winch

CEFRB2

/wɪnt͡ʃ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A machine used to pull or lift heavy things with a cable.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A hoisting device used for loading or unloading cargo, or for pulling in lines.

Examples

  • I've never used a winch before. Could you show me how?

  • I've never used a winch before.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A wince (machine used in dyeing or steeping cloth).

  2. A machine consisting of a drum on an axle, a friction brake or ratchet and pawl, and a crank handle or prime mover (often an electric or hydraulic motor), with or without gearing, to give increased mechanical advantage when hoisting or hauling on a rope or cable.

  3. A kick, as of an animal, from impatience or uneasiness.

More examples

In context

  • Winch in those sails, lad!

  • It runs on clattering steel tracks; the driver sits in a cab over the tracks, operating the controls that rotate the arm and turn the winch.

  • the mule[…]being likewise frighted by that terrible blow, ran away as fast as it could about the fields, and within two or three winches overthrew him to the ground

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The workers used a powerful blank to pull the car out of the ditch.

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

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English wynche, from Old English winċe, from Proto-Germanic *winkijǭ, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European *weng- (“to bow, bend, arch, curve”), whence also wink.