pawl
/pɔːl/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Canada/pɑl/
pawl noun: a pivoted catch designed to fall into a notch on a ratchet wheel so as to allow movement in only one direction (e.g. on a windlass or in a clock mechanism), or alternatively to move the wheel in one direction. Also the alternative form of paul.
Noun
pawl (plural pawls)
- A pivoted catch designed to fall into a notch on a ratchet wheel so as to allow movement in only one direction (e.g. on a windlass or in a clock mechanism), or alternatively to move the wheel in one direction.
- A pawl is a sort of catch that fits into a ratchet wheel and pushes it around, or it may be used as a catch to prevent the backward motion of a windlass or the wheel on a derrick.1910, Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and his Motorcycle
- The nails in the rim of the wheel went ratcheting over the leather pawl and the wheel slowed and came to a stop and the woman turned to the crowd and smiled.1994, Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing
- A similar device to prevent motion in other mechanisms besides ratchets.
Verb
pawl (third-person singular simple present pawls, present participle pawling, simple past and past participle pawled)
- To stop with a pawl.
Also used as
pawl is also the alternative form of paul.
Forms of pawl
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | pawls |
| alternative form | pall |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | pawls |
| present participle | pawling |
| past participle | pawled |
| past | pawled |
Origin of pawl
17th c., perhaps from Low German or Dutch pal (“catch (mechanism)”), or from either French pal (“stake”) or épaule (“shoulder”).
Words formed from pawl
- pawl the capstan
- pawl bitt
- pawl rim
Words that rhyme with pawl
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- pall
- paul
- recall
- tall
- Donegal
- saul
- forestall
- Saint Paul
- all
- appall
- hauler
- maul
- overcall
- overhaul
- scrawl
- withcall
- befall
- brawl
- drawl
- install
- set out one's stall
- sing small
- bawl
- orle
- spall
- sprawl
- squall
- trawl
- withal
- y'all
- acrawl
- awl
- infall
- moneyball
- overall
- saule
- Senegal
- shawl
- spawl
- tell all
- yawl
- appal
- asprawl
- at all
- aul
- becrawl
- bescrawl
- besmall
Questions about pawl
- What does pawl mean?
- Pawl means a pivoted catch designed to fall into a notch on a ratchet wheel so as to allow movement in only one direction (e.g. on a windlass or in a clock mechanism), or alternatively to move the wheel in one direction.
- What part of speech is pawl?
- Pawl can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce pawl?
- Pawl is pronounced /pɔːl/.
- What is the plural of pawl?
- The plural of pawl is pawls.
Words near pawl in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pawl (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sapaa-pawl.wav.
Cite this entry: “pawl.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pawl. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.