# winch
## English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /wɪnt͡ʃ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪntʃ

### Etymology 1

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.

#### Noun

winch (plural winches)
* 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.
* (nautical) A hoisting device used for loading or unloading cargo, or for pulling in lines.
** 2013, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 27, in The Childhood of Jesus, Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company, page 267: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.
* A wince (machine used in dyeing or steeping cloth).
* A kick, as of an animal, from impatience or uneasiness.
** 1612–1620, [Miguel de Cervantes], translated by Thomas Shelton, The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha. […], London: […] William Stansby, for Ed[ward] Blount and W. Barret, →OCLC: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
* (Nigeria, slang) A witch.

##### Derived terms

* rope winch
* winch handle

##### Descendants

* Tok Pisin: winis
* → Arabic: وِنْش (winš)
* → Japanese: ウインチ (uinchi)
* → Korean: 원치 (wonchi)
* → Norwegian Bokmål: vinsj
* → Norwegian Nynorsk: vinsj
* → Serbo-Croatian: vȉnč
* → Swahili: winchi
* → Swedish: vinsch
* → Ottoman Turkish: وینچ (vinç)
** Turkish: vinç

##### Translations
#### Verb

winch (third-person singular simple present winches, present participle winching, simple past and past participle winched)
* To use a winch
    Winch in those sails, lad!

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

See wince.

#### Verb

winch (third-person singular simple present winches, present participle winching, simple past and past participle winched)
* To wince; to shrink
** 1812, Joanna Baillie, The Dream, part Act 1:It is not the first time a cat-o'-nine-tails has been across my back for other men's misdeeds. Promise me a good flask of brandy when I'm done with it, and I warrant ye I'll never winch.
* To kick with impatience or uneasiness.

### Etymology 3

Variant form of wench.

#### Verb

winch (third-person singular simple present winches, present participle winching, simple past and past participle winched)
* (Scotland, colloquial, ambitransitive) to court
** 1935, Lennox Kerr, Woman of Glenshiels:They “clicked” each other, kidded each other, and by and by they would “winch” and marry each other.
** 2020, Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain, page 59:It was common knowledge that he'd winched dozens of girls while she had been sharing a bedroom with her two brothers.
* (Scotland, colloquial, ambitransitive) to snog
** 1998, Alan Spence, Way to go, page 61: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.
** 2020, Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain, page 58:Up at the cinema Campbell Cameron had been all slithering hands, like a dirty octopus. Even his tenderest winching had felt entitled and demanding.

## French
### Noun

winch m (plural winchs)
* (nautical) winch

### Further reading

* “winch”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.