Definitions for: Spindle


[n] a stick or pin used to twist the yarn in spinning
[n] any of various rotating shafts that serve as axes for larger rotating parts
[n] (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"



Webster (1913) Definition: 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.

2. A slender rod or pin on which anything turns; an axis; as,
the spindle of a vane. Specifically:
(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.
(b) (Mach.) The vertical rod on which the runner of a
grinding mill turns.
(c) (Founding) A shaft or pipe on which a core of sand is
formed.

3. The fusee of a watch.

4. A long and slender stalk resembling a spindle.

5. A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards;
in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.

6. (Geom.) A solid generated by the revolution of a curved
line about its base or double ordinate or chord.

7. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) Any marine univalve shell of the genus Rostellaria;
-- called also spindle stromb.
(b) Any marine gastropod of the genus Fusus.

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. (Zo["o]l.) 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 E. Europ[ae]us was used for
spindles and skewers. See Prickwood.


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.

It has begun to spindle into overintellectuality.
--Lowell.

Synonyms: arbor, mandrel, mandril

See Also: drive, fiber, fibre, rotating shaft, shaft, spinning frame, spinning wheel, stick

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