winch

See also: Winch

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɪnt͡ʃ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪntʃ

Etymology 1

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.

Noun

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.
5. (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 84747867:

     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

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: winis
• → Arabic: وِنْش‎ (winš)
• → Japanese: ウインチ
• → Norwegian Bokmål: vinsj
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: vinsj
• → Serbo-Croatian: vȉnč
• → Swahili: winchi
• → Ottoman Turkish: وینچ‎ (vinç)
  • Turkish: vinç

Translations

machine

• Albanian: argano (sq)
• Bulgarian: лебе́дка (bg) f (lebédka), макара (bg) f (makara)
• Catalan: cabrestant (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 絞車 (zh), 绞车 (zh) (jiǎochē), 絞盤 (zh), 绞盘 (zh) (jiǎopán)

• Czech: naviják (cs) m
• Danish: spil n, trækspil n (dated)
• Dutch: lier (nl), windas (nl)
• Esperanto: vinĉo
• Finnish: vinssi (fi), vintturi (fi)
• French: treuil (fr) m
• Galician: guindastre (gl) m, guincho m, torno m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Winde (de) f
• Hungarian: csörlő (hu)
• Icelandic: vinda (is) f
• Italian: argano (it) m, verricello (it) m, bozzello m, salpareti m
• Japanese: ウインチ (uinchi)
• Kazakh: шығыр (şyğyr)
• Latgalian: svērte
• Latin: sucula f
• Latvian: vinda
• Maori: huritaura
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vinsj m

  Nynorsk: vinsj m

• Old English: wince f
• Polish: kołowrót (pl) m
• Portuguese: molinete
• Russian: лебёдка (ru) f (lebjódka), во́рот (ru) m (vórot)
• Slovak: rumpál m, navijak m
• Slovene: vitel m
• Spanish: cabrestante (es) m
• Swahili: winchi
• Swedish: vinsch (sv)
• Tagalog: biling-bilingan
• Turkish: vinç (tr), ırgat (tr)
• Westrobothnian: spel n
• Zazaki: vinç m

Verb

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!

Translations

use a winch

• Finnish: vinssata
• French: treuiller (fr)
• German: winden (de)
• Icelandic: vinda (is)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vinsje

• Russian: поднима́ть с по́мощью лебёдки (podnimátʹ s pómoščʹju lebjódki)
• Slovene: dvigovati
• Swedish: vinscha
• Westrobothnian: spela

Etymology 2

See wince.

Verb

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

1. To wince; to shrink
   • 1812, Joanna Baillie, The Dream:

     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.

2. To kick with impatience or uneasiness.

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French

Noun

winch m (plural winchs)

1. (nautical) winch

Further reading

• “winch”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.