Windlass
noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Any of various forms of winch, in which a rope or cable is wound around a cylinder, used for lifting heavy weights
- 2 lifting device consisting of a horizontal cylinder turned by a crank on which a cable or rope winds wordnet
- 3 A winding and circuitous way; a roundabout course.
"With windlasses and with assays of bias, / By indirections find directions out."
- 4 An apparatus resembling a winch or windlass, for bending the bow of an arblast, or crossbow.
- 1 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."
- 2 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 obtained."
Example
More examples"This ship is outfitted with a windlass to heave up the anchor."
Etymology
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.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.