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.
2. A slender rod or pin on which anything turns; an axis; as,
the spindle of a vane. Specifically:
(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.
(b) (Mach.) The vertical rod on which the runner of a
grinding mill turns.
(c) (Founding) A shaft or pipe on which a core of sand is
formed.
3. The fusee of a watch.
4. A long and slender stalk resembling a spindle.
5. A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards;
in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.
6. (Geom.) A solid generated by the revolution of a curved
line about its base or double ordinate or chord.
7. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) Any marine univalve shell of the genus Rostellaria;
-- called also spindle stromb.
(b) Any marine gastropod of the genus Fusus.
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. (Zo["o]l.) 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 E. Europ[ae]us was used for
spindles and skewers. See Prickwood.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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