| 释义 |
▪ I. spindle, n.|ˈspɪnd(ə)l|
Forms: α. 1 spinil, spinel, spinl, 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 n.2]
I.
1. a. 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 fibres drawn out from a bunch of wool, flax, or other material.
c725Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) F 378 Fusum, spinel. Ibid. N 108 Nitorium, spinil. a1100Gerefa in Anglia IX. 263 He sceal fela towtola, flexlinan, spinle, reol, ᵹearnwindan, stodlan..habban. c1150Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 547 Fusus, spindle. c1325Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 157 Le fusil, spindel. c1350Geburt Jesu in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1875) 105 Bot mid spindle and mid nelde, his moder him bi wan. 1410Nottingham Rec. II. 70, j spyndel, pretii ijd. 1470–85Malory Arthur xvii. vi. 698 Carue me oute of this tree as moche woode as wylle make me a spyndyl. a1529Skelton E. Rummyng 299 They layde to pledge theyr wharrowe, Theyr rybskyn and theyr spyndell. 1577B. Googe tr. Heresbach's Husb. 11 b, The smaller sort [of necessaries] be these,..Distaues, Spindelles, Wharles. 1615Chapman Odyss. x. 151 As she some web wrought; or her spindles twine She cherisht with her song. 1631J. Anchoran Comenius' Gate Tongues 98 [They] draw their threads, whether it be with a reele, or with a spindle, and a wherne. 1720Pope Iliad xxiii. 890 As closely following as the running Thread The Spindle follows. 1758Johnson Idler No. 5 ⁋8 The prejudices and pride of man have long presumed the sword and spindle made for different hands. 1816Scott Antiq. xxvi, The younger children..watched the progress of grannie's spindle. 1863Trevelyan 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.
c1790Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) V. 488/2 Large buildings.., many of which contain several thousands of spindles. 1831G. 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. 1845Disraeli Sybil (1863) 155 After a day of labour passed..amid the ceaseless and monotonous clang of the spindle and the loom. 1846McCulloch 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.
1837L. Hebert Eng. & 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. 1837Whittock 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.
1577Grange Golden Aphrod. F ij, What tyme soeuer the turnyng spindle had thorowly twyned his fatall threede. 1608Dekker Lanth. & Candle Lt. Wks. (Grosart) III. 300 Shall I shew you what other bottomes of mischiefe, Plutos Beadle saw wound vpon the blacke spindels of the Night? a1645Milton Arcades 66 To those that..turn the Adamantine spindle round, On which the fate of gods and men is wound. 1847Emerson 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.
a1625Fletcher Wom. Pleas'd iv. iii, I am fall'n away to nothing, to a spindle.
c. ellipt. = spindle-side. rare—1.
1877Blackmore 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.
1452Cov. Leet Bk. II. 271 The seid shirrifs to sesse & take the spyndels to ther owne behofe, & to paye þe spynner for hir labour. 1610Wedderburne Compt Bk. (S.H.S.) 79, 19 spynellis of yarn lyning, Ilk spynell cost me 28s. 1717Forfeited Estates Papers (S.H.S.) Introd. p. xxvi, Yarn, 20 Spindles, 1 Hasp, and 3 Heer, at 2s. per Spindle. 1766W. Gordon Gen. Counting-ho. 197, 3 bales linen yarn containing 1500 spindles. 1794Statist. Acc. Scot. XI. 114 It is..an easy task, for one of these two-handed females, to spin 3 spindles in the week. 1858Simmonds 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. 1878Barlow 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.
1486Bk. St. Albans, Her. F ij b, Off armys fusyllit in english spyndyllis now I will speke. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. xi. (Arb.) 105 The Fuzie or spindle, called Romboides. 1765Porny Elem. Her. iv. (1777) 123 The Fusil, called also a Spindle, is longer than the Lozenge. 1886Symonds 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.
1898Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 707 This constriction or isthmus is succeeded by a fusiform dilatation, the aortic spindle of His.
c. Cytology. A bipolar configuration of fibres to which the chromosomes become attached by their centromeres at metaphase of mitosis before being pulled towards its poles; cf. spindle fibre, sense 17 below.
