spindle
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
spindle/ˈspɪndl/
▶noun
- 1 a slender rounded rod with tapered ends used in hand spinning to twist and wind thread from a mass of wool or flax held on a distaff.
■ a pin bearing the bobbin of a spinning machine.
- 2 a rod or pin serving as an axis that revolves or on which something revolves.
- 3 a turned piece of wood used as a banister or chair leg.
- 4 Biology a slender mass of microtubules formed when a cell divides.
- 5 a measure of length for yarn, equal to 15,120 yards (13,826 metres) for cotton or 14,400 yards (13,167 metres) for linen.
- 6 N. Amer. a spike for filing papers.
'spindle' also found in these Oxford entries:
anaphase
- axle
- capstan
- centriole
- centromere
- centrosome
- clostridium
- cop
- distaff
- frog
- fusarium
- fuse
- fusee
- fuselage
- fusiform
- fusil
- grub screw
- gudgeon
- mandrel
- metaphase
- pinion
- saola
- sleeve
- spindle-shanks
- spindle tree
- spinning jenny
- spinning wheel
- staff
- strimmer
- tailstock
- verticillium
- wahoo
- whirl
- whorl
