Illustration of winch
- winch 1
1
: any of various machines or instruments for hauling or pulling
especially
: a powerful machine with one or more drums on which to coil a rope, cable, or chain for hauling or hoisting : windlass
2
: a crank with a handle for giving motion to a machine (such as a grindstone)
winched; winching; winches
: to hoist or haul with or as if with a winch
wincher
noun
Examples of winch in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Katie Nixon, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025
There’s a sense of the uneasy coexistence of man and nature in scenes with massive nets being hauled in by a mechanized winch and a silver blur of fish by the hundreds funneled into storage while an orca bobs around looking to get a taste of the catch.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Lesley Evans Ogden, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 May 2025
Twenty-two people had been rescued by helicopter, including 18 winched from flooded homes and roads, and four rescued from a bridge, NSW Police said.
—Reuters, NBC news, 22 May 2025
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Noun
Police say Winn cut the trees down, pulled them to the Red River with a winch and floated them down the river at night to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency boat ramp in Adams.
—Katie Nixon, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025
There’s a sense of the uneasy coexistence of man and nature in scenes with massive nets being hauled in by a mechanized winch and a silver blur of fish by the hundreds funneled into storage while an orca bobs around looking to get a taste of the catch.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Verb
Lamb and Smit approach with their gear and check vitals, then begin measuring, sampling and hoisting the grizzly’s anesthetized body into the air in a sling winched to a tree.
—Lesley Evans Ogden, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 May 2025
Twenty-two people had been rescued by helicopter, including 18 winched from flooded homes and roads, and four rescued from a bridge, NSW Police said.
—Reuters, NBC news, 22 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for winch
Cite this Entry
“Winch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/winch. Accessed 29 Aug. 2025.
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