Noun: spindle
| Singular | spindle |
| Plural | spindles |
Sample Sentences
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Anna Pavlovna’s soirée was now in full swing. On all sides the spindles were humming away non-stop. [2005 [1868–9], Anthony Briggs, transl., War and Peace, Penguin Classics, translation of Война́ и миръ by Leo Tolstoy, Volume I, Part 1, Chapter 3, page 13:]
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the spindle of a vane
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; the top one is acted on by the spindle and disc d, moved by the lever e; [1847, editorial staff, “Improvement in Water Taps, Cister Valves, &c. ”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 68:]
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A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place. [2012 March 26, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, pages 112–3:]
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Check ball bearings for pitting, cracks, disorderly conduct; cups and cones for uneven wear; spindle for straightness. [1972, Richard Ballantine, Richard's Bicycle Book, New York: Ballantine Books, page 181:]
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check spindle
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receipt spindle
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One of the fascinating characteristics of sleep spindles is that they are generated by the thalamic reticular nucleus, and do not occur in the presence of NE. In fact, LC neurons fall silent in the second preceding each spindle […] [2010, Human Sleep and Cognition: Basic Research, page 10:]
Nouns inflected like spindle
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. From Middle English spyndel, spindle, spyndylle, from Old English spindle, spindel, alteration of earlier spinel, spinil, spinl (“spindle”), from Proto-West Germanic *spinnilu (“spindle”), equivalent to spin + -le. Cognate with Scots spindil, spinnell (“spindle”), Dutch spindel ("spindle"; < Middle Dutch spille, spinle), German Spindel (“spindle”), Danish spindel (“spindle”), Swedish spindel (“spindle”).
2. The dragonfly sense (noun sense 14) is a calque of Swedish slända (dragonfly/spindle); this word was introduced by New Sweden settlers. See: Middle English Nouns '
spyndel', Old English Nouns '
spindle', Dutch Nouns '
spindel', German Nouns '
Spindel', Swedish Nouns '
spindel'.