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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

pulley.

One of the simple machines; a sheave, a wheel with a grooved rim, in which a pulled rope or chain lifts an object (more useful when two or more pulleys are used together, as in a block and tackle arrangement, such that a small force moving through a greater distance can exert a larger force through a smaller distance).

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈpʊli/Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈpɵlɪj/British, Southern, Standard/ˈpʉle/Northern-Ireland, Scotland/-lɪ/Northern-Ireland, Scotland

  1. One of the simple machines; a sheave, a wheel with a grooved rim, in which a pulled rope or chain lifts an object (more useful when two or more pulleys are used together, as in a block and tackle arrangement, such that a small force moving through a greater distance can exert a larger force through a smaller distance).

    countable

  2. Annular ligament of the finger.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English puly, poley, from Old French poulie, polie (“a pulley, windlass”), from Medieval Latin polidia, plural mistaken for the feminine of neuter polidium, from Ancient Greek πολίδιον (polídion, “little pivot”), diminutive of πόλος (pólos, “pivot, hinge, axis”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to turn”). Associated with pull (verb) by folk etymology.

verb/ˈpʊli/Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈpɵlɪj/British, Southern, Standard/ˈpʉle/Northern-Ireland, Scotland/-lɪ/Northern-Ireland, Scotland

  1. To raise or lift by means of a pulley.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English puly, poley, from Old French poulie, polie (“a pulley, windlass”), from Medieval Latin polidia, plural mistaken for the feminine of neuter polidium, from Ancient Greek πολίδιον (polídion, “little pivot”), diminutive of πόλος (pólos, “pivot, hinge, axis”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to turn”). Associated with pull (verb) by folk etymology.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.