wind swell

wind swell (plural wind swells)

1. (surfing) Waves generated by local winds.
   • 2005, Matt Warshaw, The Encyclopedia of Surfing, page 239:

     Ground swell is sometimes defined as having a period (the average time between the crests of two consecutive waves) of more than 15 seconds, while a locally generated wind swell can be defined as having a period of 11 seconds or less.

• ground swell