1.Nautical An apparatus used for hoisting weights, consisting of a vertical spool-shaped cylinder that is rotated manually or by machine and around which a cable is wound. 2. A small cylindrical shaft used to drive magnetic tape at a constant speed in a tape recorder.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English, from Norman French, from Old Provençal cabestan, from cabestre, noose, from Latin capistrum, halter, probably from capere, to seize. See kap- in Appendix I.
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