Adjacent Words

Spinning definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SPIN'NING, ppr. Drawing out and twisting into threads; drawing out; delaying.
SPIN'NING, n.
1. The act, practice or art of drawing out and twisting into threads, as wool, flax and cotton.
2. The act or practice of forming webs, as spiders.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: creating thread

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1855 a method of fishing in which a lure is cast by use of a light flexible rod, a spinning reel, and a light line

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. the act or an instance of spinning. Phrases and idioms: spinning-jenny hist. a machine for spinning with more than one spindle at a time. spinning-machine a machine that spins fibres continuously. spinning-top = TOP(2). spinning-wheel a household machine for spinning yarn or thread with a spindle driven by a wheel attached to a crank or treadle.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Spinning Spin"ning, a. & n. from Spin. Spinning gland (Zo["o]l.), one of the glands which form the material for spinning the silk of silkworms and other larv[ae]. Spinning house, formerly a common name for a house of correction in England, the women confined therein being employed in spinning. Spinning jenny (Mach.), an engine or machine for spinning wool or cotton, by means of a large number of spindles revolving simultaneously. Spinning mite (Zo["o]l.), the red spider. Spinning wheel, a machine for spinning yarn or thread, in which a wheel drives a single spindle, and is itself driven by the hand, or by the foot acting on a treadle.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

see spin

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

spin'-ing: Although spinning must have been one of the commonest of the crafts in Bible times, it is mentioned definitely in three passages only, namely, Ex 35:25 f, where Tawah, is so translated, and in Mt 6:28; Lu 12:27 nethein), where Jesus refers to the lilies of the field as neither toiling nor spinning.

The materials commonly spun were flax, cotton, wool, goats' hair. Goats' hair required little preparation other than washing, before spinning. Wool was first cleansed and then carded. The present method of carding, which no doubt is of ancient origin, is to pile the wool on a mat and then detach the fibers from each other by snapping a bow-string against the pile. The bow is specially constructed and carefully balanced so that it can be easily held with one hand while with the other the string is struck with a pestle-shaped mallet like a carver's mallet. The same instrument is used for carding cotton.

Flax was treated in ancient times as today, if the Egyptian sculptures have been rightly interpreted. The stalks after being stripped of their seeds were first retted. This operation consisted in soaking the stems in water until fermentation or rotting had so loosened the fibers that they could be separated from each other by combing. A series of washings and long exposure to the weather finally produced what was termed snowy-white linen.

The various fibers, mentioned above, to be made into thread, were gathered into a loose rope which was wound around a distaff or about the left hand. From this reel it was unwound as needed, the fibers more carefully adjusted with the thumbs and two first fingers of both hands, and then the rope twisted by means of a spindle. The spindle varied in form but was always a shaft, 8 to 12 in. in length, provided at one end with a hook or other means of fastening the thread and at the other end with a circular wharve or whorl of stone or other heavy material to give momentum to the rotating spindle. When 2 or 3 ft. of the rope was prepared as mentioned above, the spindle was twirled with the right hand or laid on the thigh and rotated by passing the hand over the shaft. After the thread was twisted it was wound on the spindle, fastened, and a new portion of rope prepared and twisted. The rope was sometimes fastened to a post and the spindle twisted with both hands, in which case the whorl was not necessary (see Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt, I, 317; II, 170, 172). Spinning was the work of both men and women in ancient Egypt. The Bible characterizes it as the work of women (Ex 35; Pr 31:19). The same method of spinning is still used by the women of Syria, although imported yarn is largely taking the place of homespun thread.

See DISTAFF.

James A. Patch

Moby Thesaurus

angular momentum, angular motion, angular velocity, axial motion, bowling, centrifugation, circulation, circumgyration, circumrotation, full circle, gyrating, gyration, pivoting, reeling, revolution, revolving, roll, rolling, rotating, rotation, rotational motion, spin, swinging, swirling, swiveling, trolling, trundling, turbination, turning, twirling, volutation, volution, wheeling, whir, whirling