[f. WINCH sb.1]
1. trans. To hoist or draw up, etc., with or as with a winch.
1529. Dunmow Churchw. Acc., lf. 10 (MS.). To fett a gabull to wynche up the tymber.
1530. Palsgr., 408 b/2. I wynche or wynde vp with a wyndlasse or a crane…. You shall neuer get this stryng in to the nocke but you wynche it vp.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. I. 128. He … was winched vp in that chaire, and fastened vnto the maineyard of a galley.
1633. J. Fisher, Fuimus Troes, II. ii. I’le winch vp thy estate.
1909. Westminster & Pimlico News, 8 Jan., 7/5. All slack line must be winched in.
1913. J. Conrad, Within the Tides, etc. (1915), 219. It was she who winched up that infernal machine, and it was she too who lowered it that night.
2. Dyeing. = WINCE v.2
1831–3. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VIII. 514. The silk should be winched through a copper of water at the heat of 160°.
1855. Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Bleaching, etc. (1859), 565. I … keep the liquor to the boiling point for about one hour and twenty minutes, during which time the cloth should be winched as before.
1883. R. Haldane, Workshop Rec., II. 40/1. For ungumming, the piece is simply winched backwards and forwards.
Hence Winching vbl. sb.2 and ppl. a.2
1875. H. R. Robertson, Life Upper Thames, 19. The tightening of the bolts before tying them is called winching…: two stout pieces of wood are used which are called the levers, and are connected by a strong cord passed round the bolt.
1902. Daily Record & Mail, 6 Aug., 3. The winching-away men and sweepers and screwers.
