spindle

English

Alternative forms

  • spinnel (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English spindle, spyndel, spyndylle, from Old English spindle, spindel, alteration of earlier spinel, spinil, spinl (“spindle”), from Proto-Germanic *spinnilō (“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”).

Pronunciation

Noun

spindle (plural spindles)

  1. (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.
  2. A rod which turns, or on which something turns.
    • 2012 March 1, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 112-3: 
      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.
  3. A rotary axis of a machine tool or power tool.
  4. A worldwide tree of the genus Euonymus, originally used for making the spindles used for spinning wool.
  5. An upright spike for holding paper documents by skewering.

Translations

rod in spinning and winding thread
rod which turns, or on which something turns round
rotary axis of a machine tool or power tool
tree of the genus Euonymus
upright spike for holding papers

Verb

spindle (third-person singular simple present spindles, present participle spindling, simple past and past participle spindled)

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

Anagrams

External links

↑Jump back a section
Last modified on 19 May 2013, at 22:52