windless

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of windlass.Examples: "The next work is racking or tentering the cloth […] and this is performed by setting it in a frame, which we call tenters, such as are to be seen in many fields about London, wherein (it having a windless at one end) it is first strained to its length, then afterwards to its breadth and parallelism […]"; "1724, Daniel Defoe (attributed), A General History of the Pirates, London: T. Warner, 2nd edition, Chapter, pp. 114-115, […] the Boatswain immediately called to his Consorts, laid hold of the Captain, and made him fast to the Windless, and there pelted him with Glass Bottles, which cut him in a sad Manner […]"alt-ofalternativeobsolete