The phrase/idiom “in the wind.”
What does it mean to you when you hear it?
“gone; disappeared; unable to be found, generally on purpose”
That’s one definition. It can also mean “indications that it may happen soon”, but not “inevitable; imminently about to happen”, I don’t know why you would think it means that.
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.
I voted context dependent. Like TriPolar says, if it referring to a person it means: “gone; disappeared; unable to be found, generally on purpose”.
If it’s referring to an idea or possibility of an event or bit of gossip, it means: it’s out there, it exists, maybe not widely known, or easy to attribute.
I think it means can’t find the handle. Hard to grasp.
Riding your motorcycle, among other things.
The context that first springs to mind is a fugitive who has disappeared.
“Where’s Mike ‘the Hammer’ Malone, Detective Stevens?!”
“In the wind, Sarge.”
I encountered someone who used it in that manner and I was not familiar with that usage of the phrase.
Do you mean “inevitable; imminently about to happen”? I can see people mistaking it for that after hearing it about events which did actually occur. Or perhaps mixing up their metaphors, but I think ‘the wind’ is more representative of uncertainty than certainty.
I’m familiar with two meanings.
-
Gone. If I said “Joe’s in the wind.” it would mean that Joe left. It usually implies Joe left quietly and his departure wasn’t noticed as it happened.
-
There are rumors going around. If I said “There’s firings in the wind.” it would mean there are rumors about people being fired but no official announcements yet.
Yeah, I voted other. It’s not imminent, but not totally gone either. I’d define it as elusive or potential.
And apart from these lyrics, I have never heard “blowing in the wind” used in any context at all.
Maybe things like “fluttering in the breeze,” to mean indecisive or uncaring, but not “blowing in the wind.”
Context. Anything similar I’ve heard worked out to: helpless. As in a leaf in the wind. Or in the case of a paratrooper who is tangled in his static line: flappin’ in the wind.
I’ve always associated that with into the wind, as in the fugitive went into the wind.
However, in the wind means something is going to happen
I voted ‘gone’ as that’s what it almost always means to me. But I suppose context dependent would have been more accurate in retrospect.
Into the wind is about football passing and kicking conditions 
The one that comes to mind is along the lines of “there’s something in the wind” meaning something might happen, rumour, potential, uncertainty, that sort of thing.
or perhaps the immortal quote of one Mr. E. Rooney esq.
make of that what you will.
I was going to say:
It’s that thing that the answer is blowin’ in.
But you had to go and spoil it. :mad:
I’ve always heard this as “There’s firings in the air”
ISTM the expression “in the air” (also?) means “all around us”, as the Christmas spirit might be said to be “in the air.”
But when things are “up in the air” they’re currently unsettled, but may soon be resolved.
That’s English for you.