windlass

[ wind-luhs ]

/ ˈwɪnd ləs /

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noun

a device for raising or hauling objects, usually consisting of a horizontal cylinder or barrel turned by a crank, lever, motor, or the like, upon which a cable, rope, or chain winds, the outer end of the cable being attached directly or indirectly to the weight to be raised or the thing to be hauled or pulled; winch.

verb (used with object)

to raise, haul, or move (a load) by means of a windlass.

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Origin of windlass

1350–1400; Middle English wind(e)las<Old Norse vindāss, equivalent to vinda to wind² + āss beam

Words nearby windlass

winding-up, wind instrument, wind instruments, Wind in the Willows, windjammer, windlass, windle, windless, windlestraw, wind machine, windmill

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use windlass in a sentence

The chain communicated with a powerful crane rigged up on the foremast, and was wrought by a steam windlass on deck.
The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands|R.M. Ballantyne
Newton made no answer, and Jackson went forward, where the remainder of the crew were heaving up the anchor with the windlass.
Newton Forster|Captain Frederick Marryat
I will make a windlass as soon as I can, and we will soon hoist out another, like they turn a bucket of water up from a well.
The Children of the New Forest|Captain Marryat
The words of these windlass and bowline "shanties" have, of course, little of the element of finished poetry about them.
Studies in Folk-Song and Popular Poetry|Alfred M. Williams

Those working the windlass, feeling that the strain was off the rope, let out no more.
Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents and Strange Events|S. Baring-Gould

British Dictionary definitions for windlass

windlass

/ (ˈwɪndləs) /

noun

a machine for raising weights by winding a rope or chain upon a barrel or drum driven by a crank, motor, etc

verb

(tr) to raise or haul (a weight, etc) by means of a windlass

Word Origin for windlass

C14: from Old Norse vindáss, from vinda to wind ² + ass pole; related to Old French guindas, Middle Low German, Dutch windas

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012