Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Capstan |
CapstanNoun1. A windlass rotated in a horizontal plane. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "capstan" was first used: sometime around 1380. (references) |
Etymology: Capstan \Cap"stan\, noun. [French expression cabestan, from Spanish cabestrante, cabrestante, from cabestrar to bind with halter, from cabestrohalter, from the Latin expression capistrum halter, from capere to hold (see Capacious); or perhaps the Spanish is from Latin caper goat stans, present participle of stare to stand; compare to French ch[`e]vre she-goat, also machine for raising heavy weights.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Mechanical Engineering | Similar to a which, but the drum is vertical. Source: European Union. (references) |
Building & Civil Engineering | A machine used on board ship when mechanical power is required for raising anchor, hoisting yards, lifting heavy weights, or any other similar work. Source: European Union. (references) |
Computing | A smal cylindrical pulley used to regulate the speed of magnetic tape in a tape drive. Source: European Union. (references) |
Electrical Engineering | A spindle or a shaft, often a motor shaft itself, which drives the magnetic tape during the recording or reproducing action. Source: European Union. (references) |
Food & Agriculture | A machine having a vertically mounted warping end on which a rope may be wound under power, but not stored. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mechanical Engineering | Device for hauling cables or wires at a controlled speed. The capstan may consist of one or two wheels around which several turns of the cable are passed, or of a wheel and an endless belt. Source: European Union. (references) |
| A tool-carrying block which can be swivelled so as to bring several tools successively into working position. It can replace the simple tool post. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Capstans are also found in the mechanisms of tape recorders, where they have a similar function - they apply force to the tape causing it to be drawn off the spool, past the heads, and onto the take-up spool. Such capstans are precision-machined spindles, with a very accurate surface profile - any out-of-roundness or imperfections cause an audible effect called "flutter". The tape is held against the capstan by a rubber wheel called the pinch roller.
The capstan is analogous to a rack and pinion arrangement found in gear systems.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Capstan."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Elevation | Lever; crane, derrick, windlass, capstan, winch; dredge, dredger, dredging machine. |
Instrument | Mechanical powers; lever, leverage; mechanical advantage; crow, crowbar; handspike, gavelock, jemmy, jimmy, arm, limb, wing; oar, paddle; pulley; wheel and axle; wheelwork, clockwork; wheels within wheels; pinion, crank, winch; cam; pedal; capstan; (lift); wheel; (rotation); inclined plane; wedge; screw; spring, mainspring; can hook, glut, heald, heddle, jenny, parbuckle, sprag, water wheel. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Capstan |
| English words defined with "capstan": Capstan bar ♦ Jeer capstan ♦ Moulinet ♦ Pawl rim ♦ Soft-shelled crabs, Swifter ♦ To bring to, To come up the capstan, To rig a purchase, To rig the capstan, To surge the capstan, Trundlehead ♦ Unship ♦ wild cat. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "capstan": anchor capstan ♦ cable-machine operator, cabling-machine operator, CALENDER FEEDER, capstan handwheel, capstan lathe, CAR COOPER, car whacker ♦ doubling-machine operator ♦ horse gear ♦ LAMINATING-MACHINE TENDER ♦ magnetic tape cassette, mooring capstan **2 ♦ screw pile, strander operator, STRAND-FORMING-MACHINE OPERATOR, STRANDING-MACHINE OPERATOR, strand-machine operator, STRIPING-MACHINE OPERATOR, SYNTHETIC-STAPLE EXTRUDER ♦ warping capstan, WEATHERSTRIP-MACHINE OPERATOR, windlace-machine operator. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "capstan": Succula. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | View looking forward from atop her port paddle box, showing the gun crews at their posts. Taken at Bangor, Maine, during or shortly after the Civil War. Note: large Parrott rifled gun on a slide-pivot mount forward; 32-Pounder smoothbore gun nearer the camera; African-American sailor in the 32-Pounder gun's crew; fire buckets, bearing the ship's name, hung around the capstan; shot rack on the hatch in lower right; sail rigged to the foremast by hoops; windsail ventilator rigged abaft the mast; boat davits and rigging for masts and the smokestack.Credit: NAVY. |  | Members of the ship's crew on the forecastle, circa 1864-65. Frank W. Hackett, a former officer of the ship, wrote in 1910: "The officer standing in the background, at the extreme prow of the ship, is W.N. Wells, Executive Officer. The man in the fore ground with his arm on the nine-inch gun is White, the gunner. Sergeant of Marines, Stanley, is sitting in the fore-ground, near the capstan". Men are playing checkers by the capstan. Anti-boarding nettings are rigged on each side of the ship but rolled up in way of the bow guns. There are a number of black sailors visible among the crew.Credit: NAVY. |
