winch

See also: Winch

English

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.

winch (plural winches)

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.
(nautical) A hoisting machine used for loading or discharging cargo, or for hauling in lines.
- 2013, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 27, in The Childhood of Jesus, Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company, page 267:
  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.
A wince (machine used in dyeing or steeping cloth).
A kick, as of an animal, from impatience or uneasiness.
(Nigeria, slang) Witch.
- 1612–1620, [Miguel de Cervantes], Thomas Shelton, transl., The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha. […], London: […] William Stansby, for Ed[ward] Blount and W. Barret, →OCLC:
  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

machine

winch (third-person singular simple present winches, present participle winching, simple past and past participle winched)

use a winch

See wince.

winch (third-person singular simple present winches, present participle winching, simple past and past participle winched)

To wince; to shrink
- 1812, Joanna Baillie, The Dream, part Act 1:
  It is not the first time a cat-o'-nine-tails has been across my back for other men's misdeeds. Promise me a good flask of brandy when I'm done with it, and I warrant ye I'll never winch.
To kick with impatience or uneasiness.

winch m (plural winchs)