pawl
- noun
- /pɔl/
- Specialized
:
traba
- The engineer explained how a pawl works in the ratchet system to ensure the machine operates smoothly.
- pawl drag
- pawl system
Examples
-
The Democrats are the pawl.
Blog text (22) -
You find him a room with a soft bed, and you bring him up a pony to lick his pawl.
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Yet while the Swabian knight had an iron, fiat-spring finger joint connected to a large ratchet-and-pawl, Claude's cog system reduced the scale and added a suction cup to increase flexibility.
Fiction book (1992) -
There's this reason, there's that reason—reason why you should help me now—she would tell me that I should be glad we were sitting in this room together after all these years, talking as the wind ticked against the pawl of the world.
Fiction book (1990) -
motion, 13 words: crawl, scrawl, sprawl, trawl, squall, haul, spall, maul, brawl, pawl, fall, yawl, ball
Academic text (2006) -
The bike's rear wheel uses a pawl mechanism to prevent it from rolling backward on steep hills.
-
When the ratchet turns, each pawl clicks into place, allowing movement in one direction only.
Synonyms
16
8.2
A small catch in a ratchet that keeps a wheel from moving back
14
9.9
A small metal part that fits into a wheel to let it move one way
1
9.9
A small piece that holds a part in a notch and makes a click
How Secure
Surface Forms
Etymology
Pawl comes from an old German and Dutch word pal meaning 'stake' or 'peg'. Think of a small peg that fits into a wheel and stops it going backward, and you have a clear image of what a pawl does today.