1878Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XVIII. 114 The portion of the spindle which remains in the egg after the formation of the second polar cell reconstitutes itself into a nucleus. 1927Haldane & Huxley Animal Biol. ii. 58 A star-shaped figure of radiating fibres is seen in the cell. This divides into two, forming a spindle-shaped set of fibres with a radiating ‘star’ at each end, and the chromosomes arrange themselves where the fibres from the two stars meet, in the centre of the spindle. 1971Sci. Amer. Oct. 77/3 The action of the mitotic spindle in pulling the chromosomes apart when a cell divides.
d. Anat. [tr. G. spindel (W. Kühne 1863, in Arch. f. path. Anat. u. Physiol. XXVII. 520).] = muscle spindle s.v. muscle n. 3 d.
1894Jrnl. Physiol. XVII. 238 The spindles have been studied by Golgi (1880); Golgi's definition of them is ‘bundles of incompletely developed muscle-fibres, surrounded by a special sheath, and to be found in muscles at every period of growth’. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 711 Disease of sensory muscle nerves and their end organs, the ‘muscle spindles’. 1930Maximow & Bloom Text-bk. Histol. xiv. 276 The muscle fibers of the spindle are approximately half as thick as the ordinary muscle fibers. 1962Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. CCXLV. 82 All spindles contain two distinct types of intrafusal muscle fibre, ‘nuclear bag fibres’ and ‘nuclear chain fibres’, which differ in structure and innervation. 1974[see muscle spindle].
e. Anat. Any of numerous small sensory organs within tendons and aponeuroses which consist of a spindle-shaped bundle of tendon fibres containing the branching endings of a nerve and enclosed in a capsule; a neurotendinous spindle; = tendon organ, spindle s.v. tendon d.
1896E. L. Bilstein tr. Stöhr's Text-bk. Histol. ii. 115 The medullated nerves of tendons terminate in part in a close plexus of gray nerve-fibers, and in part in tendon⁓spindles. 1901, etc. [see neurotendinous adj. s.v. neuro-]. 1905J. S. Ferguson Normal Histol. ix. 138 Nerve fibres enter the spindle and give off several medullated branches which run between the tendon bundles near the axis of the spindle. 1954T. L. Peele Neuroanat. Basis Clinical Neurol. xix. 420/1 Neurotendinous spindles are usually present near the musculotendinous junction. 1966T. S. & C. R. Leeson Histology xx. 440/2 Neuromuscular spindles lie in muscle... Neurotendinous spindles are similar and are located in tendons and aponeuroses near their junctions with muscle.
f. Med. A configuration seen in an electroencephalogram (see quot. 1935).
1935A. L. Loomis et al. in Science 14 June 597/2 The amplitude [of the waves] builds regularly to a maximum and then falls regularly so that we have designated these ‘spindles’, because of their appearance in the record. 1952Confinia Neurologica XII. 73 Spindles are most prominent in the thalamus of cats under barbiturates. 1965Math. in Biol. & Med. (Med. Res. Council) iv. 171 Often exact identification of the maxima and minima of the spindles can be difficult. 1983Brit. Med. Jrnl. 12 Nov. 1401/1 A slowing of the alpha, concurrent alpha and theta, and beta spindles are found during relaxation and on the borders of sleep.
5. ellipt.
a. = spindle-tree.
With quot. 1712 cf. spindlekin.
1712Phil. Trans. XXVII. 421 Cape Spindle with a shining notch'd Leaf. 1891Daily 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).
