reel n 1: a roll of photographic film holding a series of frames to be projected by a movie projector 2: music composed for dancing a reel 3: winder consisting of a revolving spool with a handle; attached to a fishing rod 4: a winder around which thread or tape or film or other flexible materials can be wound [syn: bobbin, spool, reel] 5: a lively dance of Scottish Highlanders; marked by circular moves and gliding steps [syn: reel, Scottish reel] 6: an American country dance which starts with the couples facing each other in two lines [syn: Virginia reel, reel] v 1: walk as if unable to control one's movements; "The drunken man staggered into the room" [syn: stagger, reel, keel, lurch, swag, careen] 2: revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis; "The dervishes whirl around and around without getting dizzy" [syn: spin, spin around, whirl, reel, gyrate] 3: wind onto or off a reel reel

reel I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hrēol; akin to Old Norse hræll weaver's reed, Greek krekein to weave Date: before 12th century 1. a revolvable device on which something flexible is wound: as a. a small windlass at the butt of a fishing rod for the line b. chiefly British a spool or bobbin for sewing thread c. a flanged spool for photographic film; especially one for motion pictures 2. a quantity of something wound on a reel II. verb Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to wind on or as if on a reel 2. to draw by reeling a line <reel a fish in> intransitive verb to turn a reel • reelable adjective III. verb Etymology: Middle English relen, probably from reel, noun Date: 14th century intransitive verb 1. a. to turn or move round and round b. to be in a whirl 2. to behave in a violent disorderly manner 3. to waver or fall back (as from a blow) 4. to walk or move unsteadily transitive verb to cause to reel IV. noun Date: 1572 a reeling motion V. noun Etymology: probably from ⁴reel Date: circa 1585 1. a lively Scottish-Highland dance; also the music for this dance 2. Virginia reel reel

reel
n. & v.
--n.
1 a cylindrical device on which thread, silk, yarn, paper, film, wire, etc., are wound.
2 a quantity of thread etc. wound on a reel.
3 a device for winding and unwinding a line as required, esp. in fishing.
4 a revolving part in various machines.
5 a a lively folk or Scottish dance, of two or more couples facing each other. b a piece of music for this.
--v.
1 tr. wind (thread, a fishing-line, etc.) on a reel.
2 tr. (foll. by in, up) draw (fish etc.) in or up by the use of a reel.
3 intr. stand or walk or run unsteadily.
4 intr. be shaken mentally or physically.
5 intr. rock from side to side, or swing violently.
6 intr. dance a reel.
Phrases and idioms:
reel off say or recite very rapidly and without apparent effort.
Derivatives:
reeler n.
Etymology: OE hreol, of unkn. orig. reel

reel (reels, reeling, reeled) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A reel is a cylindrical object around which you wrap something such as cinema film, magnetic tape, fishing line, or cotton thread. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use spool) ...a 30m reel of cable. N-COUNT: oft N of n 2. If someone reels, they move about in an unsteady way as if they are going to fall. He was reeling a little. He must be very drunk... He lost his balance and reeled back... VERB: V, V adv/prep 3. If you are reeling from a shock, you are feeling extremely surprised or upset because of it. I'm still reeling from the shock of hearing of it... It left us reeling with disbelief. VERB: usu cont, V from n, V prep 4. If you say that your brain or your mind is reeling, you mean that you are very confused because you have too many things to think about. His mind reeled at the question. VERB: V reel

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 \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 \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 \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 \Reel\, n. The act or motion of reeling or staggering; as, a drunken reel. --Shak. reel

reel v. n. 1. Totter, stagger, falter, vacillate, waver. 2. Whirl, spin. reel

reel ̈ɪri:l v. 1 stagger, totter, waver, stumble, lurch, falter, roll, rock, sway, flounder, pitch: Chris came reeling down the lane, dead drunk. 2 reel off. list, recite, rattle off, enumerate, review, itemize, name, read off, call off, run through, run over: Under questioning, the suspect began to reel off the names of his accomplices. reel

147 Moby Thesaurus words for "reel": Charybdis, Chinese windlass, Spanish windlass, avoid, be drunk, be intoxicated, blench, blink, blunder, bob, bobble, call off, capstan, careen, career, centrifugate, centrifuge, coggle, crab, crank, crank in, cringe, dangle, dizzy round, dodge, draw back, draw in, draw taut, duck, eddy, enumerate, evade, fade, fall back, falter, flinch, flounce, flounder, fluctuate, flutter, gurge, gyre, hang back, heave, hobbyhorse, itemize, jib, labor, librate, list, lurch, maelstrom, make heavy weather, name, nutate, oscillate, pass out, pendulate, pirouette, pitch, pitch and plunge, pitch and toss, plunge, pound, pull back, pull in, purl, quail, rat race, rear, recite, recoil, reel back, reel in, reel off, resonate, retreat, review, rock, roll, round, run over, run through, scend, see double, seethe, shake, sheer off, shrink, shrink back, shy, sidestep, spin, stagger, stammer, start aside, start back, struggle, stumble, surge, swag, sway, swerve, swim, swing, swinging, swirl, tackle, tauten, teeter, thrash about, tighten, topple, toss, toss and tumble, toss and turn, totter, trim, tumble, turn, turn aside, twirl, vacillate, vibrate, volutation, vortex, wag, waggle, wallop, wallow, wave, waver, weasel, weasel out, weave, welter, wheel, whirl, whirligig, whirlpool, whirlwind, wince, winch, wind in, windlass, wobble, yaw

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