Mining. Also 8 winds. [The earliest recorded spelling suggests derivation from WIND sb.2] A shaft or an inclined passage sunk from one level to another, but not rising to the surface.
1757. Borlase, in Phil. Trans., L. 503. The stage-boards of the little winds or shafts 20 fathoms deep were perceived to move.
1778. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 164. The under-ground Shaft or Winds, is worked by hand, with a windlass only.
1839. Penny Cycl., XV. 244/2. The common windlass … is much used … in sinking winzes.
1871. Daily News, 22 Sept., 7/1. The footway winze leading from the 70 to the 80 [fathom] has been completed.
1889. C. G. W. Lock, Gold-Mining, 283. A winze or an incline, the winze being preferable, is made through the bed-rock to the gravel.
