Word.ws English Dictionary

windlace

windlace is the obsolete form of windlass.

Meaning of windlass

Noun

windlass (plural windlasses)

  1. Any of various forms of winch, in which a rope or cable is wound around a cylinder, used for lifting heavy weights
  2. A winding and circuitous way; a roundabout course.
    • With windlasses and with assays of bias, / By indirections find directions out.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  3. An apparatus resembling a winch or windlass, for bending the bow of an arblast, or crossbow.

See all 5 meanings of windlass

Forms of windlace

pluralwindlaces

Questions about windlace

What is windlace the obsolete form of?
Windlace is the obsolete form of windlass.

Words near windlace in the dictionary

  1. windjams
  2. windkanter
  3. windkanters
  4. Windkessel
  5. Windkessels
  6. windlace
  7. windlaces
  8. windlashed
  9. windlass
  10. windlassed
  11. windlasser

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: windlace (page history and authors); windlass (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: “windlace.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/windlace. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.