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spin - 11 dictionary results

spin

  [spin] verb, spun or (Archaic) span, spun, spin⋅ning, noun
Use spin in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to make (yarn) by drawing out, twisting, and winding fibers: Pioneer women spun yarn on spinning wheels.
2. to form (the fibers of any material) into thread or yarn: The machine spins nylon thread.
3. (of spiders, silkworms, etc.) to produce (a thread, cobweb, gossamer, silk, etc.) by extruding from the body a long, slender filament of a natural viscous matter that hardens in the air.
4. to cause to turn around rapidly, as on an axis; twirl; whirl: to spin a coin on a table.
5. Informal. to play (phonograph records): a job spinning records on a radio show.
6. Metalworking. to shape (sheet metal) into a hollow, rounded form by pressure from a tool while rotating the metal on a lathe or wheel.
7. to produce, fabricate, or evolve in a manner suggestive of spinning thread: to spin a tale of sailing ships and bygone days.
8. Rocketry. to cause intentionally (a rocket or guided missile) to undergo a roll.
9. to draw out, protract, or prolong (often fol. by out): He spun the project out for over three years.
10. British. to flunk a student in an examination or a term's work.
11. Slang. to cause to have a particular bias; influence in a certain direction: His assignment was to spin the reporters after the president's speech.
–verb (used without object)
12. to revolve or rotate rapidly, as the earth or a top.
13. to produce a thread from the body, as spiders or silkworms.
14. to produce yarn or thread by spinning.
15. to move, go, run, ride, or travel rapidly.
16. to have a sensation of whirling; reel: My head began to spin and I fainted.
17. to fish with a spinning or revolving bait.
–noun
18. the act of causing a spinning or whirling motion.
19. a spinning motion given to a ball, wheel, axle, or other object.
20. a downward movement or trend, esp. one that is sudden, alarming, etc.: Steel prices went into a spin.
21. a rapid run, ride, drive, or the like, as for exercise or enjoyment: They went for a spin in the car.
22. Slang. a particular viewpoint or bias, esp. in the media; slant: They tried to put a favorable spin on the news coverage of the controversial speech.
23. Also called tailspin, tail spin. Aeronautics. a maneuver in which an airplane descends in a vertical direction along a helical path of large pitch and small radius at an angle of attack greater than the critical angle, dangerous when not done intentionally or under control.
24. Rocketry.
a. the act of intentionally causing a rocket or guided missile to undergo a roll.
b. a roll so caused.
25. Also called spin angular momentum. Physics. the intrinsic angular momentum characterizing each kind of elementary particle, having one of the values 0, 1/2 , 1, 3/2 , … when measured in units of Planck's constant divided by 2π.
26. Australian. a run of luck; fate.
—Verb phrase
27. spin off,
a. to create something new, as a company or assets, without detracting from or affecting the relative size or stability of the original: After the acquisition, the company was required to spin off about a third of its assets.
b. to derive from or base on something done previously: They took the character of the maid and spun off another TV series.
—Idioms
28. spin one's wheels. wheel (def. 27).
29. spin out, (of an automobile) to undergo a spinout.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME spinnen to spin yarn, OE spinnan; c. D, G spinnen, ON spinna, Goth spinnan

Related forms:
spin⋅na⋅bil⋅i⋅ty, noun
spin⋅na⋅ble, adjective

Synonyms:
7. develop, narrate, relate. 9. extend, lengthen. 11. gyrate. See turn.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To spin
spin   (spĭn)   
v.   spun (spŭn), spin·ning, spins

v.   tr.
    1. To draw out and twist (fibers) into thread.
    2. To form (thread or yarn) in this manner.
    3. To relate or create: spun tales for the children.
    4. To prolong or extend: spin out a visit with an old friend.
  2. To form (a web or cocoon, for example) by extruding viscous filaments.
  3. To make or produce by or as if by drawing out and twisting.
    1. To relate or create: spun tales for the children.
    2. To prolong or extend: spin out a visit with an old friend.
  5. To cause to rotate swiftly; twirl.
  6. To shape or manufacture by a twirling or rotating process.
  7. To provide an interpretation of (a statement or event, for example), especially in a way meant to sway public opinion: "a messenger who spins bogus research into a vile theology of hatred" (William A. Henry III).
  8. Slang To play (a phonograph record or records), especially as a disc jockey.
v.   intr.
  1. To make thread or yarn by drawing out and twisting fibers.
  2. To extrude viscous filaments, forming a web or cocoon.
  3. To rotate rapidly; whirl. See Synonyms at turn.
  4. To seem to be whirling, as from dizziness; reel: My head spun after doing a cartwheel.
  5. To ride or drive rapidly.
  6. To fish with a light rod, lure, and line and a reel with a stationary spool.
n.  
  1. The act of spinning.
  2. A swift whirling motion.
  3. A state of mental confusion.
  4. Informal A short drive in a vehicle: took a spin in the new car.
  5. The flight condition of an aircraft in a nose-down, spiraling, stalled descent.
    1. A distinctive point of view, emphasis, or interpretation: "Dryden . . . was adept at putting spin on an apparently neutral recital of facts" (Robert M. Adams).
    2. A distinctive character or style: an innovative chef who puts a new spin on traditional fare.
    3. The intrinsic angular momentum of a subatomic particle. Also called spin angular momentum.
    4. The total angular momentum of an atomic nucleus.
    5. A quantum number expressing spin angular momentum.
  7. Physics
    1. The intrinsic angular momentum of a subatomic particle. Also called spin angular momentum.
    2. The total angular momentum of an atomic nucleus.
    3. A quantum number expressing spin angular momentum.
Phrasal Verb(s):
spin offTo derive (a company or product, for example) from something larger.
spin outTo rotate out of control, as a skidding car leaving a roadway.

