheets of glass with plastic between — so that it holds together when broken rather than showering the occupants, which is why side windows shatter into cubes and the windscreen does not. The American word is windshield. Note windscreen wiper; and that a chip in a windscreen spreads if it is not filled, which is why repairs are done fast.

Definitions of windscreen

1nounwindscreenThe front glass of a car.B1+
“A stone flew up from the lorry and cracked our windscreen.”

windscreen is a vehicle part.

Also accepted in games: windshield

Where it comes from

Wind plus screen, coined early in motoring. The American windshield was built the same way from different parts at about the same time.

From wind + screen.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Travel & Transport, Vehicles & Machines

Practise this word

windscreen in the wild

On some vehicles, a windscreen washer system is also used to improve and expand the function of the wiper(s) to dry or icy conditions.
Windscreen wiper
While the aircraft was flying over Didcot, England, an improperly installed windscreen panel separated from its frame, causing the captain to be partially ejected from the aircraft.
British Airways Flight 5390
As the trains had to go above ground, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), who operate the Berlin U-Bahn, had to install windscreen wipers on the trains.
Scharnweberstraße (Berlin U-Bahn)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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