a rounded rod, usually of wood, tapering toward each end, used in hand-spinning to twist into thread the fibers drawn from the mass on the distaff, and on which the thread is wound as it is spun.

the rod on a spinning wheel by which the thread is twisted and on which it is wound.

one of the rods of a spinning machine that bear the bobbins on which the spun thread is wound.

any rod or pin suggestive of a spindle used in spinning, as one that turns around or on which something turns; an axle, axis, or shaft.

a vertical shaft that serves to center a phonograph record on a turntable.

either of two shafts or arbors that support the work on a lathe, one (live spindle) on the headstock, rotating with and imparting motion to the work, the other (dead spindle) on the tailstock, motionless.

a small axis, arbor, or mandrel.

an iron rod or the like, usually with a ball or cage at the top, fixed to a rock, sunken reef, etc., to serve as a guide in navigation.

a measure of yarn, containing, for cotton, 15,120 yards (13,825 m), and for linen, 14,400 yards (13,267 m).

a hydrometer.

Cell Biology . a spindle-shaped structure, composed of microtubules, that forms near the cell nucleus during mitosis or meiosis and, as it divides, draws the chromosomes to opposite poles of the cell.

a short, turned or circular ornament, as in a baluster or stair rail.

spindle file.

Eastern New England . a tassel on an ear of corn.

Chiefly New Jersey and Delaware Valley . dragonfly.

spindle side.

to give the form of a spindle to.

to provide or equip with a spindle or spindles.

to impale (a card or paper) on a spindle, as for sorting purposes.

to shoot up, or grow, into a long, slender stalk or stem, as a plant.

to grow tall and slender, often disproportionately so.

noun

axis , axle , baluster , mandrel , pin , pivot , rachis , rod , shaft , stalk , stem