Definition of "winze" [winze]

• An inclined or vertical shaft or passage between levels in a mine. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "At other times the men lose hold of the ladders -- ` fall away 'from them, as they express it -- or stumble into a winze, which is a small shaft connecting level with level, in which latter case death is almost certain to ensue, many of the winzes being sixty feet deep."
• "At length the gallery came to an end, though from it a small "winze," or passage, barely wide enough to crawl through, led upward at a sharp angle."
• "A water filled winze with log cribbing stands across from the adit within the stope."