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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Capstan bar

Capstan \Cap"stan\, n. [F. cabestan, fr. Sp. cabestrante, cabrestante, fr. cabestrar to bind with a halter, fr. cabestrohalter, fr. L. capistrum halter, fr. capere to hold (see Capacious); or perh. the Spanish is fr. L. caper goat + stans, p. pr. of stare to stand; cf. F. ch[`e]vre she-goat, also a machine for raising heavy weights.] A vertical cleated drum or cylinder, revolving on an upright spindle, and surmounted by a drumhead with sockets for bars or levers. It is much used, especially on shipboard, for moving or raising heavy weights or exerting great power by traction upon a rope or cable, passing around the drum. It is operated either by steam power or by a number of men walking around the capstan, each pushing on the end of a lever fixed in its socket. [Sometimes spelt Capstern, but improperly.]

Capstan bar, one of the long bars or levers by which the capstan is worked; a handspike..

To pawl the capstan, to drop the pawls so that they will catch in the notches of the pawl ring, and prevent the capstan from turning back.

To rig the capstan, to prepare the for use, by putting the bars in the sockets.

To surge the capstan, to slack the tension of the rope or cable wound around it.

Usage examples of "capstan bar".

The riotous powwow of setting a spar was going on down on the forecastle, and I went down there and stood around in the way-- or mostly skipping out of it--till the mate suddenly roared a general order for somebody to bring him a capstan bar.

Ten minutes later Brookland was walking forward unaided, his punishment administered, and Harris was seized to the capstan bar.

Their leader was a huge man whose bare forearms were thick with tattoos, while beside him was a Negro, every bit as tall, who carried his capstan bar as though it were a hazel wand.

Around the walls was a relief of men using the body of an enormous serpent as a capstan bar to turn millstones centered on the doorway.

Stockings had been bound around his wrists, which were stoutly lashed to a capstan bar.

Bound as if crucified to a capstan bar across the boat used for punishment, the flogging was carried out to the beat of the Rogue’.

Why in ---- don't you stiffen up, and hump yourself around, and make these men mind, or else belt them over the head with a capstan bar!

The common goal allows enemies to smile while they pull at a common oar, or stand side by side at a capstan bar.