# Winchester

/ˈwɪnˌtʃɛstɝ/ (US)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/winchester
Updated: 2026-08-08

## Senses

### 1. a city

noun · CEFR B2

a historic city in the south of England, famous for its cathedral.

For teachers: the county town of Hampshire, England, and former capital of the Kingdom of Wessex.

- We spent the weekend visiting the ancient cathedral in Winchester.
- Winchester served as the capital of England during the Anglo-Saxon period, making it a site of immense archaeological and historical significance.

### 3. a hard disk

noun · CEFR C2 · Archaic · Technical

an old name for a computer's hard drive.

For teachers: an early type of hard disk drive technology developed by IBM.

- The old computer used a Winchester drive to store its data.
- Early mainframe operators often referred to the storage units as Winchester drives, a nickname derived from the IBM 3030 project code name.

### 4. a large bottle

noun · CEFR C2 · British English · Technical

a large glass bottle used to hold chemicals or liquids.

For teachers: a bottle with a capacity of a Winchester quart, approximately 2.25 litres, typically used in laboratories.

- The technician carefully poured the acid from the Winchester into a smaller jar.
- The laboratory storeroom was lined with amber Winchester bottles containing various industrial solvents and reagents.

## Examples

- I wrote my essay in Winchester.
- She opened the document in Winchester to check the formatting before sending it to her boss.
- Although many users simply call it 'Word', the software's internal filename extension remains tied to its original Winchester branding.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.