| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| spindle |
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| SYLLABICATION: | spin·dle |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  sp n dl |
| NOUN: | 1a. 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. b. A similar rod or pin used for spinning on a spinning wheel. c. A pin or rod holding a bobbin or spool on which thread is wound on an automated spinning machine. 2. Any of various mechanical parts that revolve or serve as axes for larger revolving parts, as in a lock, axle, phonograph turntable, or lathe. 3. Any of various long thin stationary rods, as: a. A spike on which papers may be impaled. b. A baluster. 4. Biology The spindle-shaped achromatic structure, composed of microtubules, along which the chromosomes are distributed in mitosis and meiosis. 5. Coastal New Jersey See dragonfly. See Regional Note at dragonfly. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: spin·dled, spin·dling, spin·dles
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To furnish or equip with a spindle or spindles. 2. To impale or perforate on a spindle: Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate this card. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | To grow into a thin, elongated, or weak form. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English spindel, alteration of Old English spinel. See (s)pen- in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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