n.
- A rod or pin, tapered at one end and usually weighted at the other, on which fibers are spun by hand into thread and then wound.
- A similar rod or pin used for spinning on a spinning wheel.
- A pin or rod holding a bobbin or spool on which thread is wound on an automated spinning machine.
- Any of various mechanical parts that revolve or serve as axes for larger revolving parts, as in a lock, axle, phonograph turntable, or lathe.
- Any of various long thin stationary rods, as:
- A spike on which papers may be impaled.
- A baluster.
- Biology. The spindle-shaped achromatic structure, composed of microtubules, along which the chromosomes are distributed in mitosis and meiosis.
- Coastal New Jersey. See dragonfly. See Regional Note at dragonfly.
v., -dled, -dling, -dles. v.tr.
- To furnish or equip with a spindle or spindles.
- To impale or perforate on a spindle: Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate this card.
To grow into a thin, elongated, or weak form.
[Middle English spindel, alteration of Old English spinel.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
