from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Needle \Nee"dle\ (n[=e]"d'l), n. [OE. nedle, AS. n[=ae]dl; akin
to D. neald, OS. n[=a]dla, G. nadel, OHG. n[=a]dal,
n[=a]dala, Icel. n[=a]l, Sw. n[*a]l, Dan. naal, and also to
G. n[aum]hen to sew, OHG. n[=a]jan, L. nere to spin, Gr.
ne`ein, and perh. to E. snare: cf. Gael. & Ir. snathad
needle, Gael. snath thread, G. schnur string, cord.]
1. A small instrument of steel, sharply pointed at one end,
with an eye to receive a thread, -- used in sewing.
--Chaucer.
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Note: In some needles (as for sewing machines) the eye is at
the pointed end, but in ordinary needles it is at the
blunt end.
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2. See {Magnetic needle}, under {Magnetic}.
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3. A slender rod or wire used in knitting; a knitting needle;
also, a hooked instrument which carries the thread or
twine, and by means of which knots or loops are formed in
the process of netting, knitting, or crocheting.
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4. (Bot.) One of the needle-shaped secondary leaves of pine
trees. See {Pinus}.
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5. Any slender, pointed object, like a needle, as a pointed
crystal, a sharp pinnacle of rock, an obelisk, etc.
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6. A hypodermic needle; a syringe fitted with a hypodermic
needle, used for injecting fluids into the body.
[Informal]
[PJC]
7. An injection of medicine from a hypodermic needle; a shot.
[PJC]
{Dipping needle}. See under {Dipping}.
{Needle bar}, the reciprocating bar to which the needle of a
sewing machine is attached.
{Needle beam} (Arch.), in shoring, the horizontal cross
timber which goes through the wall or a pier, and upon
which the weight of the wall rests, when a building is
shored up to allow of alterations in the lower part.
{Needle furze} (Bot.), a prickly leguminous plant of Western
Europe; the petty whin ({Genista Anglica}).
{Needle gun}, a firearm loaded at the breech with a cartridge
carrying its own fulminate, which is exploded by driving a
slender needle, or pin, into it. [archaic]
{Needle loom} (Weaving), a loom in which the weft thread is
carried through the shed by a long eye-pointed needle
instead of by a shuttle.
{Needle ore} (Min.), acicular bismuth; a sulphide of bismuth,
lead, and copper occuring in acicular crystals; -- called
also {aikinite}.
{Needle shell} (Zool.), a sea urchin.
{Needle spar} (Min.), aragonite.
{Needle telegraph}, a telegraph in which the signals are
given by the deflections of a magnetic needle to the right
or to the left of a certain position.
{Sea needle} (Zool.), the garfish.
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