1842Penny 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 the mill-stone (cf. mill- and rind-spindle).
c1343Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 543 In..ij Spindels. 1345–6Ely Sacr. Rolls II. 133 In j pari de Spyndel et cogg. pro molendino equino. 1458in Brit. Mag. XXXI. 249 Item, to hym for makyng of the Spendel for the fane, xd. 1507–8Fabric Rolls York Minster (Surtees) 94 Pro faccione j spyndill for remevyng of ye hamers of ye chyme. 1533J. Heywood Play Wether B iv, Our mylstons, our whele with her kogges & our trindill,..Our hopper, our extre, our yren spyndyll. 1625–6in Swayne Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896) 310 Mending of the spindle of the clocke. 1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 8 Capstaine. The maine body of it is called the Spindle. 1687A. Lovell tr. 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. 1719De 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. 1764J. Ferguson Lect. 46 The trundle [of a water⁓mill] is fixt upon a strong iron axis called the spindle. 1788Massachusetts Spy 25 Dec. 3/3 An apprentice..being under the spindle of a grindstone, that was going by water, had the hair of his head caught by the spindle. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 20 The drill [of a lathe] is screwed, or otherwise fastened, upon the spindle. 1824R. Stuart Hist. Steam Engine 157 The tail or spindle of the valve k, being pressed upwards, opens the valve. 1862Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 6332, A spindle, which is to act on the bolt for shutting and opening the lock. 1900Hasluck 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.1869J. 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.
1398Trevisa 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. 1585Higins tr. Junius' Nomencl. 217 Cochlea, the vice or spindle of a presse: the winding peece. 1677Moxon 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. 1683Ibid., 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. 1825J. 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. 1829Chapters 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.
c1793Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XI. 422/2 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.
c. A spindle moulder (see sense 17).
1920F. T. Hill Pract. Aeroplane Constr. 108 This is known as a French spindle, and its cutting action, in order to form the recesses, is shown in the enlarged view on the right. 1925W. J. Blackmur How to work Spindle Moulder iii. 29 In working a spindle there are three kinds of cutters—those used on the square block, those used with the slotted cutters, and those used on the French spindle.
8.
†a. The newel of a winding stair. Obs. rare.
1585Higins tr. Junius' Nomencl. 215 Scapus,..the spindle or maine peece of worke whereabout the winding staires doe run. 1611Cotgr., Noyau,..the Nuell, or spindle of a winding staire.
b. Geom. (See quots.) rare—0.
1706[see parabolic a. 2]. 1801Encycl. 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. 1842Francis 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 moulded.
1842in Burn Naval & Mil. Techn. Dict. s.v. Arbre. 1889 Pall Mall G. 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. A stalk, stem, or shoot of a plant, esp. of cereals. ? Obs.
G. spindel has also this sense: cf. spindle v. 1.
1577B. Googe tr. Heresbach's Husb. 27 b, The blade of wheate is..narrower than the Barley, the Spindel, Stalke, or Strawe thereof, is smoother and gentler. 1608Willet Hexapla Exod. 178 Abib signifieth the spindle with the eare. 1660Sharrock Vegetables 118 The Gardiner..not suffering above one, two, or three spindles upon such roots or stools. 1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 121 The Spindles must be often tyed up,..lest by their bending they should break, and their Flowers be lost. 1750W. Ellis Mod. Husb. III. i. 28 Hail-Stones..beat down and hurt the spindle of the Wheat. 1824‘A. Singleton’ Lett. from South & West 82 They [sc. Virginians] also call, what we [sc. New Englanders] call the spindle, the tassel. 1871Amer. Naturalist V. 245 The corn.. sent forth a new tassel or spindle.
b. In prepositional phrases, denoting a stage or manner of growth.
1686Plot Staffordsh. 23 Another storme of Hail..cut the stalks of the Wheat and Barley (then in spindle) quite asunder. a1722Lisle Husb. (1757) 116 The juices stagnate in the plants, and are not pushed on to tillow, but run to spindle. 1750W. Ellis Mod. Husb. III. xi. 153 The wheat was upon the spindle, and had not shot into Ear. 1764Museum Rust. II. 21 When the corn is shot into spindle, and the ears begin to appear. 1896Midland 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 plough or harrow. Obs.
1616Surfl. & 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.]. 1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 120 Att Martynmasse..wee sette our foreman to cuttinge of..saughs for hecke-stowers and harrowe-spindles. 1736J. 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.
1597Vere Comm. 48 My mainmast being in the partners rent to the very spindell which was eleven inches deep. 1670Covel in Early Voy. Levant (Hakluyt Soc.) 128 There appear'd a very bright Helena at the very spindle of the main top mast. 1697W. 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. 1794Rigging & Seamanship 13 The spindle, or upper tree, of large masts is made of two pieces. c1860H. 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.
