polyspast

polyspast

English

Etymology

From Latin polyspaston (“hoisting-tackle with many pulleys”), from Ancient Greek πολύσπαστον (polúspaston, “compound pulley”)

Noun

polyspast (plural polyspasts)

1. A machine consisting of many pulleys
   • 1849, Adalbert, Travels of His Royal Highness Prince Adalbert of Prussia, page 275,

     The Bishop of Chrysopolis, his Majesty's former tutor, consecrated the foundation-stone, which was suspended from two elegant polyspasts; the Emperor himself laid it.

2. (surgical) A machine of many pulleys, formerly used to reduce dislocation
3. (mechanics) A windlass with many pulleys and truckles

Translations

machine consisting of many pulleys

Finnish: väkipyörästö (fi) French: polyspaste (fr) m, moufle (fr) f German: Flaschenzug (de) m, Zugwerk n Italian: polispasto m

Russian: полиспаст (ru) (polispast) Spanish: polispasto m Ukrainian: поліспаст (polispast)

References

• polyspast in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Bailey, Nathan (1737) The Universal Etymological English Dictionary

Anagrams

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