pulley
pronunciation
How to pronounce pulley in British English:
UK [ˈpʊli]
How to pronounce pulley in American English:
US [ˈpʊli]
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- Noun:
- a simple machine consisting of a wheel with a groove in which a rope can run to change the direction or point of application of a force applied to the rope
Word Origin
- pulley
- pulley: [14] Although pulleys are used for ‘pulling’, there is no etymological connection between the two words. Pulley comes via Old French polie from Vulgar Latin *polidia, which was probably borrowed from the plural of a medieval Greek *polidion, a diminutive form of Greek pólos ‘pole, pivot’ (source of English pole ‘extremity’).=> pole
- pulley (n.)
- late 13c., from Old French polie, pulie "pulley, windlass" (12c.) and directly from Medieval Latin poliva, puliva, probably from Medieval Greek *polidia, plural of *polidion "little pivot," diminutive of Greek polos "pivot, axis" (see pole (n.2)). As a verb from 1590s.
Example
- 1. During normal operation , a disc brake stops the main pulley mechanism .
- 2. " This is something that we have needed to do as state support has been drying up , " says prof pulley .
- 3. Attach a rope to the high pulley of a cable station and grab an end with each hand .
- 4. A 310-kilowatt motor at the top of the elevator shaft raises and lowers the car by turning the pulley .
- 5. Why it 's innovative : instead of separating in the middle like a drawbridge , the pont gustave-flaubert 's deck is lifted straight up by a butterfly-shaped pulley system so tall ships can pass through .