(n.) A vertical cleated drum or cylinder, revolving on an upright spindle, and surmounted by a drumhead with sockets for bars or levers. It is much used, especially on shipboard, for moving or raising heavy weights or exerting great power by traction upon a rope or cable, passing around the drum. It is operated either by steam power or by a number of men walking around the capstan, each pushing on the end of a lever fixed in its socket.
Example Sentences:
(1) Rotation of a permanent pacemaker can result in a capstan effect, and the lead is drawn out of the right ventricle.
(2) The same holds for pulley- and capstan-form toric surfaces.
Pawl
Definition:
(n.) A pivoted tongue, or sliding bolt, on one part of a machine, adapted to fall into notches, or interdental spaces, on another part, as a ratchet wheel, in such a manner as to permit motion in one direction and prevent it in the reverse, as in a windlass; a catch, click, or detent. See Illust. of Ratchet Wheel.
(v. t.) To stop with a pawl; to drop the pawls off.
Example Sentences:
(1) The transcripts include a conversation between Pawl Gras, the Polish prime minister's spokesperson, and Jacek Krawiec, the director of Poland's largest oil company, Polish Orlen.
(2) CNN correspondent Lucy Pawle described my flag as a “very bad mimicry” but the only bad mimicry I could see was CNN’s impression of a reputable news organization.
(3) The initial premise for this model is the thermal motor described by Feynman which consists of a ratchet and an interdigitating, spring-loaded pawl.