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]
A slender rod or pin on which anything turns; an axis; as, the spindle of a vane. [1913 Webster]
The fusee of a watch. [1913 Webster]
A long and slender stalk resembling a spindle. [1913 Webster]
A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards; in linen yarn, 14,400 yards. [1913 Webster]
A solid generated by the revolution of a curved line about its base or double ordinate or chord. [1913 Webster]
Any marine univalve shell of the genus Rostellaria; -- called also spindle stromb. [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. (Zoöl.) 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 E. Europæus was used for spindles and skewers. See Prickwood.

spindle, v. i.

To shoot or grow into a long, slender stalk or body; to become disproportionately tall and slender. [1913 Webster]

"It has begun to spindle into overintellectuality." [1913 Webster]

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

spindle, n. & v.
--n.
1 a a pin in a spinning-wheel used for twisting and winding the thread. b a small bar with tapered ends used for the same purpose in hand-spinning. c a pin bearing the bobbin of a spinning-machine.
2 a pin or axis that revolves or on which something revolves.
3 a turned piece of wood used as a banister, chair leg, etc.
4 Biol. a spindle-shaped mass of microtubules formed when a cell divides.
5 a varying measure of length for yarn.
6 a slender person or thing.
--v.intr. have, or grow into, a long slender form.

Idiom

spindle berry the fruit of the spindle tree. spindle-shanked having long thin legs. spindle-shanks a person with such legs. spindle-shaped having a circular cross-section and tapering towards each end. spindle side = distaff side. spindle tree any shrub or small tree of the genus Euonymus, esp. E. europaeus with greenish-white flowers, pink or red berries, and hard wood used for spindles.

Etymology

OE spinel (as SPIN)

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THESAURUS

spindle

arbor, axis, axle, axle bar, axle shaft, axle spindle, axle-tree, distaff, fulcrum, gimbal, gudgeon, hinge, hingle, hub, mandrel, nave, oarlock, pin, pintle, pivot, pole, radiant, rowlock, swivel, trunnion

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ROGET THESAURUS

spindle

Rotation

N rotation, revolution, spinning, gyration, turning about an axis, turning aound an axis, circulation, roll, circumrotation, circumvolution, circumgyration, volutation, circination, turbination, pirouette, convolution, verticity, whir, whirl, eddy, vortex, whirlpool, gurge, countercurrent, Maelstrom, Charybdis, Ixion, cyclone, tornado, whirlwind, dust devil, spin-out, axis, axis of rotation, swivel, pivot, pivot point, axle, spindle, pin, hinge, pole, arbor, bobbin, mandrel, axle shaft, gymbal, hub, hub of rotation, helix, helical motion, angular momentum, angular velocity, revolutions per minute, RPM, centrifugal force, surge, vertigo, dizzy round, coriolus force, carousel, merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, top, dreidel, teetotum, gyroscope, turntable, lazy suzan, screw, whirligig, rollingstone, water wheel, windmill, wheel, pulley wheel, roulette wheel, potter's wheel, pinwheel, gear, roller, flywheel, jack, caster, centrifuge, ultracentrifuge, bench centrifuge, refrigerated centrifuge, gas centrifuge, microfuge, drill, augur, oil rig, wagon wheel, wheel, tire, tyre, trochilics, whirling dervish, rotating, rotary, rotary, circumrotatory, trochilic, vertiginous, gyratory, vortical, vorticose, head over heels, round and round, like a horse in a mill.

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