From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Spindle \Spin"dle\, n. [AS. spinal, fr. spinnan to spin; akin to
D. spil, G. spille, spindel, OHG. spinnala. [root]170. See
{Spin}.]
1. The long, round, slender rod or pin in spinning wheels by
which the thread is twisted, and on which, when twisted,
it is wound; also, the pin on which the bobbin is held in
a spinning machine, or in the shuttle of a loom.
[1913 Webster]
2. A slender rod or pin on which anything turns; an axis; as,
the spindle of a vane. Specifically:
[1913 Webster]
(a) (Mach.) The shaft, mandrel, or arbor, in a machine
tool, as a lathe or drilling machine, etc., which
causes the work to revolve, or carries a tool or
center, etc.
[1913 Webster]
(b) (Mach.) The vertical rod on which the runner of a
grinding mill turns.
[1913 Webster]
(c) (Founding) A shaft or pipe on which a core of sand is
formed.
[1913 Webster]
3. The fusee of a watch.
[1913 Webster]
4. A long and slender stalk resembling a spindle.
[1913 Webster]
5. A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards;
in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.
[1913 Webster]
6. (Geom.) A solid generated by the revolution of a curved
line about its base or double ordinate or chord.
[1913 Webster]
7. (Zool.)
(a) Any marine univalve shell of the genus {Rostellaria};
-- called also {spindle stromb}.
(b) Any marine gastropod of the genus {Fusus}.
[1913 Webster]
{Dead spindle} (Mach.), a spindle in a machine tool that does
not revolve; the spindle of the tailstock of a lathe.
{Live spindle} (Mach.), the revolving spindle of a machine
tool; the spindle of the headstock of a turning lathe.
{Spindle shell}. (Zool.) See {Spindle}, 7. above.
{Spindle side}, the female side in descent; in the female
line; opposed to {spear side}. --Ld. Lytton. [R.] "King
Lycaon, grandson, by the spindle side, of Oceanus."
--Lowell.
{Spindle tree} (Bot.), any shrub or tree of the genus
{Eunymus}. The wood of {Eunymus Europaeus} was used for
spindles and skewers. See {Prickwood}.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Spindle \Spin"dle\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Spindled}; p. pr. & vb.
n. {Spindling}.]
To shoot or grow into a long, slender stalk or body; to
become disproportionately tall and slender.
[1913 Webster]
It has begun to spindle into overintellectuality.
--Lowell.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
spindle
n 1: (biology) tiny fibers that are seen in cell division; the
fibers radiate from two poles and meet at the equator in
the middle; "chromosomes are distributed by spindles in
mitosis and meiosis"
2: a piece of wood that has been turned on a lathe; used as a
baluster, chair leg, etc.
3: any of various rotating shafts that serve as axes for larger
rotating parts [syn: {spindle}, {mandrel}, {mandril},
{arbor}]
4: a stick or pin used to twist the yarn in spinning
5: any holding device consisting of a rigid, sharp-pointed
object; "the spike pierced the receipts and held them in
order" [syn: {spike}, {spindle}]
|
