pawl

See also: Pawl

English

A ratchet featuring a pawl (2) and ratchet wheel or gear (1) mounted on a base (3)

17th c., perhaps from Low German or Dutch pal (“catch (mechanism)”)[1], or from either French pal (“stake”) or épaule (“shoulder”).[2]

pawl (plural pawls)

A pivoted catch designed to fall into a notch on a ratchet wheel so as to allow movement in only one direction (e.g. on a windlass or in a clock mechanism), or alternatively to move the wheel in one direction.
- 1910, Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and his Motorcycle:
  A pawl is a sort of catch that fits into a ratchet wheel and pushes it around, or it may be used as a catch to prevent the backward motion of a windlass or the wheel on a derrick.
- 1994, Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing:
  The nails in the rim of the wheel went ratcheting over the leather pawl and the wheel slowed and came to a stop and the woman turned to the crowd and smiled.
A similar device to prevent motion in other mechanisms besides ratchets.

pawl

pawl (third-person singular simple present pawls, present participle pawling, simple past and past participle pawled)