Spindle

Pronunciation

IPA: spÉªndÉ™l
Rhymes: -ÉªndÉ™l

Alternative forms

spinnel dialectal

Origin

From Middle English spindle, spyndel, spyndylle, from Old English spindle, spindel, alteration of earlier spinel, spinil, spinl ("spindle"), from Proto-Germanic *spinnilÅ ("spindle"), equivalent to spin + -le. Cognate with Scots spindil, spinnell ("spindle"), Dutch spil ("spindle"; < Middle Dutch spille, spinle), German Spindel ("spindle"), Danish spindel ("spindle"), Swedish spindel ("spindle").

Full definition of spindle

Noun

spindle

(plural spindles)

(spinning) A rod used for spinning and then winding natural 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.
A rod which turns, or on which something turns.the spindle of a vane

2012-03, Henry Petroski, Opening Doors, 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.

A rotary axis of a machine tool or power tool.
A worldwide tree of the genus Euonymus, originally used for making the spindles used for spinning wool.
An upright spike for holding paper documents by skewering.
The fusee of a watch.
A long and slender stalk resembling a spindle.
A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards; in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.
(geometry) A solid generated by the revolution of a curved line about its base or double ordinate or chord.
Any marine univalve shell of the genus ; a .
Any marine gastropod of the genus .

Synonyms

(a tree from the Euonymus genus) spindle tree

Hypernyms

(a tree from the Euonymus genus) euonymus

Verb

To make into a long tapered shape.
To impale on a device for holding paper documents.Do not fold, spindle or mutilate this document.

Anagrams

splined