windlass

wind·lass

(wĭnd′ləs)

Any of numerous hauling or lifting machines consisting essentially of a horizontal cylinder turned by a crank or a motor so that a line attached to the load is wound around the cylinder.

tr.v. wind·lassed, wind·lass·ing, wind·lass·es

To raise with a windlass.

[Middle English wyndlas, alteration of windas, from Old Norse vindāss : vinda, to wind + āss, pole.]

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.

windlass

(ˈwɪndləs)

(Mechanical Engineering) a machine for raising weights by winding a rope or chain upon a barrel or drum driven by a crank, motor, etc

(Mechanical Engineering) (tr) to raise or haul (a weight, etc) by means of a windlass

[C14: from Old Norse vindáss, from vinda to wind² + ass pole; related to Old French guindas, Middle Low German, Dutch windas]

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

wind•lass

(ˈwɪnd ləs)

n.

1. a device for hauling or hoisting, commonly having a horizontal drum on which a rope attached to the load is wound; winch.

v.t.

2. to raise, haul, or move (a load) by means of a windlass.

[1350–1400; Middle English wind(e)las < Old Norse vindāss=vinda to wind² + āss beam]

windlass

Past participle: windlassed
Gerund: windlassing

Imperative
windlass
windlass

Present
I windlass
you windlass
he/she/it windlasses
we windlass
you windlass
they windlass

Preterite
I windlassed
you windlassed
he/she/it windlassed
we windlassed
you windlassed
they windlassed

Present Continuous
I am windlassing
you are windlassing
he/she/it is windlassing
we are windlassing
you are windlassing
they are windlassing

Present Perfect
I have windlassed
you have windlassed
he/she/it has windlassed
we have windlassed
you have windlassed
they have windlassed

Past Continuous
I was windlassing
you were windlassing
he/she/it was windlassing
we were windlassing
you were windlassing
they were windlassing

Past Perfect
I had windlassed
you had windlassed
he/she/it had windlassed
we had windlassed
you had windlassed
they had windlassed

Future
I will windlass
you will windlass
he/she/it will windlass
we will windlass
you will windlass
they will windlass

Future Perfect
I will have windlassed
you will have windlassed
he/she/it will have windlassed
we will have windlassed
you will have windlassed
they will have windlassed

Future Continuous
I will be windlassing
you will be windlassing
he/she/it will be windlassing
we will be windlassing
you will be windlassing
they will be windlassing

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been windlassing
you have been windlassing
he/she/it has been windlassing
we have been windlassing
you have been windlassing
they have been windlassing

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been windlassing
you will have been windlassing
he/she/it will have been windlassing
we will have been windlassing
you will have been windlassing
they will have been windlassing

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been windlassing
you had been windlassing
he/she/it had been windlassing
we had been windlassing
you had been windlassing
they had been windlassing

Conditional
I would windlass
you would windlass
he/she/it would windlass
we would windlass
you would windlass
they would windlass

Past Conditional
I would have windlassed
you would have windlassed
he/she/it would have windlassed
we would have windlassed
you would have windlassed
they would have windlassed

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

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

winch

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

lifting device - a device for lifting heavy loads

ship - a vessel that carries passengers or freight

yard donkey, yarder - a winch (or system of winches) powered by an engine and used to haul logs from a stump to a landing or to a skid road

Translations

Haspel

argano

windlass

[ˈwɪndləs] N → torno 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

windlass

[ˈwɪndləs] n (= winch) → treuil m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

windlass

n (= winch) → Winde f; (Naut) → Ankerwinde f

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

windlass

[ˈwɪndləs] n → argano, verricello

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

It was five o'clock in the afternoon of the bright autumnal Sunday, before a candle was sent down to try the air, while three or four rough faces stood crowded close together, attentively watching it: the man at the windlass lowering as they were told.

As the rope went out, tight and strained, and the windlass creaked, there was not a breath among the one or two hundred men and women looking on, that came as it was wont to come.

View in context

Fastening one end of a heavy tackle to the windlass, and with the other end fast to the butt of the foretopmast, I began to heave.

It was an improved crank windlass, and the purchase it gave was enormous.

View in context

And here Bildad, who, with Peleg, be it known, in addition to his other offices, was one of the licensed pilots of the port --he being suspected to have got himself made a pilot in order to save the Nantucket pilot-fee to all the ships he was concerned in, for he never piloted any other craft --Bildad, I say, might now be seen actively engaged in looking over the bows for the approaching anchor, and at intervals singing what seemed a dismal stave of psalmody, to cheer the hands at the windlass, who roared forth some sort of a chorus about the girls in Booble Alley, with hearty good will.

View in context

"Oh, that," said Penn, proudly, "is a Spanish windlass. Mr.

Long Jack and Uncle Salters slipped the windlass-brakes into their sockets, and began to heave up the anchor, the windlass jarring as the wet hempen cable strained on the barrel.

View in context

The Russians had a neat log house built on a grassy slope, with a windlass well beside the door.

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There he sees the cable ranged, the windlass disconnected, the compressors opened; and there, after giving his own last order, "Stand clear of the cable!" he waits attentive, in a silent ship that forges slowly ahead towards her picked-out berth, for the sharp shout from aft, "Let go!" Instantly bending over, he sees the trusty iron fall with a heavy plunge under his eyes, which watch and note whether it has gone clear.

View in context

There is no windlass nor any trace of there ever having been any--no rope--nothing.

View in context

It was an amateur-sculler, well up to his work though taking it easily, in so light a boat that the Rogue remarked: 'A little less on you, and you'd a'most ha' been a Wagerbut'; then went to work at his windlass handles and sluices, to let the sculler in.

View in context

Figures of men crawled out of the holes, or disappeared into them, or, on raised platforms of hand-hewn timber, windlassed the thawed gravel to the surface, where it immediately froze.

View in context