from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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.
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2. A slender rod or pin on which anything turns; an axis; as,
the spindle of a vane. Specifically:
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(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.
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(b) (Mach.) The vertical rod on which the runner of a
grinding mill turns.
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(c) (Founding) A shaft or pipe on which a core of sand is
formed.
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3. The fusee of a watch.
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4. A long and slender stalk resembling a spindle.
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5. A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards;
in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.
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6. (Geom.) A solid generated by the revolution of a curved
line about its base or double ordinate or chord.
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7. (Zool.)
(a) Any marine univalve shell of the genus {Rostellaria};
-- called also {spindle stromb}.
(b) Any marine gastropod of the genus {Fusus}.
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{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}.
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