Word.ws English Dictionary

newels

newels is the plural of newel.

Meaning of newel

Noun (1)

newel (plural newels)

  1. A central pillar around which some types of spiral staircase are spiralled.
    Synonyms:
    newel post, spindle
  2. A sturdy pillar at the top or bottom of a flight of stairs, supporting the handrail.
    • We went along the hall to the end and up a flight of stairs with a carved handrail and newel post.1943, Raymond Chandler, The High Window, Penguin, published 2005, page 238
    Synonyms:
    newel post

Noun (2)

newel (plural newels)

  1. (obsolete) A novelty; a new thing.
    • 1882: Edmund Spenser (Alexander Balloch Grosart, ed) The Complete Works in Verse and Prose of Edmund Spenser
      He was so enamoured with the newel.
    Synonyms:
    newie, new one, newun, new'un

Questions about newels

What is newels the plural of?
Newels is the plural of newel.

Words near newels in the dictionary

  1. newell
  2. Newell teapot
  3. Newell teapots
  4. newelled
  5. newells
  6. newels
  7. newelties
  8. newelty
  9. Newens
  10. Newent
  11. newer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: newels (page history and authors); newel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “newels.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/newels. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.