1819Stat. at L. (U.S.) III. 535 A spindle on the rock off the point of Fairweather Island. 1829Ibid. 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. 1904Hartford (Connecticut) Courant 19 Aug. 13 What this man was really doing was simply placing a spindle on Magazine Rock.
b. A slender cylindrical rod (esp. of metal) or other object of this shape.
1829Nat. 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. 1902E. Banks Newspaper Girl 187 If he wants the article he puts it on a spindle or in a pigeon-hole.
transf.1870Emerson 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.
1825Hone 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’. 1853N. & 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, spindle-box, spindle-carriage, spindle-hook, spindle-maker, spindle-production, spindle-work.
1483Cath. Angl. 355/1 A Spyndelle maker, fusarius. 1598Florio, Fusaro, a spindle maker. 1638Junius 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. 1770in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Spinning (1866) 18 [Two grooves, into which the] spindle-box [is fixed]. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 422 One of the spindle-hooks of the spinning-machine. 1835Ure 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. 1892J. Nasmith Students' Cotton Spinning ix. (1893) 357 It does not pay to use spindle bands made of inferior material. 1892Daily News 1 Oct. 2/5 The demand for yarns is regular, and about equal to spindle production.
b. With numerals, as two-spindle, etc.
1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 159 Some of them are two spindle,..others six spindle-frames. 1884W. 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, spindle-gearing, spindle-lathe, spindle-screw, spindle-valve.
1869Rankine 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. 1875Knight 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. 1895Model 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.
a1586in Pinkerton Anc. Sc. Poems (1786) 201 To the rude scho maid ane vow, ‘For I sall hit thy spindill schyn’. 1648Hexham 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. 1688Holme Armoury ii. 401/2 The slender Legs, such as have no Calf: Spindle Legs. 1828Lytton Pelham II. xxvi, You have thrust those spindle legs of yours into your coat-sleeves instead of your breeches! 1843Carlyle 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’.
1708Phil. Trans. XXVI. 79 Turbinites, The Spindle Periwinkle. c1711Petiver Gazophyl. viii. lxxiii, Limington Spindle Fossil... A very rare Shell. 1765Treat. Dom. Pigeons 55 It is a very small Pigeon, with a..very short and spindle beak, and a round button head. 1840J. 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. 1903A. M. Clerke Astrophysics 443 All spindle-nebulæ were resolved into spirals viewed aslant.
16. In parasynthetic adjs., as spindle-celled, spindle-formed, spindle-pointed, spindle-rooted, etc. Also, spindle-like adj.; spindle-wise adv.
1871T. H. Green Introd. Pathol. 117 The soft round-celled varieties are..much more malignant than the firmer *spindle-celled growths. 1899Allbutt'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.
1831J. F. South tr. Otto's Comp. Pathol. Anat. 485 A whole row of *spindle-like swellings.
1884Bower & Scott tr. De Bary's Phanerogr. & Ferns 27 Their obliquely tapered or *spindle-pointed ends.
1796C. Marshall Gardening xviii. (1813) 298 *Spindle rooted plants should be set where they are to blow, quite young. 1846J. 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.
1775Ash, *Spindleshin[n]ed, having small legs.
1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Ahusada figura, shaped *spindle wise.
17. Special Combs.: spindle-back, used attrib. to designate a chair with a back consisting of framed cylindrical bars; spindle-berry, the bright red fruit of the spindle-tree, Euonymus europæus; † spindle bud, ? a bud giving rise to a shoot or stem; spindle cell Med. and Biol., a narrow, elongated cell; spec. one in the blood of some lower vertebrates analogous to the platelet in mammals; freq. attrib. (cf. spindle-celled, sense 16); spindle cross Her., a cross having arms shaped somewhat like a spindle; spindle fibre Cytology, any of the microtubular strands which form the visible structure of a spindle (sense 4 c above); spindle hour, an hour during which a spindle is involved in spinning, used as a unit of measurement; spindle machine, moulder, a woodworking machine used to shape mouldings, in which one or more cutters are carried on a spindle; so spindle moulding; spindle oil, a light distillation product of petroleum, used for lubrication esp. of high-speed machinery; † 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).
