spindle
n 1: (biology) tiny fibers that are seen in cell division; the
fibers radiate from two poles and meet at the equator in
the middle; "chromosomes are distributed by spindles in
mitosis and meiosis"
2: a piece of wood that has been turned on a lathe; used as a
baluster, chair leg, etc.
3: any of various rotating shafts that serve as axes for larger
rotating parts [syn: spindle, mandrel, mandril,
arbor]
4: a stick or pin used to twist the yarn in spinning
5: any holding device consisting of a rigid, sharp-pointed
object; "the spike pierced the receipts and held them in
order" [syn: spike, spindle]
|
Spindle \Spin"dle\, n. [AS. spinal, fr. spinnan to spin; akin to
D. spil, G. spille, spindel, OHG. spinnala. [root]170. See
Spin.]
1. The long, round, slender rod or pin in spinning wheels by
which the thread is twisted, and on which, when twisted,
it is wound; also, the pin on which the bobbin is held in
a spinning machine, or in the shuttle of a loom.
[1913 Webster]
2. A slender rod or pin on which anything turns; an axis; as,
the spindle of a vane. Specifically:
[1913 Webster]
(a) (Mach.) The shaft, mandrel, or arbor, in a machine
tool, as a lathe or drilling machine, etc., which
causes the work to revolve, or carries a tool or
center, etc.
[1913 Webster]
(b) (Mach.) The vertical rod on which the runner of a
grinding mill turns.
[1913 Webster]
(c) (Founding) A shaft or pipe on which a core of sand is
formed.
[1913 Webster]
3. The fusee of a watch.
[1913 Webster]
4. A long and slender stalk resembling a spindle.
[1913 Webster]
5. A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards;
in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.
[1913 Webster]
6. (Geom.) A solid generated by the revolution of a curved
line about its base or double ordinate or chord.
[1913 Webster]
7. (Zool.)
(a) Any marine univalve shell of the genus Rostellaria;
-- called also spindle stromb.
(b) Any marine gastropod of the genus Fusus.
[1913 Webster]
Dead spindle (Mach.), a spindle in a machine tool that does
not revolve; the spindle of the tailstock of a lathe.
Live spindle (Mach.), the revolving spindle of a machine
tool; the spindle of the headstock of a turning lathe.
Spindle shell. (Zool.) See Spindle, 7. above.
Spindle side, the female side in descent; in the female
line; opposed to spear side. --Ld. Lytton. [R.] "King
Lycaon, grandson, by the spindle side, of Oceanus."
--Lowell.
Spindle tree (Bot.), any shrub or tree of the genus
Eunymus. The wood of Eunymus Europaeus was used for
spindles and skewers. See Prickwood.
[1913 Webster]
|