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Relative of a capstan
Answer for the clue "Relative of a capstan ", 8 letters:
windlass
Alternative clues for the word windlass
Word definitions for windlass in dictionaries
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Windlass \Wind"lass\, n. [OE. windelas, windas, Icel. vindil[=a]ss, vind[=a]s, fr. vinda to wind + [=a]ss a pole; cf. Goth. ans a beam. See Wind to turn.] A machine for raising weights, consisting of a horizontal cylinder or roller moving on its axis, and ...
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
device for raising weights by winding a rope round a cylinder, c.1400, alteration of wyndase (late 13c.), from Anglo-French windas , and directly from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse vindass , from vinda "to wind" (see wind (v.1)) + ass "pole, beam" ...
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
n. lifting device consisting of a horizontal cylinder turned by a crank on which a cable or rope winds [syn: winch ]
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. 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. 3 An apparatus resembling a winch or windlass, for bending the bow of an arblast, ...
Usage examples of windlass.
Came clanks, rattles, splashes, yells, puffing of steam, creaking turns of the windlass, and a frenzy of running around, and a great cadenza of obscenity.
Men had broken their own bones on the timber spokes of the Sardar windlasses.
But Nadar had decreed that both balloons should depart together, and had installed an extra windlass of rope for that purpose, reasoning that a dual launch would confuse and make even more ineffectual the rifle fire from the enemy lines.
In his left hand, he carried a bouquet of flowers from the solarium at WindLass but even though he inspected each individual tombstone, he could not find hers here in the Boucharde family plot.
Cullen was on his way here and asked Coni to look after WindLass while she went to join you.
A Horse Stealer could use a goatsfoot to span a crossbow, or even an arbalest, which would have demanded a windlass of any human arm.
A comparatively short bowsprit and a long jibboom, three headsails lying in heaps at the foot of the stays, and he could just make out the upper curve of the drum of the windlass.
The first and second mates stand on stages lowered over the side, cutting the blubber from the whale as the crew heave it round with the windlass.
Steam rose from the holes, obscuring the windlasses and the diggers below.
It had a mousetrap of elaborate gutters and winding rainspouts that emptied into big barrels here and there, while a small wooden windlass secured with ropes and pulleys hung down the front of the building.
The first contained rusted shovelheads, a disembodied pickax handle, chisels, an ancient windlass missing its rope, a pair of moldy boots, and a safe lamp with a cracked guard.
The ends of all the running ropes, with the exception of the signal halyards and poop-down-haul, were rove through snatch-blocks, and led to the capstan or windlass, so that not a yard was braced or a sail set without the assistance of machinery.
The trebuchets creaked as the Tartessians heaved around the crank handles of the geared windlasses.
Advance down into the water by means of strong cables and windlasses, as the creek was so narrow that the submarine, if launched in the usual way, would poke her nose into the opposite mud bank and stick there.
Swift, and the various windlasses manned by the inventor, Tom and the others began to unwind their ropes.