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The Pillars of the Earth vocabulary
2 nautical terms (boats, equipment, etc.)
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capstan
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tags: [nautical]
► definition
Definition:A vertical cleated drum or cylinder, revolving on an upright spindle, and surmounted by a drumhead with sockets for bars or levers. It is much used, especially on shipboard, for moving or raising heavy weights or exerting great power by traction upon a rope or cable, passing around the drum. It is operated either by steam power or by a number of men walking around the capstan, each pushing on the end of a lever fixed in its socket.Noah Webster. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
photo: en:User:Leonard G. [CC SA 1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/sa/1.0/ )]
► uses
Uses:
pumps going in leaky ships, capstans going, ships going out to sea, and unintelligible sea-creatures roaring curses over the bulwarks at respondent lightermen,
Charles Dickens. Great Expectations (1861)
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One detail, which we must not omit, is that he possessed a physical strength which was not approached by a single one of the denizens of the galleys. At work, at paying out a cable or winding up a capstan, Jean Valjean was worth four men.
Victor Hugo. Les Misérables
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