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# winch

«winch» in Mova's school dictionary: **A machine with a rope or a chain wound round a turning…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a winch, winches); verb (winch, winches, winched, winching)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A machine with a rope or a chain wound round a turning drum, used to lift or pull heavy things. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/winch/#m1)

2) (verb) To lift or pull something with a winch. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/winch/#m2)

3) (verb, Scotland, informal) To go out with someone as a boyfriend or girlfriend; a different, Scots sense. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/winch/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science and design-technology lessons, a winch is a simple machine using a wheel and axle: turning a big handle makes it easier to lift a heavy load. In the news, rescue helicopters winch people to safety, and tow trucks winch cars out of ditches. Wells once used a winch to raise buckets of water. Phrases: "winch up", "winch to safety", "winch out".

### examples

- The helicopter winched the climber to safety. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/winch/#x1)
- We built a winch from a cotton reel and a pencil. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/winch/#x2)
- The tow truck used its winch to pull the car out of the mud. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/winch/#x3)
- The sailors winched up the anchor. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/winch/#x4)
- An old winch lifted the bucket out of the well. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/winch/#x5)
- The bigger the handle on a winch, the easier it is to turn. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/winch/#x6)

### note

Countable: a winch, plural winches. Regular verb: winched. Do not confuse with "wench" (an old word for a young woman, now rude or old-fashioned) or "flinch". A winch is a type of wheel-and-axle simple machine.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «winch» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/winch/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.