reel

reel
    n 1: a roll of photographic film holding a series of frames to
         be projected by a movie projector
    2: music composed for dancing a reel
    3: winder consisting of a revolving spool with a handle;
       attached to a fishing rod
    4: a winder around which thread or tape or film or other
       flexible materials can be wound [syn: {bobbin}, {spool},
       {reel}]
    5: a lively dance of Scottish Highlanders; marked by circular
       moves and gliding steps [syn: {reel}, {Scottish reel}]
    6: an American country dance which starts with the couples
       facing each other in two lines [syn: {Virginia reel}, {reel}]
    v 1: walk as if unable to control one's movements; "The drunken
         man staggered into the room" [syn: {stagger}, {reel},
         {keel}, {lurch}, {swag}, {careen}]
    2: revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis; "The
       dervishes whirl around and around without getting dizzy"
       [syn: {spin}, {spin around}, {whirl}, {reel}, {gyrate}]
    3: wind onto or off a reel
    

Reel \Reel\ (r[=e]l), n. [Gael. righil.]
   A lively dance of the Highlanders of Scotland; also, the
   music to the dance; -- often called {Scotch reel}.
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   {Virginia reel}, the common name throughout the United States
      for the old English "country dance," or contradance
      (contredanse). --Bartlett.
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Reel \Reel\ (r[=e]l), n. [AS. hre['o]l: cf. Icel. hr[ae]ll a
   weaver's reed or sley.]
   1. A frame with radial arms, or a kind of spool, turning on
      an axis, on which yarn, threads, lines, or the like, are
      wound; as, a log reel, used by seamen; an angler's reel; a
      garden reel.
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   2. A machine on which yarn is wound and measured into lays
      and hanks, -- for cotton or linen it is fifty-four inches
      in circuit; for worsted, thirty inches. --McElrath.
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   3. (Agric.) 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.
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   {Reel oven}, a baker's oven in which bread pans hang
      suspended from the arms of a kind of reel revolving on a
      horizontal axis. --Knight.
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Reel \Reel\ (r[=e]l), n.
   The act or motion of reeling or staggering; as, a drunken
   reel. --Shak.
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Reel \Reel\ (r[=e]l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Reeled} (r?ld); p.
   pr. & vb. n. {Reeling}. ]
   1. To roll. [Obs.]
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            And Sisyphus an huge round stone did reel.
                                                  --Spenser.
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   2. To wind upon a reel, as yarn or thread.
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Reel \Reel\ (r[=e]l), v. i. [Cf. Sw. ragla. See {2d Reel}.]
   1. To incline, in walking, from one side to the other; to
      stagger.
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            They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken
            man.                                  --Ps. cvii.
                                                  27.
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            He, with heavy fumes oppressed,
            Reeled from the palace, and retired to rest. --Pope.
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            The wagons reeling under the yellow sheaves.
                                                  --Macaulay.
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   2. To have a whirling sensation; to be giddy.
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            In these lengthened vigils his brain often reeled.
                                                  --Hawthorne.
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147 Moby Thesaurus words for "reel":
      Charybdis, Chinese windlass, Spanish windlass, avoid, be drunk,
      be intoxicated, blench, blink, blunder, bob, bobble, call off,
      capstan, careen, career, centrifugate, centrifuge, coggle, crab,
      crank, crank in, cringe, dangle, dizzy round, dodge, draw back,
      draw in, draw taut, duck, eddy, enumerate, evade, fade, fall back,
      falter, flinch, flounce, flounder, fluctuate, flutter, gurge, gyre,
      hang back, heave, hobbyhorse, itemize, jib, labor, librate, list,
      lurch, maelstrom, make heavy weather, name, nutate, oscillate,
      pass out, pendulate, pirouette, pitch, pitch and plunge,
      pitch and toss, plunge, pound, pull back, pull in, purl, quail,
      rat race, rear, recite, recoil, reel back, reel in, reel off,
      resonate, retreat, review, rock, roll, round, run over,
      run through, scend, see double, seethe, shake, sheer off, shrink,
      shrink back, shy, sidestep, spin, stagger, stammer, start aside,
      start back, struggle, stumble, surge, swag, sway, swerve, swim,
      swing, swinging, swirl, tackle, tauten, teeter, thrash about,
      tighten, topple, toss, toss and tumble, toss and turn, totter,
      trim, tumble, turn, turn aside, twirl, vacillate, vibrate,
      volutation, vortex, wag, waggle, wallop, wallow, wave, waver,
      weasel, weasel out, weave, welter, wheel, whirl, whirligig,
      whirlpool, whirlwind, wince, winch, wind in, windlass, wobble,
      yaw