reels

Noun

reel (plural reels)

1. A shaky or unsteady gait.
   • Doubtless the present game of chess was developed through just such fiddling; perhaps someone once thought that the drunken reel of the knight was hostile to the essence of Chess.2010, Andrew Koppelman, The Gay Rights Question in Contemporary American Law, page 92
2. A lively dance originating in Scotland.
   • So strict is the kirk of Scotland, that one minister was unfrocked for writing a play (in former times); and another was sent about his business for being too fond of whiskey and of dancing the reel of Tullochgorum.1824, Felix M'Donogh, The Hermit in Edinburgh
3. The music of this dance; often called a Scottish (or Scotch) reel.
   • […]sample the famed waters from the Scottish mountains like a native born, and last but not least, play a reel on the bagpipes in the big hall that set all the laddies and lassies dancing.1913, Forest and Stream, volume 80
4. A kind of spool, turning on an axis, on which yarn, threads, lines, or the like, are wound.
   • a log reel
5. A device consisting of radial arms with horizontal stats, connected with a harvesting machine, for holding the stalks of grain in position to be cut by the knives.
6. A short compilation of sample film work used as a demonstrative resume in the entertainment industry.

   Synonyms:

   showreel

See all 19 meanings of reel