1896Heal & Son Catal.: Bedroom Furnit. 156 Solid Oak *Spindleback Rush-Seat Chair..{pstlg}0 19 6. 1918Ibid.: Cottage Furnit. 18 ‘Spindle Back’ Arm Chair, stained oak colour..28/-. 1937Times 15 Nov. 19/4 One could repeat this story in respect of the spindleback chairs made in the West of England from the Solway Firth to Herefordshire. 1959G. Savage Antique Collector's Handbk. 126 The Lancashire spindle-back chair is similar in many ways to the ladder-back.
192119th Cent. June 1039 The dying glory of bracken, oak, birch, mountain-ash and *spindle⁓berry. 1923Daily Mail 12 Sept. 15/4 Pink spindle berries are lovely in a pewter mug. 1950J. Brooke Goose Cathedral viii. 167 The hedges were hung with a multitude of spindleberries—lurid purple bursting into fiery orange.
1657Austen Fruit Trees iii. 16 They will become much larger than if all the *spindle buds were suffered to grow.
1878T. Bryant Pract. Surg. I. 135 Some *spindle-cell sarcomas will recur often after removal. 1901A. P. Ohlmacher in Hektoen & Riesman Text-bk. Path. I. 200 It [sc. round-celled sarcoma] grows more rapidly, and is generally softer and more malignant than the spindle-cell sarcoma. 1905J. S. Ferguson Normal Histol. iii. 34 In the denser forms of mature connective tissue..the connective tissue cells lose their typical embryonal stellate form and become somewhat fusiform; they are then known as the spindle cells of connective tissue. Ibid. vi. 81 Confusion..has arisen from the supposed analogy of the true blood platelets of human blood with certain other structures found in the blood of the lower vertebrates, especially the ‘spindle-cells’ of amphibians. 1949A. S. Romer Vertebrate Body xiii. 427 In most nonmammalian vertebrates the thrombocytes take the form of spindle cells—small, oval, pointed structures with a central nucleus. 1959W. Andrew Textbk. Compar. Histol. ix. 371 Spindle cells are conspicuous and probably should be thought of as fusiform lymphocytoid cells rather than platelet-forming elements. 1971T. J. Hara in Hoar & Randall Fish Physiol. V. iv. 88 Aside from the taste buds, specialized epidermal ‘spindle’ cells were found on the head and body of minnows and various teleost fishes. 1976Path. Ann. XI. 214 (caption) Spindle cell variant of thymic carcinoid tumor.
1828Berry Encycl. Her., Pandall, Pendall, or *Spindle Cross.
1878Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XVIII. 229 The *spindle-fibres are identical with the stellate rays. 1974Encycl. Brit. Micropædia VI. 946/1 In anaphase the chromatid pairs separate and are pulled to opposite ends of the cell by the spindle fibres.
1930Times 24 Mar. 23/5 Mill activity in the cotton growing states, measured by *spindle hours, established a high record. 1970P. R. Lord Spinning in '70's 11 Production per spindle hour has been increased by raising spindle speeds.
1902G. Ellis Mod. Pract. Joinery xxiii. 364 *Spindle machine, an irregular moulding machine in which the cutters are fixed at the end of a vertical spindle which projects through the table. 1915Machine Woodworker 15 Nov. 15/2 Running moulds from thicknessed boards on spindle machine may do if it is a special type of mould.
1912Ibid. 15 July 17/2 A *spindle moulder being a machine that has to do a large variety of work, the stock of cutters should be large. 1925W. J. Blackmur How to work Spindle Moulder i. 11 As the spindle moulder is used for working regular sections upon edges of various shaped pieces of wood it is best to place it close to the band saw. 1965F. L. Dunsmore Technique Woodworking Machinery II. i. 14 No machine has a greater selection of cutter heads than the spindle moulder.
