winch

• IPA^(key): /wɪntʃ/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɪntʃ

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)

1. 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 hauling on a rope or cable.
2. (nautical) A hoisting machine used for loading or discharging cargo, or for hauling in lines. (FM 55-501).
   • 2013, J. M. Coetzee, The Childhood of Jesus. Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company. chapter 27. p. 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.

3. A wince (machine used in dyeing or steeping cloth).
4. A kick, as of an animal, from impatience or uneasiness.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shelton to this entry?)

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

1. To use a winch

   Winch in those sails, lad!

See wince.

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

1. To wince; to shrink
2. To kick with impatience or uneasiness.