How to use winch in a sentence

22 example sentences · noun, verb

Winch means 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. Example: “Winch in those sails, lad!”

Examples of winch by meaning

nounA hoisting device used for loading or unloading cargo, or for pulling in lines.

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.2013, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 27, in The Childhood of Jesus, Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company, page 267

verbTo use a winch.

Winch in those sails, lad!

verbTo court.

They “clicked” each other, kidded each other, and by and by they would “winch” and marry each other.1935, Lennox Kerr, Woman of Glenshiels
It was common knowledge that he'd winched dozens of girls while she had been sharing a bedroom with her two brothers.2020, Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain, page 59

verbTo kiss, snog.

Even his tenderest winching had felt entitled and demanding.2020, Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain, page 58

More sentences with winch

“Run the spin halyard to the cabin-top winch and pass me the free end!”2021 22 April, “jdale” (username), Course for Catastrophe, chapter 4. From the entry spin
A simple but powerful grav unit with a winch and a hook.2013, Mike Ginns, Jared's Song: Elrek's Rise, Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, page 394. From the entry skyhook
The Margaret Ann's engineer will take his station at his own winch to haul up his brailer.2013, Tex Geddes, Hebridean Sharker, →ISBN. From the entry brailer
She's dressed exactly like Faith, her hair winched into the same yellow braids.2002, Monica Wood, Secret Language. From the entry afterbite
To effectively double the pulling power of a winch, you can use a snatch block.1990 December, Joe Skorupa, “Wilderness Winching”, in Popular Mechanics, volume 167, number 12, page 84. From the entry snatch block
This method has been used for long ocean tows by tugs with a single-drum winch.1989, John S. Blank, Modern Towing, page 302. From the entry underrunner
Back then, we winched our own car wrecks out of ravines and chased away mountain lions with kitchen brooms.1991 12, “Ski”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 256. From the entry gun
The acceptance of lockoff has opened up new deck layout possibilities where winch placement and use can be made more flexible.1979, Anne Madden, More Sail Trim, page 236. From the entry lockoff
An internal cargo handling winch and “pogo stick” are provided for handling cargo inside the main cargo area.1959, Aviation Storekeeper 3 & 2, United States. Bureau of Naval Personnel, page 394. From the entry pogo stick
Forward of the mizzenmast was an iron box in which the mainsheets worked, and to port and starboard were the leeboard winches, hand-worked.2014, Tristan Jones, A Steady Trade: A Boyhood at Sea, Open Road Media, →ISBN. From the entry leeboard
A ground crew person stretches the towrope down the runway, with the winch at one end and the sailplane at the other.2009, David Alexander, Why Don't Jumbo Jets Flap Their Wings?, →ISBN, page 127. From the entry towrope
Pay raised and sitting out the winter in the boomhouse running the winch, moving the containers around, telling the men what to do on deck.2000, Richard Schmitt, The Aerialist: A Novel, page 158. From the entry boomhouse
In fact , it can be shown that a winch , which really does provide constant tension will not damp pendulation .1979, 1979, “Load Pendulation Stabilizer”, in Navy Technical Disclosure Bulletin, volume 4, page 70. From the entry pendulation
The big coiled throat and peak halyards were made ready to run, and the mainsheet was put to the winch ready for crotching the boom.1969, Yachting - Volume 125, page 319. From the entry crotch
The next step was the invention of the self-tailing device, whereby the need for a tailer, holding the sheet or halyard while another person operated the winch, was eliminated.2000, Dave Cox, The Sailing Handbook. From the entry tailer
However, because the winch drivers' competence is more visible than the holdmen's, winch drivers are more vulnerable to supervision even though options for handling incompetence are limited contractually.1997, David Wellman, The Union Makes Us Strong, page 154. From the entry holdman
In a whisper, I suggested to Ian that we reattach the winch cable to a tree in the clearing, but of course his reply was, “Naaahh, she’ll be right, mate.”2010, Robin Easton, Naked in Eden: My Adventure and Awakening in the Australian Rainforest, page 77. From the entry she'll be right

Meaning of winch

noun 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.
noun A hoisting device used for loading or unloading cargo, or for pulling in lines.
noun A wince (machine used in dyeing or steeping cloth).

Full definition of winch

Questions about winch in a sentence

How do you use winch in a sentence?: Winch is used as a noun and verb. For example: “Winch in those sails, lad!”
What is a short sentence with winch?: “Winch in those sails, lad!”
What does winch mean?: Winch means 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.

Adapted from Wiktionary: winch (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use winch in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/winch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.