stowce
stowce noun: a windlass, a device for drawing ore up from a mine, also formerly used (when made entirely of wood) to indicate possession of mining land.
Noun
stowce (plural stowces)
- A windlass, a device for drawing ore up from a mine, also formerly used (when made entirely of wood) to indicate possession of mining land.
- When a person discovers a vein, and has no means to possess it for want of stowces, he marks the ground with crosses and holes, by which means he possesses it until he can procure stowces.1848, Journal of the Franklin Institute, page 301
- Legal possession of a mine was kept only by erecting stows or stowces, which must be "set in all men's sight." The stow is a machine for drawing up the ore in tubs from the mine. It is constructed of seven pieces of timber fastened together by wooden pins. If nails or any metal is used in[…]1910, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, page 175
Forms of stowce
| plural | stowces |
|---|
Origin of stowce
The OED, mentioning the variant forms stose, stoce, stowse, and stow, says it is "of obscure origin; possibly a contraction of stothes pl. of stothe" i.e. stooth; however, compare stow.
Questions about stowce
- What does stowce mean?
- Stowce means a windlass, a device for drawing ore up from a mine, also formerly used (when made entirely of wood) to indicate possession of mining land.
- What part of speech is stowce?
- Stowce is a noun.
- What is the plural of stowce?
- The plural of stowce is stowces.
Words near stowce in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: stowce (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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