Forms: α. 1 spinil, spinel, spin, 5 Sc. spyn(y)le, 7 Sc. spynell, 6, 8 spinnel, 9 dial. spin(n)el, -al, spin(n)le. β. 4–6 spindel (4 -elle, 6 -ell), 5–6 spyndel, -ell (5 -ill, -yl, -yll, -ylle, -ulle), 6, Sc. 8–9 spyndle, (2) 6– spindle. [OE. spinel fem., = OHG. spinela, -ala (MHG. spinele, -el, spinle) and spinnila, -ela, -ala (MHG. spinnile, -ele, -el), f. the stem of spinnan SPIN v. The intrusive d of the later forms appears also in MDu. and Du., MHG. and G., OFris. spindel (NFris. spandel); cf. also Sw. spindel (MSw. spinnil) spider.
Early assimilation of nl gave rise to the MDu., MLG. and MHG. spille (Du. spil, LG. and G. spille): cf. SPILL sb.2]
I. 1. A simple instrument employed in spinning by hand, consisting of a slender rounded rod (usually of wood), tapering towards each end, which is made to revolve and twist into thread the fibers drawn out from a bunch of wool, flax, or other material.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), F 378. Fusum, spinel. Ibid., N 108. Nitorium, spinil.
a. 1100. Gerefa, in Anglia, IX. 263. He sceal fela towtola, flexlinan, spinle, reol, ʓearnwindan, stodlan … habban.
c. 1150. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 547. Fusus, spindle.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 157. Le fusil, spindel.
c. 1350. Geburt Jesu, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1875), 105. Bot mid spindle and mid nelde, his moder him bi wan.
1410. Nottingham Rec., II. 70. j spyndel, pretii ijd.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XVII. vi. 698. Carue me oute of this tree as moche woode as wylle make me a spyndyl.
c. 1529. Skelton, E. Rummyng, 299. They layde to pledge theyr wharrowe, Theyr rybskyn and theyr spyndell.
1577. B. Googe, trans. Heresbach’s Husb., 11 b. The smaller sort [of necessaries] be these,… Distaues, Spindelles Wharles.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., X. 151. As she some web wrought; or her spindles twine She cherisht with her song.
1631. Anchoran, Comenius’ Gate Tongues, 98. [They] draw their threads, whether it be with a reele, or with a spindle, and a wherne.
1720. Pope, Iliad, XXIII. 890. As closely following as the running Thread The Spindle follows.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 5, ¶ 8. The prejudices and pride of man have long presumed the sword and spindle made for different hands.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxvi. The younger children … watched the progress of grannie’s spindle.
1863. Trevelyan, Compet. Wallah (1866), 335. Along the whole course of the Ganges the women flung their spindles into the river.
b. In a spinning frame, one of many steel rods, by each of which a thread is twisted and wound on a bobbin.
c. 1790. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), V. 488/2. Large buildings…, many of which contain several thousands of spindles.
1831. G. R. Porter, Silk Manuf., 201. Upon each spindle, just above the bobbin, a piece of hard wood is so fixed by a pin as to cause the wood to revolve with the spindle.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil (1863), 155. After a day of labour passed … amid the ceaseless and monotonous clang of the spindle and the loom.
1846. M’Culloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), I. 677. At first the mule carried only 144 spindles; but, by successive improvements, it was rendered capable … of working 300 or 400 spindles.
c. A spool or bobbin.
1837. Hebert, Engin. & Mech. Encycl., I. 320. The workman having placed his spindles of thread near him, begins to work on the first horizontal line of one of the squares.
1837. Whittock, Bk. Trades (1842), 113. (Carpet-weaver), Before the Weaver commences he prepares a number of small ‘spindles’ which hold the woollen yarn of the different colours required in the carpet.
2. a. fig. In allusions to the Fates imagined as spinning the thread of life or destiny, or in similar contexts.
1577. Grange, Golden Aphrod., F ij. What tyme soeuer the turnyng spindle had thorowly twyned his fatall threede.
1608. Dekker, Lanth. & Candle-lt., K iv b. Shall I shew you what other bottomes of mischiefe, Plutos Beadle saw wound vpon the black spindels of the Night, in this his privy search?
a. 1645. Milton, Arcades, 66. To those that … turn the Adamantine spindle round, On which the fate of gods and men is wound.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Plato, Wks. (Bohn), I. 297. He beholds … the Fates, with the rock and shears; and hears the intoxicating hum of their spindle.
b. As a type of something slender.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Wom. Pleas’d, IV. iii. I am fall’n away to nothing, to a spindle.
c. ellipt. = SPINDLE-SIDE. rare–1.