 | Ship's officers pose on her fore deck, during the Civil War. Photographed by the Matthew Brady organization. Note Philadelphia's deck, partially covered with canvas; her pilothouse with bell mounted on top; and brightly-polished capstan. The gun is a 12-pounder Dahlgren boat howitzer, mounted on a field carriage.Credit: NAVY. |  | "Cognac", the ship's dog, poses on the capstan, at Venice, Italy, in 1924-25.Credit: NAVY. |
 | "Wockle", the ship's cat, poses on the capstan, at Venice, Italy, in 1924-25.Credit: NAVY. |  | Soldiers and sailors singing hymns during religious services on board USS LST-4, while en route to the Invasion of Southern France, 13 August 1944. Photographed by Smith. Note capstan behind the men at left.Credit: NAVY. |
 | Ship's officers and crew on the foredeck, 1864-65. Photographed by Matthew Brady. Note 100-pounder Parrott rifled gun on a pivot carriage; men wearing white "flat" hats with the ship's name on the hat ribbon; foremast and yard; anti-boarding netting; and capstan.Credit: NAVY. | | Members of the ship's crew on the forecastle, circa 1864-65. Frank W. Hackett, a former officer of the ship, wrote in 1910: "The officer standing in the background, at the extreme prow of the ship, is W.N. Wells, Executive Officer. The man in the fore ground with his arm on the nine-inch gun is White, the gunner. Sergeant of Marines, Stanley, is sitting in the fore-ground, near the capstan". Men are playing checkers by the capstan. Anti-boarding nettings are rigged on each side of the ship but rolled up in way of the bow guns. There are a number of black sailors visible among the crew.Credit: NAVY. |
 | Fire fighting equipment and capstan on ferry, Port Aransas, Texas.Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| "Capstan" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Capstan" is used about 30 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 30 | 63,341 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "capstan": anchor capstan ♦ Capstan bar ♦ capstan handwheel ♦ capstan lathe ♦ Jeer capstan ♦ mooring capstan **2 ♦ To come up the capstan ♦ To pawl the capstan ♦ To rig the capstan ♦ To surge the capstan ♦ warping capstan. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
capstan | 31 |
capstan winch | 11 |
capstan marine | 4 |
brush capstan drum motor motor static | 4 |
capstan motor | 4 |
capstan suit | 4 |
capstan winches | 4 |
capstan g suit suit | 3 |
capstan hoist | 2 |
atlantic capstan | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "capstan"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | أداة رافعة, رحوية. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | шпил (needle, spire, steeple), кабестан. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | kotevní vratidlo. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | capstan (mooring capstan **2, warping capstan), traekanordning (car puller, draft gear, draw gear, towing gear, traction gear), spil (allowance, game, gear, machine, winch), revolverhoved (turret, turret head), kapstan, hjulfremtræk, fremtrækshjul, forhalingsspil, ankerspil (anchor capstan, anchor windlass, windlass). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | verhaalspil (mooring capstan **2, warping capstan), toonas, spil (aletree, axis, axis of revolution, axis of rotation, axle, inner shaft, overspill, pintle, pivot, spill, spill situation, spillage, spindle, swivel), revolverkop (turret, turret head), lier (capstan wheel, lira, loading winch, Lyra, lyre, sheet winch, winch), kaapstander voor het verhalen van rangeerdelen (car puller, towing gear), kaapstander (mooring capstan **2, warping capstan), kaapstaander, gangspil, aandrijfas (driveshaft). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | چرخ لنگردوار, چرخ طناب . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | vetorulla (capstan wheel), vetopyörä (driving wheel), vetoakseli (driveshaft), kiinnitysvintturi (mooring capstan **2, warping capstan). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | cabestan (capstan handwheel, capstan wheel, mooring capstan, mooring capstan2, warping capstan). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | spill (mooring capstan **2, warping capstan), Rollenantrieb. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | κινητήριος άξονας (driveshaft), έλικτρο εργάτη (mooring capstan **2, warping capstan), στροφέας φορέας εργαλείων (turret, turret head), μποτσεργάτησ (wind lass), μηχανισμός ρυμούλκησης (car puller, towing gear), εργάτης χειρισμού πρυμνησίων (mooring capstan **2, warping capstan), εργάτης άγκυρας (anchor windlass, mooring capstan **2, warping capstan, windlass), εργάτης (capstan handwheel, four-arm spider, labourer, pilot hand wheel, pilot wheel, spider, star wheel, worker, working-bee, workman), εργατοκύλινδροσ, τροχός ανύψωσης (capstan wheel). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | járgány (gin), gugora, forgófej csúszószánja, csörlő (crab, gin, recoiler, reel, winch, windlass). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | putaran (cycle, rotary, rotation, spin, twirl), alat pemutar. