spindle

noun

1. A rod used for spinning and then winding fibres (especially wool), usually consisting of a shaft and a circular whorl positioned at either the upper or lower end of the shaft when suspended vertically from the forming thread.

   “Anna Pavlovna’s soirée was now in full swing. On all sides the spindles were humming away non-stop.”

2. A rod which turns, or on which something turns.

   “the spindle of a vane”

   “A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.”

3. A rotary axis of a machine tool or power tool.
4. The axle of a bottom bracket.

   “Check ball bearings for pitting, cracks, disorderly conduct; cups and cones for uneven wear; spindle for straightness.”

5. Certain of the species of the genus Euonymus, originally used for making the spindles used for spinning wool.
6. An upright spike for holding paper documents by skewering.

   “check spindle”

   “receipt spindle”

7. The fusee of a watch.
8. Any long and slender stalk resembling a spindle from Euonymus.
9. A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards; in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.
10. A solid generated by the revolution of a curved line about its base or double ordinate or chord.
11. Any marine univalve shell of the genus Tibia; a spindle stromb.
12. Any marine gastropod with a spindle-shaped shell formerly in one of the three invalid genera called Fusus.
13. A cytoskeletal structure formed during mitosis.
14. A dragonfly.
15. A plastic container for packaging optical discs such as CDs or DVDs, having a central column that passes through the central holes in the discs and keeps them in a stack.
16. A muscle spindle.
17. A sleep spindle.

    “One of the fascinating characteristics of sleep spindles is that they are generated by the thalamic reticular nucleus, and do not occur in the presence of NE. In fact, LC neurons fall silent in the second preceding each spindle […]”

verb

1. (transitive)To make into a long tapered shape.
2. (intransitive)To take on a long tapered shape.
3. (transitive)To impale on a device for holding paper documents.

   “Do not fold, spindle or mutilate this document.”

name

1. A surname transferred from the nickname.