spindle
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: biology
computing
cycling
engineering
geometry
hobbies
lifestyle
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
spinning
sports
Etymology: From Middle English spyndel, spindle, spyndylle, from Old English spindle, spindel, alteration of earlier spinel, spinil, spinl (“spindle”), from Proto-West Germanic *spinnilu (“spindle”), equivalent to spin + -le. Cognate with Scots spindil, spinnell (“spindle”), Dutch spindel ("spindle"; < Middle Dutch spille, spinle), German Spindel (“spindle”), Danish spindel (“spindle”), Swedish spindel (“spindle”).
The dragonfly sense (noun sense 14) is a calque of Swedish slända (dragonfly/spindle); this word was introduced by New Sweden settlers.
Base: spin
Affixes: -le
Inflected forms:
form: spindles
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: spindel
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: spinnel
pos: noun
tags: alternative
dialectal
form: spindles
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: spindling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: spindled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: spindled
pos: verb
tags: past
form: spindel
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: spinnel
pos: verb
tags: alternative
dialectal
Senses:
gloss: A rod used for spinning and then winding fibres (especially wool), usually consisting of a shaft and a circular whorl positioned at either the upper or lower end of the shaft when suspended vertically from the forming thread.
pos: noun
examples: Anna Pavlovna’s soirée was now in full swing. On all sides the spindles were humming away non-stop.
gloss: A rod which turns, or on which something turns.
pos: noun
examples: the spindle of a vane
A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.
gloss: A rotary axis of a machine tool or power tool.
pos: noun
gloss: The axle of a bottom bracket.
pos: noun
examples: Check ball bearings for pitting, cracks, disorderly conduct; cups and cones for uneven wear; spindle for straightness.
gloss: Certain of the species of the genus Euonymus, originally used for making the spindles used for spinning wool.
pos: noun
gloss: An upright spike for holding paper documents by skewering.
pos: noun
examples: check spindle
receipt spindle
gloss: The fusee of a watch.
pos: noun
gloss: Any long and slender stalk resembling a spindle from Euonymus.
pos: noun
gloss: A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards; in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.
pos: noun
gloss: A solid generated by the revolution of a curved line about its base or double ordinate or chord.
pos: noun
gloss: Any marine univalve shell of the genus Tibia; a spindle stromb.
pos: noun
gloss: Any marine gastropod with a spindle-shaped shell formerly in one of the three invalid genera called Fusus.
pos: noun
gloss: A cytoskeletal structure formed during mitosis.
pos: noun
gloss: A dragonfly.
pos: noun
gloss: A plastic container for packaging optical discs such as CDs or DVDs, having a central column that passes through the central holes in the discs and keeps them in a stack.
pos: noun
gloss: A muscle spindle.
pos: noun
gloss: A sleep spindle.
pos: noun
examples: One of the fascinating characteristics of sleep spindles is that they are generated by the thalamic reticular nucleus, and do not occur in the presence of NE. In fact, LC neurons fall silent in the second preceding each spindle […]
gloss: To make into a long tapered shape.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To take on a long tapered shape.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To impale on a device for holding paper documents.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Do not fold, spindle or mutilate this document.
Related words: fusiform
Derived words: antispindle
central spindle
hemispindle
Japanese spindle
minispindle
mitotic spindle
multispindle
perispindle
sleep spindle
spindle cell
spindle diagram
spindleful
spindlehorn
spindle-legged
spindlelegs
spindlelike
spindlemaker
spindlemaking
spindle neuron
spindle poison
spindle-shanked
spindleshanks
spindle-shaped
spindletail
spindle toxin
spindlewise
spindlework
spindleworm
spindly
Translations: