dar cuerda?

Question

I am reading the book El Refugio Secreto (a translation of the English The Hiding Place , with dictionary in hand, as I do not possess the English version!). The following sentence has me puzzled.

Ahora, teniendo a un niño en cada rodilla ya a otros diez reunidos a su alrededor, extajo de otro bolsillo su pesada llave para dar cuerda, la que tenía forma de cruz con cada uno des sus extremos adaptado para un tamaño diferente de reloj.

This is what I get:

Now, having a child on each knee and another ten gathered around him, he drew out of his other pocket his heavy key for giving cord''', which had the shape of a cross with each one of its ends adapted for a different size of watch.

Answer 1

Thanks, that makes more sense now. My dictionary translates "dar cuerda a" as "give free rein to", which did not fit the context at all. I think the book uses "reloj" interchangeably for clock and watch, so that was contributing to my confusion. (It had just mentioned the relojes he carried in his pockets, which presumably were not grandfather clocks.)

Answer 2

Natasha, cuerda here doesn't mean cord, but spring, as in a mechanical spring. Therefore, "llave para dar cuerda" here is a "clock key." Although there are some old watches that needed a key to wind, that meaning is highly unlikely here, so reloj almost certainly means clock, not watch. I have seen such keys, with four different tips to fit different clocks. (I love old things, and have two wind-up clocks, one of which was bought new in 1900 by my great-great-grandparents. It still keeps good time.)

Kudos to you for reading the book in Spanish!

Answer 3

Thank you!!!

Answer 4

"Dar cuerda" (when talking about a key) "to turn it." If you are talking about a watch or clock, it means "to wind."