spin

verb

1. (ergative)To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction.

   “I spun myself around a few times.”

   “Spin the ball on the floor.”

   “She spun around and gave him a big smile.”

   “Round about him spun the landscape, / Sky and forest reeled together, / And his strong heart leaped within him, / As the sturgeon leaps and struggles / In a net to break its meshes.”

   “"Shall we spin for it?" "Might as well." "All right. Here goes. Heads you first and I second. Tails, vice versa." Bill nodded. The coin spun in the air. Jimmy bent to look at it.”

2. (ergative)To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction.
3. (ergative)To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction.
4. (transitive)To make yarn by twisting and winding fibers together.

   “They spin the cotton into thread.”

   “Along the Sunny Bank, or Wat’ry Mead, / Ten thouſand Stalks their various Bloſſoms ſpread : / Peaceful and lowly in their native Soil, / They neither know to ſpin, nor care to toil ; / Yet with confeſs’d Magnificence deride / Our vile Attire, and Impotence of Pride.”

   “I started out by spinning a full bobbin of natural white cotton in the normal Z-spun direction.”

5. (figuratively)To present, describe, or interpret, or to introduce a bias or slant, so as to give something a favorable or advantageous appearance.

   “In every administration there will be spokesmen and public affairs officers who try to spin the news to make the president look good. But this administration is trying to spin scientific data and muzzle scientists toward that end.”

   “This past week[…] Republicans completed their journey through the looking-glass, spinning a new counternarrative of that deadly day.”

6. To make the ball move sideways when it bounces on the pitch.

   “This pitch is usually preferred for spin than pace.”

7. To move sideways when bouncing.

   “Spinning the ball gave him figures of 7-48.”

8. To form into thin strips or ribbons, as with sugar
9. To form (a web, a cocoon, silk, etc.) from threads produced by the extrusion of a viscid, transparent liquid, which hardens on coming into contact with the air; said of the spider, the silkworm, etc.

   “I spin a thread that you can't see / A web of thoughts best left unclean”

10. To shape, as malleable sheet metal, into a hollow form, by bending or buckling it by pressing against it with a smooth hand tool or roller while the metal revolves, as in a lathe.
11. To move swiftly.

    “to spin along the road in a carriage, on a bicycle, etc.”

12. To stream or issue in a thread or a small current or jet.

    “Blood spins from a vein.”

    “Mount them, and make inciſion in their Hides, / That their hot blood may ſpin in Engliſh eyes, / And doubt them with ſuperfluous courage : ha.”

    “And yet, we refuse to simply perceive the dark. Rather than sit within total absence our brains spin imagined stimuli out into the void. After all, how could there truly be nothing there?”

13. (intransitive)To wait in a loop until some condition becomes true.
14. (intransitive)To rotate into the gravel or managing to remain on the straight as a result of bad weather.

    “His car spun in the rains just after finishing lap four.”

15. (informal, transitive)To play (vinyl records, etc.) as a disc jockey.

    “However, for the past six years he has been spinning his novel blend of progressive house and trance music and is finally on the brink of becoming the next luminary DJ.”

16. (intransitive)To use an exercise bicycle, especially as part of a gym class.
17. (intransitive)To ride a bicycle at a fast cadence.
18. (UK, slang, transitive)To search rapidly.

    “But then again, unless someone struck lucky in those first few hours, there weren't even enough detectives to spin a drum [house].”

19. (transitive)To draw out tediously; prolong.

    “to spin a yarn”

20. To fish with a swivel or spoonbait.
21. (archaic, slang, transitive)To reject at an examination; to fail (a student).

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)Rapid circular motion.

   “The car went into a spin.”

   “The skaters demonstrated their spins.”

   “He put some spin on the cue ball.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A state of confusion or disorientation.

   “My mind was in a spin.”

3. (countable, uncountable)A quantum angular momentum associated with subatomic particles, which also creates a magnetic moment.
4. (countable, uncountable)A novel, creative variation of an existing thing or type; a twist.

   “The media has been having a field day not only with the usual tired homophobic innuendos (which one has come to expect) but with new spins on queer bashing that might even seem inventive if they were not so hateful.”

5. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)A favourable comment or interpretation intended to bias opinion on an otherwise unpleasant situation.

   “spin doctor”

   “Try to put a positive spin on the disappointing sales figures.”

   “The politician was mocked in the press for his reliance on spin rather than facts.”

   “He added: "We've always had spin, especially from Government. But this is not spin. This is dishonesty and so it's our rail media's urgent responsibility to call it out because non-specialist journalists across the country will report this and gradually these untruths will be accepted.”

   “Over the course of Yaccarino’s tenure as CEO, she frequently had to put a positive spin on public relations disasters and Musk’s belligerent behavior.”

6. (countable, uncountable)Rotation of the ball as it flies through the air; sideways movement of the ball as it bounces.
7. (countable, uncountable)A condition of flight where a stalled aircraft is simultaneously pitching, yawing, and rolling in a spinning motion.
8. (countable, uncountable)An abnormal condition in journal bearings where the bearing seizes to the rotating shaft and rotates inside the journal, destroying both the shaft and the journal.
9. (countable, uncountable)A brief trip by vehicle, especially one made for pleasure.

   “I'm off out for a spin in my new sports car.”

   “But she opened the door and said "Honey, take me for a spin." / So we drove up town just to get the tags / And I headed her right on down main drag / I could hear everybody laughin' for blocks around / But up there at the court house they didn't laugh / 'Cause to type it up it took the whole staff / And when they got through the title weighed sixty pounds.”

   “Time is running out, so I renounce a spin on a Class 387 for a fast run to Paddington on another Class 800 - a shame as the weather was perfect for pictures. Even so, it's enjoyable - boy, can those trains shift under the wires.”

10. (countable, uncountable)A bundle of spun material; a mass of strands and filaments.

    “She left him alone, and went to get Annie a spin of toffee.”

11. (countable, uncountable)A single play of a record; especially, one broadcast by a radio station.

    “Let's give this classic LP another spin.”

    “Although the Loveless title showed the smallest increase in airplay in the top 10, its number of detections outpaced the nearest bulleted title by more than 350 spins.”

12. (UK, countable, slang, uncountable)A search of a prisoner's cell for forbidden articles.

    “Mr Weedon explains that this is a cell search - known by prisoners as a spin - and for obvious reasons it has to be carried out without any warning.”

13. (countable, dated, uncountable)An unmarried woman; a spinster.

    “1893, Bithia Mary Croker, "To Let" in "To Let" etc., Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1906, p. 1, https://archive.org/details/toletcroker00crok Some years ago, when I was a slim young spin, I came out to India to live with my brother Tom […]”

14. (uncountable)The use of an exercise bicycle, especially as part of a gym class.
15. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping)Clipping of spinnaker.

    ““Frank!” Joe yelled. “Run the spin halyard to the cabin-top winch and pass me the free end!””

16. (slang)A special interest of an autistic person.

    “berdly if your friends were homestuck characters who would they be. //sorry autism wants me dead, berdlys my fav character and hs is my spin. you will never heard the end of it from me”