cap·stan

(kăp′stən, -stăn′)

1. Nautical An apparatus used for hoisting, consisting of a vertical, manually or mechanically rotated cylinder around which the cable to be pulled runs.

2. A small cylindrical shaft used to drive magnetic tape at a constant speed in a tape recorder.

[Middle English, from Norman French, from Old Provençal cabestan, from cabestre, noose, from Latin capistrum, halter, probably from capere, to seize; see kap- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

capstan

(ˈkæpstən)

1. (Nautical Terms) a machine with a drum that rotates round a vertical spindle and is turned by a motor or lever, used for hauling in heavy ropes, etc

2. (Electronics) any similar device, such as the rotating shaft in a tape recorder that pulls the tape past the head

[C14: from Old Provençal cabestan, from Latin capistrum a halter, from capere to seize]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

cap•stan

(ˈkæp stən, -stæn)

n.

1. any of various windlasses, rotated in a horizontal plane by hand or machinery, for winding in ropes, cables, etc.

2. a rotating spindle or shaft, powered by an electric motor, that transports magnetic tape past the heads of a tape recorder at a constant speed.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French cabestan(t) < Old Provençal cabestan, variant of cabestran, presumably present participle of *cabest(r)ar, v. derivative of cabestre halter < Latin capistrum]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

capstan - a windlass rotated in a horizontal plane around a vertical axis; used on ships for weighing anchor or raising heavy sails

winch, windlass - lifting device consisting of a horizontal cylinder turned by a crank on which a cable or rope winds

Translations

رَحويَّه: آلَةُ رَفْعِ حِبالِ السَّفينَه

kotevní vratidlonaviják

ankerspil

AnkerwindeCapstanSpill

ankkuripelivintturi

cabestan

kábeldob

gangspil, vinda

argano cabestano verricello

캡스턴

suktuvas

vinča

gangspill

bocurgatırgat vinç

绞盘起锚机

capstan

[ˈkæpstən] N → cabrestante m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

capstan

[ˈkæpstən] n → cabestan m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

capstan

n → Poller m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

capstan

[ˈkæpstən] n (Naut) → argano

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

capstan

(ˈkӕpstən) noun

a drum-shaped machine, used for winding eg a ship's anchor-cable.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Maston got his hook fixed in the combing of the poop, and it pretty nearly required the capstan to get it out again.

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But I am going now to keep a sharp look-out on him; and if I see anything very suspicious going on, I'll just take him by the nape of his neck, and say --Look here, Beelzebub, you don't do it; and if he makes any fuss, by the Lord I'll make a grab into his pocket for his tail, take it to the capstan, and give him such a wrenching and heaving, that his tail will come short off at the stump --do you see; and then, I rather guess when he finds himself docked in that queer fashion, he'll sneak off without the poor satisfaction of feeling his tail between his legs.

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in the high, old tottering voice that seemed to have been tuned and broken at the capstan bars.

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I hastened to the aperture, and under the crustations of coral, covered with fungi, I recognised certain debris that the drags had not been able to tear up--iron stirrups, anchors, cannons, bullets, capstan fittings, the stem of a ship, all objects clearly proving the wreck of some vessel, and now carpeted with living flowers.

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The third cook, crowned with a resplendent tin basin and wrapped royally in a table-cloth mottled with grease-spots and coffee stains, and bearing a sceptre that looked strangely like a belaying-pin, walked upon a dilapidated carpet and perched himself on the capstan, careless of the flying spray; his tarred and weather-beaten Chamberlains, Dukes and Lord High Admirals surrounded him, arrayed in all the pomp that spare tarpaulins and remnants of old sails could furnish.

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Agatha, by a hash of lightning, saw for an instant two men straining at the door like sailors at a capstan. Then she knew by the cessation of the whirlwind that they had shut it.

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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 sad set without the assistance of machinery.

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A wooden shaft, which set in motion a capstan concealed in the interior of the little edifice, imparted a rotatory motion to the wheel, which always maintained its horizontal position, and in this manner presented the face of the condemned man to all quarters of the square in succession.

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"There is but one little objection to make to your proposition," replied Barbicane, "which is that, during the rotary motion of the globe, our thread would have wound itself round it like a chain on a capstan, and that it would inevitably have brought us to the ground."

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I don't know what I answered, or what they rejoined; but I saw hurry on the beach, and men running with ropes from a capstan that was there, and penetrating into a circle of figures that hid him from me.

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Four lackeys had tried in vain, pulling at them as they would have pulled capstans; and yet all this did not awaken him.

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The city's hum and buzz, the clinking of capstans, the ringing of bells, the barking of dogs, the clattering of wheels, tingled in the listening ear.

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