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | argano (gear, hoist, machine, mooring capstan **2, warping capstan, wince, winch, winder, winding engine, windlass). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 万力 (jack, vise). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ま"りき (jack, vise). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 캡스턴. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | toghrish. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | apstancay cabrestante (hoist, loading tripod, mooring capstan **2, spider, star handle, warping capstan, windlass). (various references) cabestan, vinci (crank, Jack, winch, windlass). (various references) шпиль (needle, spire, steeple), кабестан. (various references) tonska osa, motovilo (reel, winder, windlass). (various references) cabrestante (capstan wheel, gear, machine, mooring capstan **2, turret, warping capstan, winch). (various references) ankarspel (anchor gear, windlass). (various references) bocurgat (sling, whim, winch, windlass), ırgat (laborer, labourer, windlass). (various references) коловорот (angle-brace, brace, brog, hand-brace, hauler, pulley, vortex, whim, whirl, whirlpool, zodiac), кабестан, головка з отворами. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | capistrum. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "capstan": capstans. (additional references) | |
| |
"Capstan" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Cabestaing, Cabestanh, capastan, capitani, capsa, capsian, captan, capten, captin, carstian, Castagna, Castano, casten, caston, costan. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "capstan" (pronounced ka"pstun) |
| 4 | -s t u n | Boston, clandestine, intestine, piston, predestine, Sexton, teston, tungsten. |
| 3 | -t u n | actin, badminton, batten, beaten, begotten, biotin, bitten, boughten, Bouton, brighten, bulletin, Burton, button, Canton, captain, carton, certain, charlatan, chieftain, cosmopolitan, cotton, craton, curtain, Dalton, dentin, dishearten, eaten, enlighten, exoskeleton, fatten, flatten, forgotten, fountain, frighten, frostbitten, gelatin, gluten, gotten, guncotton, handwritten, hearten, heighten, highfalutin, intermountain, jetton, kindergarten, kitten, lighten, litten, lovastatin, Manhattan, marten, Martin, Melton, metropolitan, misbegotten, mitten, molten, mountain, mutton, nekton, Newton, overwritten, Parton, Patten, phytoplankton, plankton, plantain, platen, pleasing, ponton, prolactin, puritan, rewritten, rotten, Samaritan, satin, Seton, shorten, Singleton, skeleton, smitten, spartan, straighten, sultan, sweeten, tartan, threaten, tighten, Titan, Triton, typewritten, unbeaten, unbutton, uncertain, underwritten, unwritten, verboten, wanton, wheaten, whiten, written. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: captans, catnaps. | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-c-n-p-s-t" | |
-1 letter: captan, catnap, sancta. | |
-2 letters: antas, ataps, canst, cants, pacas, pacts, pants, pasta, scant, tapas. | |
-3 letters: acta, acts, anas, ansa, anta, ants, atap, cans, cant, caps, casa, cast, cats, naps, paca, pacs, pact, pans, pant, past, pats, scan, scat, snap, span, spat, tans, tapa, taps. | |
-4 letters: aas, act, ana, ant, apt, asp, can, cap, cat. | |
-5 letters: aa. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-c-n-p-s-t" | |
+1 letter: cantraps, capstans, captains. | |
+2 letters: anapestic, cantraips, caponatas, catnapers, pancettas, placentas. | |
+3 letters: analeptics, anapestics, anaplastic, applicants, cantaloups, catnappers, cocaptains, mercaptans, patricians, phantasmic, placations, placentals. | |
+4 letters: absorptance, acceptances, accompanist, antechapels, anticipants, anticipates, cantaloupes, capitations, captaincies, captainship, ceratopsian, coaptations, complaisant, emancipates, encapsulate, landscapist, noncapitals, nyctalopias, pancratiums, pancreatins, plainchants, playactings, postcranial, pyracanthas. | |
+5 letters: absorptances, acceptations, accompanists, anticipators, antipiracies, applications, capacitances, capitalising, captainships, captivations, ceratopsians, complainants, cryptanalyst, emancipators, encapsulated, encapsulates, happenstance, incapacities, landscapists, meatpackings, nonparasitic, pancreatitis, pantisocracy, paronomastic, participants, plastocyanin, postvaccinal, scapegoating, speciational, synaptically, transpacific, transparence, transparency. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)43 61 70 73 74 61 6E |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-.-. .- .--. ... - .- -. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000011 01100001 01110000 01110011 01110100 01100001 01101110 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)C a p s t a n |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0043 0061 0070 0073 0074 0061 006E |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)37678285866780 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Commercial 4. Images: Slideshow | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Translations: Ancient 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Orthography 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
