pulley

CEFRB1

/ˈpʊli/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A wheel with a rope used for lifting or moving things.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Annular ligament of the finger.

Examples

  • The screw, the lever, the wedge, the pulley, etc. are called simple machines.

  • Ziri asked Yazid if he could borrow his pulley.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4

Also pronounced

  • /-li/
  • /-lɪ/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. To raise or lift by means of a pulley.

  2. One of the simple machines; a sheave, a wheel with a grooved rim, in which a pulled rope or chain lifts an object (more useful when two or more pulleys are used together, as in a block and tackle arrangement, such that a small force moving through a greater distance can exert a larger force through a smaller distance).

More examples

In context

  • These pulleys […] placed collaterally.

  • Nine hundred of the ſtrongeſt Men were employed to draw up theſe Cords by many Pulleys faſtned on the Poles, and thus, in leſs than three Hours, I was raiſed and flung into the Engine, and there tyed faſt.

  • The steel haulage ropes have a breaking strain of 50 tons, and another pair passing around a pulley at the bottom connect the lower ends of the cars and act as tail or balance ropes.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The workers used a blank to lift the heavy boxes to the top floor.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English puly, poley, from Old French poulie, polie (“a pulley, windlass”), from Medieval Latin polidia, plural mistaken for the feminine of neuter polidium, from Ancient Greek πολίδιον (polídion, “little pivot”), diminutive of πόλος (pólos, “pivot, hinge, axis”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to turn”). Associated with pull (verb) by folk etymology.