Winchester1
/ˈwinCHistər
/A historic city in northwestern Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley; population 25,897 (est. 2008).
winchester2
/ˈwɪntʃɪstə
/noun British
A large cylindrical bottle for holding liquids.Today, solvents and corrosive compounds such as hydrochloric acid are commonly supplied in Winchesters.
Origin
Early 18th century: originally applied to containers holding a bushel, gallon, or quart, according to an obsolete system of measurement with standards kept at Winchester (see Winchester2).
Winchester3
/ˈwɪntʃɪstə/A city in southern England, the county town of Hampshire; population 43,800 (est. 2009). Known to the Romans as Venta Belgarum, it became capital of the West Saxon kingdom of Wessex in 519. It is the site of Winchester College, one of the oldest public schools in England, founded by the bishop of Winchester, William of Wykeham, in 1382.
Winchester4
/ˈwɪntʃɪstə/noun
1 (also Winchester rifle) trademark A breech-loading side-action repeating rifle.At Plevna the Russians' use of howitzers firing over the heads of their assault troops negated the Turks superior infantry firepower - provided by Winchester rifles - by forcing the defenders to take cover against the bursting shells....
- The new Winchesters feature inertial triggers and a conventional tang safety that also doubles as a barrel selector.
- The 1885, as with most Winchesters of the time, was offered with many options including barrel length, round, octagon barrels or a combination thereof, set triggers, fancy wood and special sights.
2 (in full Winchester disk or drive) Computing A disk drive in a sealed unit containing a high-capacity hard disk and the read-write heads.Many people don't realize that the founding fathers of the Winchester disk drive at IBM Corporation originally mandated that the computer's primary storage device, the magnetic hard disk drive, was to be removable....
- When hard drives started appearing in personal computers, computer guys would ask, ‘Does it have a Winchester drive?’
- But the fiercely competitive makers of Winchester drives have fought off foreign competition.
Origin
From the name of name of Oliver F. Winchester (1810–80), the American manufacturer of the rifle. Winchester3 (sense 2) is so named because its original numerical designation corresponded to the calibre of the rifle.