1979Building Dec. 105/3 Planing, thicknessing, sawing, routing and *spindle moulding.
1887B. J. Crew Pract. Treat. Petroleum ix. 316 *Spindle oils. Distillers of residuum usually divide their products into three classes... The third..product constitutes the stock for spindle and machinery oils. 1931Engineering 2 Jan. 1/2 Oil PL will be recognised as a ‘spindle oil’, used only for lightly loaded high speed journals. 1977Lubricants Business (Shell Internat. Petroleum Co.) 1 Refining of the distillates, which removes unsuitable components, produces lubricating oil fractions of the desired properties ranging from thin spindle oil to heavy cylinder oil.
1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. Dec. 80 The Squib-pear, *Spindle-pear, Virgin.
c1711Petiver Gazophyl. vi. lvi, Knotty chained Indian *Spindle Shell. 1775Phil. Trans. LXV. 238 These anemonies had been found on old volutes, called spindle-shells (fucus brevis). 1861P. P. Carpenter in Rep. Smithsonian Instit. 1860, 175 Another group, of which the Spindle-shells are the type, have no varices at all. 1881Cassell's Nat. Hist. V. 193 The ‘Spindle-shell’, Fusus.., is extensively dredged for the markets.
1861P. P. Carpenter in Rep. Smithsonian Instit. 1860, 198 These creatures may be regarded as *Spindle-strombs. 1881Cassell's Nat. Hist. V. 192 The genus Rostellaria, or the ‘Spindle-stromb’, is marked by having a very much elongated spire.
1855Archaeol. XXXVI. 135 About the middle of the body was a bronze finger ring, and a stone *spindle-twirl.
1648Hexham ii, Een Spillewervel, a Whirle for a Spindle, or a *Spindle-whirle.
1874Dawkins Cave Hunt. iii. 103 The number of personal ornaments and the *spindle-whorls imply the presence of the female sex.
1712tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 129 The Tree is like *Spindle-Wood, or Priests-Cap. 1885St. James's Gaz. 2 Jan. 6/1 Spindle-wood, which is nowhere plentiful, is reserved for skewers.
1839T. 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.
Hence ˈspindleless a., having no spindle or spindles.
1964Gloss. Letterpress Rotary Printing Terms (B.S.I.) 7 Spindleless reel stand, a reel stand supporting the reel on free-running cones at each side of the reel. 1967Economist 29 Apr. 459/3 There [sc. in Czechoslovakia] the BD 200 spindleless spinning unit has been developed; by next year it will be modified to run at 40,000 rpm as against the conventional spindle's 10,000.
Add:[II.] [6.] b. The vertical rod at the centre of the turntable of a record-player, which keeps the record in place during play; freq. one on which records are stacked for automatic record-changing.
1940Gramophone Dec. 163/2 This changer is fitted with a spring loaded spindle to minimise the chances of record slip. 1955D. Keene Who was Wilma Lathrop? ii. 19 Wilma stacked the spindle with records. 1961E. N. Bradley Records & Gramophone Equipment i. 22 The most likely cause of wow is a swinger—a record whose spindle hole is not exactly central and so turns eccentrically as a result. 1976Gramophone Oct. 695/1 [The record changer's] overarm can be removed and a stub spindle can be substituted for single record use. 1983J. Fuller Convergence xxix. 296 The Beethoven quartets were still on the turntable... He lifted them on the spindle and switched the machine on.
▪ II. spindle, v.|ˈspɪnd(ə)l|
Also 6 spindel.
[f. the n. (esp. in sense 9).]
1. a. intr. Of cereals: To shoot up into the slender stalks on which the ear is formed.
So G. spindeln in dialect use.
1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. 27 When the Spring draweth on, it [sc. wheat] beginneth to spindle. Ibid. 32 When it beginnes to spindel, it must be well weeded. 1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme v. vi. 534, I must needs discommend that manner of weeding..which is used after the corn is spindled. 1651R. Child in Hartlib Legacy (1655) 139 Corn sown in July,..if it should begin to spindle, (as the Husbandmen call it) it is very easy..to prevent it. a1722Lisle Husb. (1757) 127 In the hot countries it is a frequent calamity, that the corn will not spindle, that is, will not come out of the hose. 1763Mills Pract. Husb. II. 201 The whole had already spindled, which made me sorry I had sowed so early. 1805Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 550 Great care is necessary to see that the whole is completed before the crop begins to spindle. 1846Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VII. ii. 344 The author has never once seen a single plant of the..rye to spindle before the following spring.
b. Of flowering plants: To form the stalk or stem on which the flowers are produced.
