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Hamlet vocabulary
4 nautical terms (boats, equipment, etc.)
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windlass
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tags: [nautical]
► definition
Definition:1, A winding and circuitous way; a roundabout course; a shift.2. A machine for raising weights, consisting of a horizontal cylinder or roller moving on its axis, and turned by a crank, lever, or similar means, so as to wind up a rope or chain attached to the weight.3. An apparatus resembling a winch or windlass, for bending the bow of an arblast, or crossbow. [Obs.]Noah Webster. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
image: Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=402017
► uses
Uses:
also written windlace (obsolete)
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With grunts and heaves at the small windlass, he proceeded to haul in the anchor, the sweat pouring from him in rivers.
Cecil Scott Forester. The African Queen, p.10 (1935)
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Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth;
And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,
With windlasses and with assays of bias,
By indirections find directions out.
William Shakespeare. Hamlet
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and we had the balloon abundantly at command, either for ascent or descent, we first threw out fifty pounds of ballast, and then wound up (by means of a windlass) so much of the rope as brought it quite clear of the sea.
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