1877. Blackmore, Erema, li. The barony,… upon default of male heirs, devolved upon the spindle.
3. Such an amount of thread or yarn as can be prepared on a spindle at one time; hence, a certain quantity or measure of yarn, varying according to the material.
1452. Cov. Leet Bk., II. 271. The seid shirrifs to sesse & take the spyndels to ther owne behofe, & to paye þe spynner for hir labour.
1610. Wedderburne, Compt Bk. (S.H.S.), 79. 19 spynellis of yarn lyning, Ilk spynell cost me 28s.
1717. Forfeited Estates Papers (S.H.S.), Introd. p. xxvi. Yarn, 20 Spindles, 1 Hasp, and 3 Heer, at 2s. per Spindle.
1766. W. Gordon, Gen. Counting-ho., 197. 3 bales linen yarn containing 1500 spindles.
1794. Statist. Acc. Scot., XI. 114. It is … an easy task, for one of these two-handed females, to spin 3 spindles in the week.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, s.v., In cotton-yarn a spindle of 18 hanks is 15,120 yards; in linen yarn a spindle of 24 heers, is 14,400 yards.
1878. Barlow, Weaving, 330. 4 Hasps = 1 spyndle = 60,000 yards.
4. a. A figure having the form of an elongated lozenge; esp. as a charge in Heraldry, = FUSIL1.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Her., F ij b. Off armys fusyllit in english spyndyllis now I will speke.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, II. xi. (Arb.), 105. The Fuzie or spindle, called Romboides.
1765. Porny, Elem. Her., iv. (1777), 123. The Fusil, called also a Spindle, is longer than the Lozenge.
1886. Symonds, B. Jonson, 2. In which shape they assume the semblance of the heraldic fusil, spindle, or rhombus.
b. Med. A dilatation of the fœtal aorta resembling a spindle in shape; the spindle-shaped part of a muscle.
1898. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 707. This constriction or isthmus is succeeded by a fusiform dilatation, the aortic spindle of His. Ibid. (1899), VI. 711. Disease of sensory muscle nerves and their end organs, the ‘muscle spindles.’
5. ellipt. a. = SPINDLE-TREE.
With quot. 1712 cf. SPINDLEKIN.
1712. Phil. Trans., XXVII. 421. Cape Spindle with a shining notch’d Leaf.
1891. Daily News, 11 Nov., 5/2. The spindle is not a striking shrub, and its sober flowers are small and inconspicuous.
b. = Spindle-shell, -stromb (see 17).
1842. Penny Cycl., XXIII. 124/2. Rostellaria curvirostris (Strombus fusus, Linn.), the Spindle of collectors, is by far the most common of the Asiatic species.
II. 6. A rod, usually of iron or other metal, serving as an axis upon which, or by means of which, something revolves or is turned round.
In technical use this sense has developed into many special applications, esp. from the 17th cent. onwards. The earliest examples refer to the rod of a mill-stone (cf. mill- and rind-spindle).
c. 1343. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 543. In … ij Spindels.
1345–6. Ely Sacr. Rolls, II. 133. In j pari de Spyndel et cogg. pro molendino equino.
1458. in Brit. Mag., XXXI. 249. Item, to hym for makyng of the Spendel for the fane, xd.
1507–8. Fabric Rolls York Minster (Surtees), 94. Pro faccione j spyndill for remevyng of ye hamers of ye chyme.
1533. J. Heywood, Play Wether, B iv. Our mylstons, our whele with her kogges & our trindill,… Our hopper, our extre, our yren spyndyll.
1625–6. in Swayne, Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896), 310. Mending of the spindle of the clocke.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., ii. 8. Capstaine. The maine body of it is called the Spindle.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 54. They fall a turning round with their naked feet, the left foot serving for a Pivot or Spindle to turn upon.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 74. I had no possible way to make the Iron Gudgeons for the Spindle or Axis of the Wheel to run in.
1764. J. Ferguson, Lect., 46. The trundle [of a water-mill] is fixt upon a strong iron axis called the spindle.
1788. Connecticut Courant, 29 Dec., 2/3. An Apprentice … being under the spindle of a grindstone, that was going by water, had the hair of his head caught by the spindle.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 20. The drill [of a lathe] is screwed, or otherwise fastened, upon the spindle.
