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winch

noun

  1. device used to pull in or let out a rope or cable
L29157 on Wikidata ↗

verb

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L29158 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /wɪnt͡ʃ/

name

Etymology: Various origins: * A topographic surname for someone who lived at a place where boats were hauled up onto the land by means of pulleys, from Old English winċe (“winch”). * From the second part of Old English hlēapewince (“lapwing”), probably a nickname.

  1. A surname from Old English.

noun

Etymology: 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.

  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 hoisting or hauling on a rope or cable.
  2. A hoisting device used for loading or unloading cargo, or for pulling in lines.

    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.

    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

  5. A witch.

verb

Etymology: Variant form of wench.

  1. to court

    They “clicked” each other, kidded each other, and by and by they would “winch” and marry each other.

    It was common knowledge that he'd winched dozens of girls while she had been sharing a bedroom with her two brothers.

  2. to kiss, snog

    She turned and looked at me, amused, gave a wee chuckle, kissed me on the mouth hard and quick, and again, and we were kissing for real, lingering, soft and moist and warm, me and Jeannie winching, and I wanted it not to stop.

    Up at the cinema Campbell Cameron had been all slithering hands, like a dirty octopus. Even his tenderest winching had felt entitled and demanding.