Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

winding hole

/ˈwɪndɪŋˌhəʊl/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.66 in modern English

Syllables
wind-ing -hole
IPA
/ˈwɪndɪŋˌhəʊl/
19
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A widened area of a canal, used for turning a boat.

Etymology

A British canal is very often too narrow for a full-length boat to turn around. To allow changes of direction, recesses are dug into one of the banks every few miles. They are used by nosing the boat into the recess, and then pulling the stern around until the bow can be pulled out with the boat facing the opposite direction. For a motorised boat, the stern is moved around by using engine power with the rudder hard over; however, for horse-drawn boats (the vast majority of boats for the first 160 years), the crew would pole the stern around. In this case, it is irrelevant whether or not the wind then strikes the boat on the opposite side. However, the poling is analogous to what would often be required to allow a sailing boat setting off from a mooring to catch the wind on the most advantageous side for a safe departure. Although there are other theories, this is probably the reason the recesses are called winding holes.

Inflected Forms

winding holes (plural)

Questions

How do you pronounce winding hole?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈwɪndɪŋˌhəʊl/.
What does winding hole mean?
A widened area of a canal, used for turning a boat.
Where does winding hole come from?
A British canal is very often too narrow for a full-length boat to turn around. To allow changes of direction, recesses are dug into one of the banks every few miles. They are used by nosing the boat into the recess, and then pulling the stern around until the bow can be pulled out with the boat facing the opposite direction. For a motorised boat, the stern is moved around by using engine power with the rudder hard over; however, for horse-drawn boats (the vast majority of boats for the first 160 years), the crew would pole the stern around. In this case, it is irrelevant whether or not the wind then strikes the boat on the opposite side. However, the poling is analogous to what would often be required to allow a sailing boat setting off from a mooring to catch the wind on the most advantageous side for a safe departure. Although there are other theories, this is probably the reason the recesses are called winding holes.

How to pronounce winding hole

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “winding hole”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈwɪndɪŋˌhəʊl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “winding hole”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “winding hole” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.