windlass
English
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windlass
- /ˈwɪnd.ləs/ UK
Sounds like windless
Where it comes from
From Middle English wyndlas, wyndelas, wyndlasse, wyndelasse, probably an alteration (due to Middle English windel) of Middle English windas, wyndas, wyndace, from Anglo-Norman windase, windeis and Old Northern French windas (compare Old French guindas, Medieval Latin windasius, windasa), from Old Norse vindáss (“windlass”, literally “winding-pole”), from vinda (“to wind”) + áss (“pole”). Compare Icelandic vindilass.
noun windlasses · windless
- Any of various forms of winch, in which a rope or cable is wound around a cylinder, used for lifting heavy weights.
- A winding and circuitous way; a roundabout course. With windlasses and with assays of bias, / By indirections find directions out.
- An apparatus resembling a winch or windlass, for bending the bow of an arblast, or crossbow.
verb windlasses · windlassing · windlassed · windless
- To raise with, or as if with, a windlass; to use a windlass. A favoring breeze enabled us to sail all the way down the lake, and (having been windlassed across the haul-over) even down the canals.
- To take a roundabout course; to work warily or by indirect means. He could not expect to allure him forward, and therefore drives him as far back as he can; that so he may be the more sure of him at the rebound; as a skilful woodsman, that by windlassing presently gets a shoot, which, without taking a compass and thereby a commodious stand, he could never have obt
Translations
Talk about this word "windlass." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/windlass. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. windlass. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/windlass "windlass." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/windlass.Cite this
@misc{windlass_2026,
title = {windlass},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/windlass},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
