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.
Any one of various other implements, such as one used in knitting or crocheting.
A slender pointer or indicator on a dial, scale, or similar part of a mechanical device.
A magnetic needle.
A hypodermic needle.
Informal A hypodermic injection; a shot.
A slender piece of jewel or steel used to transmit vibrations from the grooves of a phonograph record.
A slender pointer or indicator on a dial, scale, or similar part of a mechanical device.
A magnetic needle.
A hypodermic needle.
Informal A hypodermic injection; a shot.
A hypodermic needle.
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.
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.
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