capstan

«capstan» in Mova's school dictionary: A large, upright, turning drum on a ship or dock, turned… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (a capstan, capstans)

meaning for a pupil

1) A large, upright, turning drum on a ship or dock, turned by sailors pushing bars, used to wind in heavy ropes or the anchor chain. tree →

2) A similar turning part on a machine, such as an old tape recorder. tree →

sense in the lessons

A sailing word met in sea stories, pirate tales and history lessons on ships. Sailors walked round and round pushing the capstan bars, often singing sea shanties to keep time. In The Wind in the Willows the Sea Rat tells of ships and harbours.

examples

• The sailors pushed the capstan to raise the anchor. tree →
• They sang a shanty as they walked round the capstan. tree →
• The heavy rope was wound around the capstan. tree →
• A capstan uses a lever to make pulling easier. tree →
• The old ship had a wooden capstan on deck. tree →
• We saw a capstan at the harbour museum. tree →

note

Science link: the capstan bars act as levers, so a small push far from the middle gives a big pull on the rope. A windlass is a similar winding machine that turns on its side (horizontally).

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «capstan» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.