spindle
Syllables: spin·dle/ˈspɪndəl/
spindle noun: a rod used for spinning and then winding fibres (especially wool), usually consisting of a shaft and a circular whorl positioned at either the upper or lower end of the shaft when suspended vertically from the forming thread.
Noun
spindle (plural spindles)
- A rod used for spinning and then winding fibres (especially wool), usually consisting of a shaft and a circular whorl positioned at either the upper or lower end of the shaft when suspended vertically from the forming thread.
- Anna Pavlovna’s soirée was now in full swing. On all sides the spindles were humming away non-stop.2005 [1868–9], Anthony Briggs, transl., War and Peace, Penguin Classics, translation of Война́ и миръ by Leo Tolstoy, Volume I, Part 1, Chapter 3, page 13
- A rod which turns, or on which something turns.
- the spindle of a vane
- ; the top one is acted on by the spindle and disc d, moved by the lever e;1847, editorial staff, “Improvement in Water Taps, Cister Valves, &c. ”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 68
- A rotary axis of a machine tool or power tool.
- The axle of a bottom bracket.
- Check ball bearings for pitting, cracks, disorderly conduct; cups and cones for uneven wear; spindle for straightness.1972, Richard Ballantine, Richard's Bicycle Book, New York: Ballantine Books, page 181
- Certain species within the genus Euonymus, historically used to manufacture spindles for wool spinning.
- Synonyms:
- spindle tree
- An upright spike for holding paper documents by skewering.
- check spindle
- receipt spindle
- The fusee of a watch.
- Any long and slender stalk resembling a spindle from Euonymus.
- A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards; in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.
- A solid generated by the revolution of a curved line about its base or double ordinate or chord.
- Any marine univalve shell of the genus Tibia; a spindle stromb.
- Any marine gastropod with a spindle-shaped shell formerly in one of the three invalid genera called Fusus.
Show 5 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
- A cytoskeletal structure formed during mitosis.
- A dragonfly.
- A plastic container for packaging optical discs such as CDs or DVDs, having a central column that passes through the central holes in the discs and keeps them in a stack.
- A muscle spindle.
- A sleep spindle.
- One of the fascinating characteristics of sleep spindles is that they are generated by the thalamic reticular nucleus, and do not occur in the presence of NE. In fact, LC neurons fall silent in the second preceding each spindle […]2010, Human Sleep and Cognition: Basic Research, page 10
Verb
spindle (third-person singular simple present spindles, present participle spindling, simple past and past participle spindled)
Proper noun capitalized: Spindle
Spindle (plural Spindles)
- A surname transferred from the nickname.
spindle meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
spindle in Hindi
- rod in spinning and winding thread
- तकला taklā, तकली taklī
spindle in Tamil
- நூற்புக் கதிர், கதிர்க்கோல், சுழல் அச்சு, நூறபுக் கதிர், பாரமுளை கதிராளி, அச்சாணி
spindle in Marathi
- स्पिंडल, स्पिंडिल, स्पिंडल करण्यासाठी
spindle in Urdu
- rod in spinning and winding thread
- تکلا taklā
More languagesFewer languages
- spindle in Bengali
- টাকু ṭaku
- spindle in Telugu
- కదురు kaduru
- spindle in Malayalam
- നൂല്പുയന്ത്രത്തിൽ നൂൽചുറ്റുന്ന തണ്ട്, അച്ചുതണ്ട്, തർക്കുടം, കുറ്റി
- spindle in Kannada
- ಕದಿರು
- spindle in Punjabi
- ਤੱਕਲ਼ਾ takkaḷā
- spindle in Gujarati
- તકલી taklī
- spindle in Odia
- ସ୍ପିଣ୍ଡଲ୍, ସ୍ପିନ୍ଡଲ୍, ସ୍ପିଣ୍ଡଲ
- spindle in Sanskrit
- तर्कु tarku
- spindle in Nepali
- स्पिन्डल, स्पाइन्डल, स्पिन्डल गर्न
- spindle in Tagalog
- sudlan, ikiran, suliran
- spindle in Arabic
- مِغْزَل miḡzal
- spindle in Persian
- دوک duk
- spindle in Thai
- กระสวย grà-sǔai
- spindle in Vietnamese
- cọc, sợi
- spindle in Myanmar
- ချည်လုံး hkyanylum:
Examples of spindle in a sentence
- When they told you not to fold, spindle, or mutilate a punchcard, the spindling referred to rolling it up.
- A set of two tommy bars is the standard tooling for the spindle nose threads of some minilathes and minimills.
- Fusobacteria are fusiform bacilli (spindled rods).
Synonyms of spindle
Forms of spindle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | spindles |
| alternative form (obsolete) | spindel |
| alternative form (dialectal) | spinnel |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | spindles |
| present participle | spindling |
| past participle | spindled |
| past | spindled |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Spindles |
Origin of spindle
From Middle English spyndel, spindle, spyndylle, from Old English spindle, spindel, alteration of earlier spinel, spinil, spinl (“spindle”), from Proto-West Germanic *spinnilu (“spindle”), equivalent to spin + -le. Cognate with Scots spindil, spinnell (“spindle”), Dutch spindel ("spindle"; < Middle Dutch spille, spinle), German Spindel (“spindle”), Danish spindel (“spindle”), Swedish spindel (“spindle”). The dragonfly sense (noun sense 14) is a calque of Swedish slända (dragonfly/spindle); this word was introduced by New Sweden settlers.
Originally a nickname for someone who made, sold, or used spindles.
Words formed from spindle
- antispindle
- central spindle
- hemispindle
- Japanese spindle
- minispindle
- mitotic spindle
- multispindle
- perispindle
- sleep spindle
- spindle cell
- spindle diagram
- spindleful
- spindlehorn
- spindle-legged
- spindlelegs
- spindlelike
- spindlemaker
- spindlemaking
- spindle neuron
- spindle poison
- spindle-shanked
- spindleshanks
- spindle-shaped
- spindletail
- spindle toxin
- spindlewise
- spindlework
- spindleworm
- spindly
Phrases with spindle
Words that rhyme with spindle
Questions about spindle
- What does spindle mean?
- Spindle means a rod used for spinning and then winding fibres (especially wool), usually consisting of a shaft and a circular whorl positioned at either the upper or lower end of the shaft when suspended vertically from the forming thread.
- What is spindle in Hindi?
- Spindle in Hindi is तकला (taklā), तकली (taklī). See Spindle meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is spindle?
- Spindle can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce spindle?
- Spindle is pronounced /ˈspɪndəl/.
- What is the plural of spindle?
- The plural of spindle is spindles.
Words near spindle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: spindle (page history and authors); Spindle (page history and authors); spindle (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); spindle (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); spindle (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); spindle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਤੱਕਲ਼ਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); તકલી (Gujarati) (page history and authors); spindle (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); spindle (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-spindle.wav.
Cite this entry: “spindle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spindle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.