Idiom(s):
spin (one's) wheels Informal To expend effort with no result.

[Middle English spinnen, from Old English spinnan; see (s)pen- in Indo-European roots.]
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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Spin

Spin\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spun(Archaic imp. Span); p. pr. & vb. n. Spinning.] [AS. spinnan; akin to D. & G. spinnen, Icel. & Sw. spinna, Dan. spinde, Goth. spinnan, and probably to E. span. [root]170. Cf. Span, v. t., Spider.]

1. To draw out, and twist into threads, either by the hand or machinery; as, to spin wool, cotton, or flax; to spin goat's hair; to produce by drawing out and twisting a fibrous material.

All the yarn she [Penelope] spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths. --Shak.

2. To draw out tediously; to form by a slow process, or by degrees; to extend to a great length; -- with out; as, to spin out large volumes on a subject.

Do you mean that story is tediously spun out? --Sheridan.

3. To protract; to spend by delays; as, to spin out the day in idleness.

By one delay after another they spin out their whole lives. --L'Estrange.

4. To cause to turn round rapidly; to whirl; to twirl; as, to spin a top.

5. To form (a web, a cocoon, silk, or the like) 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.

6. (Mech.) 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.

To spin a yarn (Naut.), to tell a story, esp. a long or fabulous tale.

To spin hay (Mil.), to twist it into ropes for convenient carriage on an expedition.

To spin street yarn, to gad about gossiping. [Collog.]

Spin

Spin\, v. i. 1. To practice spinning; to work at drawing and twisting threads; to make yarn or thread from fiber; as, the woman knows how to spin; a machine or jenny spins with great exactness.

They neither know to spin, nor care to toll. --Prior.

2. To move round rapidly; to whirl; to revolve, as a top or a spindle, about its axis.

Round about him spun the landscape, Sky and forest reeled together. --Longfellow.

With a whirligig of jubilant mosquitoes spinning about each head. --G. W. Cable.

3. To stream or issue in a thread or a small current or jet; as, blood spinsfrom a vein. --Shak.

4. To move swifty; as, to spin along the road in a carriage, on a bicycle, etc. [Colloq.]

Spin

Spin\, n. 1. The act of spinning; as, the spin of a top; a spin a bicycle. [Colloq.]

2. (Kinematics) Velocity of rotation about some specified axis.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : spin
Spanish: hacer girar,
German: herumwirbeln,
Japanese: 回転する
More Translations »

spin

vi. Equivalent to buzz. More common among C and Unix programmers.
Jargon File 4.2.0
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spin 
O.E. spinnan "draw out and twist fibers into thread," from P.Gmc. *spenwanan (cf. O.N., O.Fris. spinna, Dan. spinde, Du. spinnen, O.H.G. spinnan, Ger. spinnen, Goth. spinnan), from PIE *(s)pen- "stretch" (cf. Armenian henum "I weave," Gk. patos "garment, lit. "that which is spun," Lith. pinu "I plait, braid," spandau "I spin," M.Welsh cy-ffiniden "spider;" see span (v.)). Sense of "to cause to turn rapidly" is from 1612; meaning "revolve, turn around rapidly" first recorded 1667. The noun meaning "fairly rapid ride" is from 1856. Meaning "attempt to influence reporters' minds after an event has taken place but before they have written about it" seems to have risen to popularity in the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign; e.g. spin doctor, first attested 1984. Spinning wheel is attested from 1404; spinning-jenny is from 1783 (see jenny); invented by James Hargreaves c.1764-7, patented 1770. Slang spin off (v.) is from 1957, from the noun phrase, which is first attested 1951, in a corporate sense.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: spin
Pronunciation: 'spin
Function: noun
1 : a quantum characteristic of an elementary particle that is visualized as the rotation of theparticle on its axis and that is responsible for measurable angular momentum and magnetic moment
2 : the angular momentum which is associated with spin, whose magnitude isquantized, and which may assume either of two possible directions; also : the angular momentum of a system of elementary particles derived from their spins and orbital motions—see SPIN ECHO, SPIN LABEL
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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spin   (spĭn)  Pronunciation Key 
  1. The intrinsic angular momentum of a rigid body or particle, especially a subatomic particle. Also called spin angular momentum.
  2. The total angular momentum of a physical system, such as an electron orbital or an atomic nucleus.
  3. A quantum number expressing spin angular momentum; the actual angular momentum is a quantum number multiplied by Dirac's constant. Fermions have spin values that are integer multiples of 1/2 , while bosons have spin values that are integer multiples of 1.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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spin programming, jargon
Equivalent to buzz. More common among C and Unix programmers.
[The Jargon File]
(2008-01-21)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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spin

In addition to the idioms beginning with spin, also see go into a tailspin; make one's head spin; put a spin on.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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