1824. ‘R. Stuart,’ Hist. Steam Engine, 157. The tail or spindle of the valve k, being pressed upwards, opens the valve.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 6332, A spindle, which is to act on the bolt for shutting and opening the lock.
1900. Hasluck, Mod. Eng. Handybk., 98. When the engine is moving with great velocity,… the weights or balls attached to the arms will fly further from the spindle, moving the ring on the spindle.
fig. 1869. J. Martineau, Ess., II. 175. The universe revolving round the spindle of necessity.
7. a. A cylindrical rod or bar provided with grooves so as to act as a screw; spec. that by which the platen of a hand printing-press is lowered and raised.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xii. (1495), 117. The holes that ben the propre instrumentes of herynge ben wrapped and wounde as a spindle of a presse.
1585. Higins, trans. Junius’ Nomencl., 217. Cochlea, the vice or spindle of a presse: the winding peece.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., II. 31. The length of a Worm begins at the one end of the Spindle and ends at the other…. The depth of the Worm is cut into the diameter of the Spindle. Ibid. (1683), Printing, x. ¶ 12. The Spindle … is sixteen Inches and a half, the length of the Cilinder the Worms are cut upon is three Inches and a quarter.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 295. When the workman pulls this handle, he turns round the spindle l,… and causes the platen to descend and produce the pressure.
1829. Chapters Phys. Sci., viii. When the spiral is formed upon a cylinder, it is called the spindle, or interior screw, and by some a male screw.
b. A revolving frame used for stirring a mixture.
c. 1793. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XI. 442/2. The spindle is of light wood, and moves on a brass pivot in the bottom. It has four wooden wings. Ibid., 443/1. The … stirring of the mixture with the spindle.
8. † a. The newel of a winding stair. Obs. rare.
1585. Higins, trans. Junius’ Nomencl., 215. Scapus,… the spindle or maine peece of worke whereabout the winding staires doe run.
1611. Cotgr., Noyau,… the Nuell, or spindle of a winding staire.
b. Geom. (See quots.) rare–0.
1706. [see PARABOLIC a. 2].
1801. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), Suppl. II. 516/2. Spindle, in geometry, a solid body generated by the revolution of some curve line about its base or double ordinate.
1842. Francis, Dict. Arts, Spindle,… as a solid, is a circular body, tapering towards both ends; as a superficies, it is flat, tapering also at both ends.
c. A rod upon which the core of a gun-shell is molded.
1842. in Burn, Naval & Mil. Techn. Dict., s.v. Arbre.
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 24 Jan., 7/2. By introducing dynamite into the spindle of the grape with a time fuse, much more execution will be done.
9. A stalk, stem, or shoot of a plant, esp. of cereals. ? Obs.
G. spindel has also this sense: cf. SPINDLE v. 1.
1577. B. Googe, trans. Heresbach’s Husb., 27 b. The blade of wheate is … narrower than the Barley, the Spindel, Stalke, or Strawe thereof, is smoother and gentler.
1608. Willet, Hexapla Exod., 178. Abib signifieth the spindle with the eare.
1660. Sharrock, Vegetables, 118. The Gardiner … not suffering above one, two, or three spindles upon such roots or stools.
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), I. 158–9. The Spindles must be often tyed up,… lest by their bending they should break, and their Flowers be lost.
1750. W. Ellis, Mod. Husb., III. i. 28. Hail-Stones … beat down and hurt the spindle of the Wheat.
b. In prepositional phrases, denoting a stage or manner of growth.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 23. Another storme of Hail … cut the stalks of the Wheat and Barley (then in spindle) quite asunder.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 116. The juices stagnate in the plants, and are not pushed on to tillow, but run to spindle.
1750. W. Ellis, Mod. Husb., III. xi. 153. The wheat was upon the spindle, and had not shot into Ear.
1764. Museum Rust., II. 21. When the corn is shot into spindle, and the ears begin to appear.
1896. Midland Herald, 4 June (E.D.D.). Forward crops [of wheat] are in full spindle and give promise of being in full ear by the 14th inst.
† 10. A rod or bar forming part of a plow or harrow. Obs.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, V. v. 532. The composition of plows … consisteth vpon the beame, the skeath, the head, the hales, the spindles, the rest [etc.].
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 120. Att Martynmasse … wee sette our foreman to cuttinge of … saughs, for hecke-stowers and harrowe-spindles.
1736. J. Lewis, Hist. Antiq., 15. Next the Handle of the Plough is this Wreest, supported by a Piece of Iron which they call a Spindle.
