vice

1) A general word for a contrivance which consisted of two ‘jaws’ that could be opened and closed by means of a screw.

Vices were essential to many craftsmen, especially smiths, allowing them to hold and exert pressure on a piece of iron on which they were working. They are found in many inventories, sometimes in good numbers: 1584 in my shopp … one vice, all my naile tooles and all my hammers, tonges, bellowes, Knaresborough.

places Knaresborough
dates 1584

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2) A winding or spiral staircase, especially in a church.

1532 ad hostium les vice doore nov? ecclesi?, York.

places York
dates 1532

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Photo by Kreuzschnabel CC BY-SA 3.0