Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
Related Searches
on Ask.com
Synonyms
Nearby Entries
reel - 15 dictionary results
Fishing Reels
 Lowest Prices Guaranteed Free Shipping On All Orders
 www.Reeldealsonline.com
Reel
 Northern Tool is a Top Supplier of Brand-Name Air Tools. Shop Now!
 NorthernTool.com/AirTools

reel

1  [reel]
Use reel in a Sentence
–noun
1. a cylinder, frame, or other device that turns on an axis and is used to wind up or pay out something.
2. a rotatory device attached to a fishing rod at the butt, for winding up or letting out the line.
3. Photography.
a. a spool on which film, esp. motion-picture film, is wound.
b. a roll of motion-picture film.
c. a holder for roll film in a developing tank.
4. a quantity of something wound on a reel.
5. Chiefly British. a spool of sewing thread; a roller or bobbin of sewing thread.
–verb (used with object)
6. to wind on a reel, as thread, yarn, etc.
7. to unwind (silk filaments) from a cocoon.
8. to pull or draw by winding a line on a reel: to reel a fish in.
—Verb phrase
9. reel off, to say, write, or produce quickly and easily: The old sailor reeled off one story after another.
—Idiom
10. off the reel,
a. without pause; continuously.
b. without delay or hesitation; immediately.
Also, right off the reel.
Origin:
bef. 1050; (n.) ME rele, OE hrēol; c. ON hræll weaver's rod; (v.) ME relen, deriv. of rele

Related forms:
reel⋅a⋅ble, adjective

reel

2  [reel]
–verb (used without object)
1. to sway or rock under a blow, shock, etc.: The boxer reeled and fell.
2. to waver or fall back: The troops reeled and then ran.
3. to sway about in standing or walking, as from dizziness, intoxication, etc.; stagger.
4. to turn round and round; whirl.
5. to have a sensation of whirling: His brain reeled.
–verb (used with object)
6. to cause to reel.
–noun
7. an act of reeling; a reeling or staggering movement.
Origin:
1300–50; ME relen, appar. deriv. of rele reel 1

Synonyms:
3. See stagger.

reel

3  [reel]
–noun
1. a lively Scottish dance.
2. Virginia reel.
3. music for either of these dances.
Origin:
1575–85; special use of reel 2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To reel
reel 1   (rēl)   
n.  
  1. A device, such as a cylinder, spool, or frame, that turns on an axis and is used for winding and storing rope, tape, film, or other flexible materials.
  2. A cylindrical device attached to a fishing rod to let out or wind up the line.
  3. The quantity of wire, film, or other material wound on one reel.
  4. A set of curved lawn-mower blades that rotate around a bar parallel to the ground, cutting grass while moving against a stationary straight blade.
tr.v.   reeled, reel·ing, reels
  1. To wind on or let out from a reel.
  2. To recover by winding on a reel: reel in a large fish.
Phrasal Verb(s):
reel offTo recite fluently and usually at length: reeled off a long list of names and dates.

[Middle English, from Old English hrēol.]
reel'a·ble adj.
reel 2   (rēl)   
v.   reeled, reel·ing, reels

v.   intr.
  1. To be thrown off balance or fall back: reeled from the sharp blow.
  2. To stagger, lurch, or sway, as from drunkenness: reeled down the alley.
  3. To go round and round in a whirling motion: gulls reeling and diving.
  4. To feel dizzy: My head reeled with the facts and figures.
v.   tr.
To cause to reel.
n.  
  1. A staggering, swaying, or whirling movement.
    1. A moderately fast dance of Scottish origin.
    2. The Virginia reel.
    3. The music for one of these dances.

[Middle English relen, to whirl about, probably from reel, spool; see reel1.]
reel'er n.
reel 3   (rēl)   
n.   Maine
A hand-held hammer used in a quarry for shaping granite blocks. See Regional Note at reeling.

[Origin unknown.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Reel

Reel\ (r?l), n. [Gael. righil.] A lively dance of the Highlanders of Scotland; also, the music to the dance; -- often called Scotch reel.

Virginia reel, the common name throughout the United States for the old English "country dance," or contradance (contredanse). --Bartlett.

Reel

Reel\, n. [AS. kre?l: cf. Icel. kr?ll a weaver's reed or sley.]

1. A frame with radial arms, or a kind of spool, turning on an axis, on which yarn, threads, lines, or the like, are wound; as, a log reel, used by seamen; an angler's reel; a garden reel.

2. A machine on which yarn is wound and measured into lays and hanks, -- for cotton or linen it is fifty-four inches in circuit; for worsted, thirty inches. --McElrath.

3. (Agric.) A device consisting of radial arms with horizontal stats, connected with a harvesting machine, for holding the stalks of grain in position to be cut by the knives.

Reel oven, a baker's oven in which bread pans hang suspended from the arms of a kind of reel revolving on a horizontal axis. --Knight.

Reel

Reel\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reeled (r?ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Reeling. ]

1. To roll. [Obs.]

And Sisyphus an huge round stone did reel. --Spenser.

2. To wind upon a reel, as yarn or thread.

Reel

Reel\, v. i. [Cf. Sw. ragla. See 2d Reel.]

1. To incline, in walking, from one side to the other; to stagger.

They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man. --Ps. cvii. 27.

He, with heavy fumes oppressed, Reeled from the palace, and retired to rest. --Pope.

The wagons reeling under the yellow sheaves. --Macaulay.

2. To have a whirling sensation; to be giddy.

In these lengthened vigils his brain often reeled. --Hawthorne.

Reel

Reel\, n. The act or motion of reeling or staggering; as, a drunken reel. --Shak.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Cite This Source
Language Translation for : reel
Spanish: carrete, bobina,
German: die Rolle,
Japanese: 糸巻き状のもの
More Translations »

reel  (n.1)
"frame turning on an axis," late O.E. hreol "reel for winding thread," from P.Gmc. *khrekhulaz; probably related to hrægel "garment," and O.N. hræll "spindle." Specifically of the fishing rod attachment from 1726; of a film projector apparatus from 1896. The verb meaning "to wind on a reel" is recorded from 1393, from the noun. To reel off "rattle off without pause or effort" is from 1837. Reel-to-reel type of tape deck is attested from 1961.

reel  (n.2)
"lively Highland dance," 1585, probably a special use of the verb sense of reel (n.1). Applied to the music for such a dance from 1591.

reel  (v.)
"to whirl around," c.1300, probably from reel (n.1), on notion of "spinning." Of the mind, from 1796.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

reel

in motion pictures, a light circular frame with radial arms and a central axis, originally designed to hold approximately 1,000 feet (300 m) of 35-millimetre motion-picture film. In the early days of motion pictures, each reel ran about 10 minutes, and the length of a picture was indicated by the number of its reels. A film was a "one-reeler," a "two-reeler," or longer.

Learn more about reel with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Cite This Source
Search another word or see reel on Thesaurus | Reference
Fishing Reels
 Lowest Prices Guaranteed Free Shipping On All Orders
 www.Reeldealsonline.com
Reel
 Northern Tool is a Top Supplier of Brand-Name Air Tools. Shop Now!
 NorthernTool.com/AirTools