spindle: Meaning and Definition of

spin•dle

1. a rounded rod, usually of wood, tapering toward each end, used in hand-spinning to twist into thread the fibers drawn from the mass on the distaff, and on which the thread is wound as it is spun.
2. the rod on a spinning wheel by which the thread is twisted and on which it is wound.
3. one of the rods of a spinning machine that bear the bobbins on which the spun thread is wound.
4. any rod or pin suggestive of a spindle used in spinning, as one that turns around or on which something turns; an axle, axis, or shaft.
5. a vertical shaft that serves to center a phonograph record on a turntable.
6. either of two shafts or arbors that support the work on a lathe, oneon the headstock, rotating with and imparting motion to the work, the otheron the tailstock, motionless.
7. a small axis, arbor, or mandrel.
8. an iron rod or the like, usually with a ball or cage at the top, fixed to a rock, sunken reef, etc., to serve as a guide in navigation.
9. a measure of yarn, containing, for cotton, 15,120 yards (13,825 m), and for linen, 14,400 yards (13,267 m).
10. a hydrometer.
11. a spindle-shaped structure, composed of microtubules, that forms near the cell nucleus during mitosis or meiosis and, as it divides, draws the chromosomes to opposite poles of the cell.
12. a short, turned or circular ornament, as in a baluster or stair rail.
13. See
14. a tassel on an ear of corn.
15. dragonfly.

1. See

1. to give the form of a spindle to.
2. to provide or equip with a spindle or spindles.
3. to impale (a card or paper) on a spindle, as for sorting purposes.

1. to shoot up, or grow, into a long, slender stalk or stem, as a plant.
2. to grow tall and slender, often disproportionately so.