spindle

Meanings

Plural: spindles

Noun

• (biology) tiny fibers that are seen in cell division; the fibers radiate from two poles and meet at the equator in the middle
  • "chromosomes are distributed by spindles in mitosis and meiosis"
• a piece of wood that has been turned on a lathe; used as a baluster, chair leg, etc.
• any of various rotating shafts that serve as axes for larger rotating parts
• a stick or pin used to twist the yarn in spinning
• any holding device consisting of a rigid, sharp-pointed object
• A rod used for spinning and then winding fibres (especially wool), usually consisting of a shaft and a circular whorl positioned at either the upper or lower end of the shaft when suspended vertically from the forming thread.
• A rod which turns, or on which something turns.
• A rotary axis of a machine tool or power tool.
• Certain of the species of the genus Euonymus, originally used for making the spindles used for spinning wool.
• An upright spike for holding paper documents by skewering.
• The fusee of a watch.
• Any long and slender stalk resembling a spindle from Euonymus.
• A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards; in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.
• A solid generated by the revolution of a curved line about its base or double ordinate or chord.
• Any marine univalve shell of the genus Tibia; a spindle stromb.
• Any marine gastropod with a spindle-shaped shell formerly in one of the three invalid genera called Fusus.
• A cytoskeletal structure formed during mitosis.
• A dragonfly.
• A plastic container for packaging optical discs such as CDs or DVDs, having a central column that passes through the central holes in the discs and keeps them in a stack.
• A muscle spindle.
• A sleep spindle.

Verb

• To make into a long tapered shape.
• To take on a long tapered shape.
• To impale on a device for holding paper documents.

Synonyms

arbor, mandrel, mandril, spike, spindle tree

Related Words

fusiform