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pawl

pawl is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 2 senses. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.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. [Written also paul, or pall.] Pawl bitt (Naut.), a heavy timber, set abaft the windlass, to receive the strain of the pawls. -- Pawl rim or ring (Naut.), a stationary metallic ring surrounding the base of a capstan, having notches for the pawls to catch in.
  2. 2.To stop with a pawl; to drop the pawls off. To pawl the capstan. See under Capstan.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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