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Weight lifter to take girl's breath away (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

windlass

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'weight lifter' is the definition.
'windlass' can be an answer for 'lifter' (thesaurus). I'm not certain of the 'weight' bit.

'girl's breath away' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'breath' could be 'wind' (wind is a kind of breath) and 'wind' is found in the answer.
'away' could be 'a' (abbreviation as used in sports fixtures) and 'a' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'to take' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for windlass that I've seen before include "Drum round which chain is wound for lifting" , "One that gets wound up" , "Winch for hoisting an anchor" , "Axle for rope or chain used in hoisting" , "Dockside winch" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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