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windlass

noun, verb — 5 senses

windlass

noun

UK /ˈwɪnd.ləs/

Etymology From Middle English wyndlas, wyndelas, wyndlasse, wyndelasse, probably an alteration (due to Middle English windel) of Middle English windas, wyndas, wyndace, from Anglo-Norman windase, windeis and Old Northern French windas (compare Old French guindas, Medieval Latin windasius, windasa), from Old Norse vindáss (“windlass”, literally “winding-pole”), from vinda (“to wind”) + áss (“pole”). Compare Icelandic vindilass.

1

Any of various forms of winch, in which a rope or cable is wound around a cylinder, used for lifting heavy weights

2

A winding and circuitous way; a roundabout course.

  • With windlasses and with assays of bias, / By indirections find directions out.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], line 65:
3

An apparatus resembling a winch or windlass, for bending the bow of an arblast, or crossbow.

Derived terms
Spanish windlass

windlass

verb

Etymology From Middle English wyndlas, wyndelas, wyndlasse, wyndelasse, probably an alteration (due to Middle English windel) of Middle English windas, wyndas, wyndace, from Anglo-Norman windase, windeis and Old Northern French windas (compare Old French guindas, Medieval Latin windasius, windasa), from Old Norse vindáss (“windlass”, literally “winding-pole”), from vinda (“to wind”) + áss (“pole”). Compare Icelandic vindilass.

1

To raise with, or as if with, a windlass; to use a windlass.

  • A favoring breeze enabled us to sail all the way down the lake, and (having been windlassed across the haul-over) even down the canals.1882, Constance Gordon-Cumming, “Ningpo and the Buddhist Temples”, in The Century Magazine:
2

To take a roundabout course; to work warily or by indirect means.

  • He could not expect to allure him forward, and therefore drives him as far back as he can; that so he may be the more sure of him at the rebound; as a skilful woodsman, that by windlassing presently gets a shoot, which, without taking a compass and thereby a commodious stand, he could never have obtained.a. 1660, Henry Hammond, a sermon:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.