winch
verbEtymology From Middle English wynche, from Old English winċe, from Proto-Germanic *winkijǭ, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European *weng- (“to bow, bend, arch, curve”), whence also wink.
1
To use a winch
- Winch in those sails, lad!
winch
noun/wɪnt͡ʃ/
Etymology From Middle English wynche, from Old English winċe, from Proto-Germanic *winkijǭ, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European *weng- (“to bow, bend, arch, curve”), whence also wink.
1
A machine consisting of a drum on an axle, a friction brake or ratchet and pawl, and a crank handle or prime mover (often an electric or hydraulic motor), with or without gearing, to give increased mechanical advantage when hoisting or hauling on a rope or cable.
2
Nautical, Transport A hoisting device used for loading or unloading cargo, or for pulling in lines.
- It runs on clattering steel tracks; the driver sits in a cab over the tracks, operating the controls that rotate the arm and turn the winch.2013, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 27, in The Childhood of Jesus, Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company, page 267:
3
A wince (machine used in dyeing or steeping cloth).
4
A kick, as of an animal, from impatience or uneasiness.
- the mule[…]being likewise frighted by that terrible blow, ran away as fast as it could about the fields, and within two or three winches overthrew him to the ground1612–1620, [Miguel de Cervantes], translated by Thomas Shelton, The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha. […], London: […] William Stansby, for Ed[ward] Blount and W. Barret, →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- rope winch, winch handle