needle definition | Dictionary.com

nee⋅dle

[need-l]

noun, verb, -dled, -dling.

–noun

1.	a small, slender, rodlike instrument, usually of polished steel, with a sharp point at one end and an eye or hole for thread at the other, for passing thread through cloth to make stitches in sewing.

2.	any of various similar, usually considerably larger, implements for making stitches, as one for use in knitting or one hooked at the end for use in crocheting.

Medicine/Medical.

a.	a slender, pointed, steel instrument used in sewing or piercing tissues, as in suturing.

b.	hypodermic needle.

4.	Informal. an injection of a drug or medicine; shot.

5.	any of various objects resembling or suggesting a needle.

6.	the tapered stylus at the end of a phonographic tonearm, used to transmit vibrations from a record groove to a transducer for conversion to audible signals.

7.	Electricity. magnetic needle.

8.	a pointed instrument, or stylus, used in engraving, etching, or the like.

9.	Botany. a needle-shaped leaf, as of a conifer: a pine needle.

10.	Zoology. a slender sharp spicule.

11.	Chemistry, Mineralogy. a needlelike crystal.

12.	a sharp-pointed mass or pinnacle of rock.

13.	an obelisk or a tapering, four-sided shaft of stone: Cleopatra's Needle.

14.	Also called needle beam. Building Trades. a short beam passed through a wall as a temporary support.

–verb (used with object)

15.	to sew or pierce with or as if with a needle: to needle a patch on a sleeve.

16.

Informal.

a.	to prod or goad (someone) to a specified action: We needled her into going with us.

b.	to tease: We needled him about his big ears.

17.	Slang. to add alcohol or ether to (a beverage): to needle beer.

–verb (used without object)

18.	to form needles in crystallization.

19.	to work with a needle.

—Idioms

20.	on the needle, Slang. taking drugs by injection, esp. habitually.

21.	the needle, Informal. irritating abuse; teasing; heckling (used esp. in the phrases give someone the needle and get the needle).

Origin:
bef. 900; 1880–85 for def. 16; ME nedle, OE nǣdl, c. G Nadel; akin to L nēre to spin

Related forms:

nee⋅dle⋅like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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drag·on·fly (drāg'ən-flī')

n. Any of various large insects of the order Odonata or suborder Anisoptera, having a long slender body and two pairs of narrow, net-veined wings that are usually held outstretched while the insect is at rest. Also called regionally darner, darning needle, devil's darning needle, ear sewer, mosquito fly, mosquito hawk, needle, skeeter hawk, snake doctor, snake feeder, spindle.
Regional terms for the dragonfly are numerous—the Dictionary of American Regional English lists nearly 80 of them. The greatest variety of terms is to be found in the South, where the most widespread term is snake doctor (a name based on a folk belief that dragonflies take care of snakes). The Midland equivalent is snake feeder. Speakers from the Lower South and the Mississippi Valley, on the other hand, are more likely to refer to the same insect as a mosquito fly, mosquito hawk, or, in the South Atlantic states, a skeeter hawk. The imagery outside the South often alludes to the insect's shape rather than its behavior or diet: speakers in the West, Upper North, and New England call it a darner, darning needle, or, less commonly, a devil's darning needle, and those in the Upper North also refer to it just as a needle; those in Coastal New Jersey, a spindle; and those in the San Francisco Bay area, an ear sewer, that is, a creature that sews up your ears.

nee·dle (nēd'l)

(click for larger image in new window)
n.

1. A small, slender implement used for sewing or surgical suturing, made usually of polished steel and having an eye at one end through which a length of thread is passed and held.
2. Any one of various other implements, such as one used in knitting or crocheting.
3. A slender pointer or indicator on a dial, scale, or similar part of a mechanical device.
4. A magnetic needle.
5. A hypodermic needle.
6. Informal A hypodermic injection; a shot.
A slender piece of jewel or steel used to transmit vibrations from the grooves of a phonograph record.
1. A slender pointer or indicator on a dial, scale, or similar part of a mechanical device.
2. A magnetic needle.
3. A hypodermic needle.
4. Informal A hypodermic injection; a shot.
1. A hypodermic needle.
2. Informal A hypodermic injection; a shot.
Chiefly Upper Northern U.S. See dragonfly. See Regional Note at dragonfly.
A narrow stiff leaf, as those of conifers.
A fine, sharp projection, as a spine of a sea urchin or a crystal.
A sharp-pointed instrument used in engraving.
Informal A goading, provoking, or teasing remark or act.

v. nee·dled, nee·dling, nee·dles

v. tr.

To prick, pierce, or stitch with a small, slender, sharp-pointed implement.
Informal To goad, provoke, or tease.
Slang To increase the alcoholic content of (a beverage).

v. intr.
To sew or do similar work with a small, slender, sharp-pointed implement.

