To the French, sudden wind is dignified (6)
I believe the answer is:
august
'dignified' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'to the french sudden wind' is the wordplay.
'to the french' becomes 'au'.
'sudden wind' becomes 'gust' (I've seen this before).
'au'+'gust'='AUGUST'
'is' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for august that I've seen before include "could get sunburned this time of year!" , "Month named after emperor of Rome" , "It follows 8" , "Month befitting a lord" , "when students are down?" .)