1601Holland Pliny II. 253 Even so doth the decoction of Lonchitis, if it bee taken before it spindle and run vp to seed. 1665Rea Flora 163 When they begin to rise to spindle, nip of such as are smallest. 1725Fam. Dict. s.v. Pink, When the Pinks begin to Spindle, they will then require a little more Care. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 173 Feather⁓headed grasses, spindling rank. 1824T. Hogg Carnation 35 When the plants begin to spindle, or shoot up for bloom, they require to be supported by sticks.
c. With up or upward(s). In later use sometimes implying too slender a growth.
1601Holland Pliny I. 558 No sooner commeth the spring, but they begin to grow up into straw, and to spindle upward pointwise. a1722Lisle Husb. (1757) 142 The blade, after it is come up, will die away, and then spindle up again. 1796Hist. Ned Evans I. 282 He resembled those exotic plants which spindle up in our hot-houses. 1810Wordsw. Scenery Lakes (1823) 61 The whole island planted anew with Scotch firs, left to spindle up by each other's side—a melancholy phalanx. 1841Florist's Jrnl. (1846) II. 197 Too much water..makes them spindle up and flower prematurely. 1881Daily News 4 June 5/6 Wheat is very thin,..the plant not stooling satisfactorily, but spindling up.
fig.a1864Hawthorne Dr. Grimshawe i. (1891) 3 The cemetery..might probably have nourished..whatever else is of English growth, without that tendency to spindle upwards and lose their sturdy breadth.
2. a. To shoot out or up, to develop by rapid growth or attenuation, into something thin or unsubstantial.
1784Cowper Task v. 11 From ev'ry herb..Stretches a length of shadow o'er the field. Mine, spindling into longitude immense,..Provokes me to a smile. 1833M. Scott Tom Cringle xii, Here Sir, squealed Timothy, his usual gruff voice spindling into a small cheep. 1854Lowell Jrnl. Italy Wks. 1890 I. 203 That fairest variety of mortal grass which with us is apt to spindle so soon into a somewhat sapless womanhood. 1860Emerson Cond. Life ii. (1861) 46 The gardener, by severe pruning, forces the sap of the tree into one or two vigorous limbs, instead of suffering it to spindle into a sheaf of twigs.
b. To become spindly or weak.
1863Thornbury True as Steel I. 210, I will..betake myself to the service of the Elector.., where I can win a place for myself in the van, and not spindle and pine as I do here.
c. To rise in a slender form.
1897Catholic News 6 Nov. 5/3 If one or two prayer-towers spindled above Ballydehob it would be a perfect Turkish village.
3. trans. To fit with, fix upon, a spindle or axis.
1833Loudon Encyl. Archit. §1301 An oak curb to be made to go all round the mill and the millwright [to be] assisted in rimming it, and spindling the stone.
4. To spin (a garment). rare—1.
1887Austin Pr. Lucifer iv. ii, I will..clip the July fleeces for your hands To spindle me a jacket.
5. To recess and taper (a spar for an aeroplane's wing); to cut out (a recess) in a spar.
1918Aeronaut. Jrnl. Feb. 44 Jigs for small parts should be so constructed that several pieces may be spindled at the same time. 1919Pippard & Pritchard Aeroplane Struct. 201 Questions of strength determine the amount which can safely be spindled out. 1920F. T. Hill Pract. Aeroplane Constr. v. 106 Having drilled the spar, the next operation will be to spindle out the recess. 1928Technical Rep. Aeronaut. Res. Committee 1926–7 466 These specimens were first formed..with a length of 2 inches spindled to give a cross section geometrically similar to the fractured portion of the spar. |