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spindling

[spind-ling] Origin

spin·dling

[spind-ling]
adjective
1.
long or tall and slender, often disproportionately so.
2.
growing into a long, slender stalk or stem, often too slender or weak to remain upright.
noun
3.
a spindling person or thing.

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Spindling is always a great word to know.
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

Origin:
1740–50; spindle + -ing2, -ing1
Dictionary.com Unabridged

spin·dle

[spin-dl] noun, adjective, verb, -dled, -dling.
noun
1.
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.
2.
the rod on a spinning wheel by which the thread is twisted and on which it is wound.
3.
one of the rods of a spinning machine that bear the bobbins on which the spun thread is wound.
4.
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.
5.
a vertical shaft that serves to center a phonograph record on a turntable.
EXPAND
6.
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.
7.
a small axis, arbor, or mandrel.
8.
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.
9.
a measure of yarn, containing, for cotton, 15,120 yards (13,825 meters), and for linen, 14,400 yards (13,267 meters).
10.
a hydrometer.
11.
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.
12.
a short, turned or circular ornament, as in a baluster or stair rail.
14.
Eastern New England. a tassel on an ear of corn.
15.
Chiefly New Jersey and Delaware Valley. dragonfly.
COLLAPSE
adjective
verb (used with object)
17.
to give the form of a spindle to.
18.
to provide or equip with a spindle or spindles.
19.
to impale (a card or paper) on a spindle, as for sorting purposes.
verb (used without object)
20.
to shoot up, or grow, into a long, slender stalk or stem, as a plant.
21.
to grow tall and slender, often disproportionately so.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English spindel (noun), Old English spin(e)l; see spin, -le; cognate with German Spindel

spin·dle·like, adjective
mul·ti·spin·dled, adjective


15. See dragonfly.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
spindling (ˈspɪndlɪŋ)
 
adj
1.  long and slender, esp disproportionately so
2.  (of stalks, shoots, etc) becoming long and slender
 
n
3.  a spindling person or thing

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

spindle
O.E. spinel, prop. "an instrument for spinning," from stem of spinnan (see spin), with intrusive -d-. Related to O.S. spinnila, O.Fris. spindel, O.H.G. spinnila, Ger. Spindel. As a type of something slender, it is attested from c.1570. Spindly is from 1651.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

spindle spin·dle (spĭn'dl)
n.

  1. A fusiform structure, usually composed of microtubules.

  2. Mitotic spindle.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
spindle   (spĭn'dl)  Pronunciation Key 
A network of protein fibers that forms in the cytoplasm of a cell during cell division. The spindle grows forth from the centrosomes and attaches to the chromosomes after the latter have been duplicated, and the nuclear membrane dissolves. Once attached, the spindle fibers contract, pulling the duplicate chromosomes apart to opposite poles of the dividing cell. See more at meiosis, mitosis.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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