11. Naut. The upper part or section of a made wooden mast.
1597. Vere, Comm., 48. My mainmast being in the partners rent to the very spindell which was eleven inches deep.
1670. Covel, in Early Voy. Levant (Hakluyt Soc.), 128. There appear’d a very bright Helena at the very spindle of the main top mast.
1697. Dampier, Voy. (1699), 414. We saw a Corpus Sant at our Main-top-mast head, on the very top of the truck of the Spindle.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, 13. The spindle, or upper tree, of large masts is made of two pieces.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 73. Two spindle pieces dowelled and bolted to each other…. Two side trees … dowelled and bolted to the spindle.
12. a. U.S. A stout iron rod or pole fixed on a rock as a guide to shipping.
1819. Stat. at L. (U.S.), III. 535. A spindle on the rock off the point of Fairweather Island. Ibid. (1829), IV. 345.
1843. Amer. Jrnl., in Civ. Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. (1844), VII. 68/1. Upon many of the reefs in Long Island Sound … it has been the practice … to erect wrought iron spindles of about 4 in. diameter, and from 15 to 25 ft. in height.
b. A slender cylindrical rod (esp. of metal) or other object of this shape.
1829. Nat. Philos., Mechanics, II. 30 (L.U.K.). The teeth of the wheel … are made to act upon a form of wheel called a lantern…. The cylindrical teeth or bars of the lantern are called trundles or spindles.
1902. Eliz. L. Banks, Newspaper Girl, 187. If he wants the article he puts it on a spindle or in a pigeon-hole.
transf. 1870. Emerson, Soc. & Solit., Farming, Wks. (Bohn), III. 60. Set out a pine-tree, and it dies in the first year, or lives a poor spindle.
13. Midl. dial. The third swarm of bees from a hive in one year.
a. 1825. Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 647. A Warwickshire correspondent says, that in that county … ‘the second [swarm] from the same hive is called a cast, and the third … a spindle.
1853. N. & Q., 1st Ser. VIII. 575/2. In the midland counties the first migration of the season is a swarm,… the third a spindle.
III. attrib. and Comb. 14. a. In sense 1 (in later use especially in combs. relating to machine-spinning), as spindle-band, -box, -carriage, -hook, -maker, -production, -work.
1483. Cath. Angl., 355/1. A Spyndelle maker, fusarius.
1598. Florio, Fusaro, a spindle maker.
1638. Junius, Paint. Ancients, 298. He is likewise commended for a picture of spindle worke, wherein the threads of every spinning woman seem to make very great haste.
1770. in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Spinning (1866), 18. [Two grooves, into which the] spindle-box [is fixed].
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 422. One of the spindle-hooks of the spinning-machine.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 178. The part of the billy which contains the spindle-carriage is movable … through what is called the billy gate. Ibid., 274. These two bars together are called by workmen the spindle-box.
1892. J. Nasmith, Students’ Cotton Spinning, ix. (1893), 357. It does not pay to use spindle bands made of inferior material.
1892. Daily News, 1 Oct., 2/5. The demand for yarns is regular, and about equal to spindle production.
b. With numerals, as two-spindle, etc.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 159. Some of them are two spindle,… others six spindle-frames.
1884. W. S. B. McLaren, Spinning (ed. 2), 128. 2nd, two two-spindle gill boxes; 3rd, four-spindle drawing box.
c. In sense 6, as spindle-end, -gearing, -lathe, -screw, -valve.
1869. Rankine, Machine & Hand-tools, Pl. H 8, The pinion, a, keyed on the spindle end, takes into an intermediate wheel b. Ibid. The back shaft, E, being arranged to throw out of gear with the spindle gearing.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 1262/2. The spindle-lathe has a rotating axis in the head-stock, to which the work is attached. Ibid., 2269/2. Spindle-valve, a valve having an axial guide-stem.
1895. Model Steam Engine, 88. As the spindle-screws are of the same fineness, and with right and left threads.
15. a. Of the limbs (or person), in the sense, ‘thin, slender, lacking in robustness.’ See also SPINDLE-SHANK.
a. 1586. in Pinkerton, Anc. Sc. Poems (1786), 201. To the rude scho maid ane vow, ‘For I sall hit thy spindill schyn.’
1648. Hexham, II. Spille-been,… Spindle leggs, or leane Shankes.
1681. ? D’Urfey, Progr. Honesty, iv. 4. One that could flatter every Golden Clod, And call my Spindle Lord … his God.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 401/2. The slender Legs, such as have no Calf: Spindle Legs.