[Middle English nedle, from Old English nǣdl; see (s)nē- in Indo-European roots.]
nee'dler n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Needle

Nee"dle\, n. [OE. nedle, AS. n?dl; akin to D. neald, OS. n[=a]dla, G. nadel, OHG. n[=a]dal, n[=a]dala, Icel. n[=a]l, Sw. n[*a]l, Dan. naal, and also to G. n["a]hen to sew, OHG. n[=a]jan, L. nere to spin, Gr. ?, and perh. to E. snare: cf. Gael. & Ir. snathad needle, Gael. snath thread, G. schnur string, cord.]

1. A small instrument of steel, sharply pointed at one end, with an eye to receive a thread, -- used in sewing. --Chaucer.

Note: In some needles(as for sewing machines) the eye is at the pointed end, but in ordinary needles it is at the blunt end.

2. See Magnetic needle, under Magnetic.

3. A slender rod or wire used in knitting; a knitting needle; also, a hooked instrument which carries the thread or twine, and by means of which knots or loops are formed in the process of netting, knitting, or crocheting.

4. (Bot.) One of the needle-shaped secondary leaves of pine trees. See Pinus.

5. Any slender, pointed object, like a needle, as a pointed crystal, a sharp pinnacle of rock, an obelisk, etc.

Dipping needle. See under Dipping.

Needle bar, the reciprocating bar to which the needle of a sewing machine is attached.

Needle beam (Arch.), to shoring, the horizontal cross timber which goes through the wall or a pier, and upon which the weight of the wall rests, when a building is shored up to allow of alterations in the lower part.

Needle furze (Bot.), a prickly leguminous plant of Western Europe; the petty whin (Genista Anglica).

Needle gun, a firearm loaded at the breech with a cartridge carrying its own fulminate, which is exploded by driving a slender needle, or pin, into it.

Needle loom (Weaving), a loom in which the weft thread is carried through the shed by a long eye-pointed needle instead of by a shuttle.

Needle ore (Min.), acicular bismuth; a sulphide of bismuth, lead, and copper occuring in acicular crystals; -- called also aikinite.

Needle shell (Zo["o]l.), a sea urchin.

Needle spar (Min.), aragonite.

Needle telegraph, a telegraph in which the signals are given by the deflections of a magnetic needle to the right or to the left of a certain position.

Sea needle (Zo["o]l.), the garfish.

Needle

Nee"dle\, v. t. To form in the shape of a needle; as, to needle crystals.

Needle

Nee"dle\, v. i. To form needles; to crystallize in the form of needles.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : needle

Spanish: aguja,

German: Nadel,

Japanese: 針

More Translations »

needle

O.E. naeðlæ, nedlæ, from P.Gmc. *næthlo (cf. O.S. nathla, O.N. nal, O.Fris. nedle, O.H.G. nadala, Ger. Nadel, Goth. neþla), lit. "a tool for sewing," from PIE *net-la-, from base *(s)ne- "to sew, to spin" (cf. Skt. snayati "wraps up," Gk. nein "to spin," L. nere "to spin," O.C.S. niti "thread," O.Ir. snathat "needle," Welsh nyddu "to sew," nodwydd "needle") + instrumental suffix *-tla.

"To seke out one lyne in all hys bookes wer to go looke a nedle in a meadow." [Thomas More, c.1530]

Meaning "piece of magnetized steel in a compass" is from 1375; the surgical instrument so called from 1727; sense of "leaf of a fir or pine tree" first attested 1798. Needlework first attested 1382. Needlepoint "point lace made with the needle" is from 1865. The verb sense of "goad, provoke" is first attested 1881, probably from meaning "haggle in making a bargain" (1812).

Main Entry: ¹nee·dle
Pronunciation: 'nEd-^&l
Function: noun
1 : a small slender usually steel instrument designed tocarry sutures when sewing tissues in surgery
2 : a slender hollow instrument for introducing material into or removing material from the body parenterally

Main Entry: ²needle
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: nee·dled; nee·dling /'nEd-li[ng], -^&l-i[ng]/
: to puncture, operate on, or inject with a needle <needling a cataract> <needles the population against polio>

needle nee·dle (nēd'l)
n.

A slender, usually sharp-pointed instrument used for puncturing tissues, suturing, or passing a ligature around an artery.
A hollow, slender, sharp-pointed instrument used for injection or aspiration.

v. nee·dled, nee·dl·ing, nee·dles
To separate tissues by means of one or two needles in the dissection of small parts.

needle (nēd'l) Pronunciation Key

A narrow, stiff leaf, as of firs, pines, and other conifers. The reduced surface area of needles minimizes water loss and allows needle-bearing plants to live in dry climates. See more at leaf.
See hypodermic needle.

Needle

used only in the proverb, "to pass through a needle's eye" (Matt. 19:24; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25). Some interpret the expression as referring to the side gate, close to the principal gate, usually called the "eye of a needle" in the East; but it is rather to be taken literally. The Hebrew females were skilled in the use of the needle (Ex. 28:39; 26:36; Judg. 5:30).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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needle

In addition to the idiom beginning with needle, also see on pins and needles.

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