capstan
2
9.9
- noun
- /ˈkæpstən/
- Specialized
:
cabrestante
- Using the capstan, they managed to lift the heavy ropes with ease during the docking process.
Examples
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Man the capstan!
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As the ship approached the harbor, the sailors worked tirelessly at the capstan to secure the sails.
-
-Man the capstan!
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Man the capstan.
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Soldiers and sailors crowded to the hatch, and never was a capstan turned with such alacrity.
Fiction book (1991) -
First, the men had tried to pull her off by hooking the cables to the capstan, but even with sixty men on the bar, the ship refused to budge.
Fiction book (1990) -
He hauled on windlass ropes, he manned the capstan bars, and helped muscle the great tiller for the helmsman.
Fiction book (1990) -
The crew gathered around the capstan to help raise the heavy anchor from the sea.
How Secure
Surface Forms
Etymology
Capstan comes from an old French word cabestan that named the upright 'post' sailors turned to wind a rope. That's why a capstan today is the revolving drum on a ship used to pull heavy things like an anchor.