1828. Lytton, Pelham, II. xxvi. 288. You have thrust those spindle legs of yours, into your coat-sleeves instead of your breeches!
1843. Carlyle, Past & Pr., II. x. The burden their poor spindle-limbs totter and stagger under.
b. Of things, in the sense ‘having the form of a spindle; cylindrical with a taper towards either end.’
1708. Phil. Trans., XXVI. 79. Turbinites, The Spindle Periwinkle.
c. 1711. Petiver, Gazophyl., VIII. lxxiii. Limington Spindle Fossil…. A very rare Shell.
1765. Treat. Dom. Pigeons, 55. It is a very small Pigeon, with a … very short and spindle beak, and a round button head.
1840. J. Buel, Farmer’s Companion, 156. A spindle root may be able to draw an abundance of nourishment from land … exhausted by short or creeping roots.
1878. T. Bryant, Pract. Surg., I. 135. Some spindle-cell sarcomas will recur often after removal.
1903. Agnes Clerke, Astrophysics, 443. All spindle-nebulæ were resolved into spirals viewed aslant.
16. In parasynthetic adjs., as spindle-celled, -formed, -pointed, -rooted, etc. Also, spindle-like adj. -wise adv.
1871. T. H. Green, Introd. Pathol., 117. The soft round-celled varieties are … much more malignant than the firmer *spindle-celled growths.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 846. The treatment of spindle-celled sarcoma of the skin is not easy to formulate. Ibid., 600. Long, *spindle-formed, partially pigmented cells appear round the vessels.
1831. J. F. South, trans. Otto’s Path. Anat., 455. Richerand found a nerve, forming a whole row of *spindle-like swellings.
1884. Bower & Scott, trans. De Bary’s Phaner. & Ferns, 27. Their obliquely tapered or *spindle-pointed ends.
1796. C. Marshall, Gardening, xviii. (1813), 298. *Spindle rooted plants should be set where they are to blow, quite young.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), II. 226. The early short-topped and salmon among the spindle-rooted [radishes], and the small white and red among the turnip-rooted, may be sown for succession crops every fortnight.
1775. Ash, *Spindleshin[n]ed, having small legs.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Ahusada figura, shaped *spindle wise.
17. Special Combs.: † spindle bud, ? a bud giving rise to a shoot or stem; spindle cross Her., a cross having arms shaped somewhat like a spindle; † spindle-pear, a pear having the elongated form of a spindle; spindle-shell, -stromb (see quots.); spindle-twirl, † -whirl, -whorl, a whorl used for weighting a spindle; spindle-wood, the spindle-tree, or the wood of this; spindle-worm U.S., the maize-eating larva of a noctuid moth (Achatodes zeæ).
1657. Austen, Fruit Trees, III. 16. They will become much larger than if all the *spindle buds were suffered to grow.
1828. Berry, Encycl. Her., Pandall, Pendall, or *Spindle Cross.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort., Dec., 80. The Squib-pear, *Spindle-pear, Virgin.
c. 1711. Petiver, Gazophyl., VI. lvi. Knotty chained Indian *Spindle Shell.
1775. Phil. Trans., LXV. 238. These anemonies had been found on old volutes, called spindle-shells (fucus brevis).
1861. P. P. Carpenter, in Rep. Smithsonian Instit. 1860, 175. Another group, of which the Spindle-shells are the type, have no varices at all.
1881. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., V. 193. The ‘Spindle-shell,’ Fusus..., is extensively dredged for the markets.
1861. P. P. Carpenter, in Rep. Smithsonian Instit. 1860, 198. These creatures may be regarded as *Spindle-strombs.
1881. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., V. 192. The genus Rostellaria, or the ‘Spindle-stromb,’ is marked by having a very much elongated spire.
1855. Archaeol., XXXVI. 135. About the middle of the body was a bronze finger ring, and a stone *spindle-twirl.
1648. Hexham, II. Een Spillewervel, a Whirle for a Spindle, or a *Spindle-whirle.
1874. Dawkins, Cave Hunt., iii. 103. The number of personal ornaments and the *spindle-whorls imply the presence of the female sex.
1712. trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 129. The Tree is like *Spindle-Wood, or Priests-Cap.
1885. St. James’s Gaz., 2 Jan., 6/1. Spindle-wood, which is nowhere plentiful, is reserved for skewers.
1839. T. W. Harris, Treat. Insects Injurious Veget. (1862), 438. Indian corn … often suffers severely from the depredations of one of these Nonagrians, known to our farmers by the name of *spindle-worm.
