Word.ws English Dictionary

handspike

handspike noun: a bar or lever, generally of wood, used in a windlass or capstan, for heaving anchor, and, in modified forms, for various purposes.

handspike: a bar or lever, generally of wood, used in a windlass or capstan, for heaving anchor, and, in...
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Noun

handspike (plural handspikes)

  1. A bar or lever, generally of wood, used in a windlass or capstan, for heaving anchor, and, in modified forms, for various purposes.
    • I would not take a rood of land from Frederic to be appointed to a man-of-war to-morrow morning, for I looked on it as his (God grant it may be long ere he touch it!) ever since I was the height of a handspike.1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 292
    • “Man the capstan! Blood and thunder!—jump!”—was the next command, and the crew sprang for the handspikes.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 22”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

handspike meaning in Urdu and Tagalog

handspike in Urdu

آڑا

handspike in Tagalog

a bar or lever used in a windlass
landok

Forms of handspike

pluralhandspikes
alternative formhand-spike

Origin of handspike

From hand + spike.

Questions about handspike

What does handspike mean?
Handspike means a bar or lever, generally of wood, used in a windlass or capstan, for heaving anchor, and, in modified forms, for various purposes.
What is handspike in Urdu?
Handspike in Urdu is آڑا. See Handspike meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is handspike?
Handspike is a noun.
What is the plural of handspike?
The plural of handspike is handspikes.

Words near handspike in the dictionary

  1. handsomest
  2. handsoming
  3. handsomish
  4. handspan
  5. handspans
  6. handspike
  7. handspikes
  8. handspinner
  9. handspoke
  10. handspokes
  11. handspring

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: handspike (page history and authors); handspike (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “handspike.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/handspike. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.