*spin*

a. [ Cerebrum + spinal. ] (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the central nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cerebro-spinal fluid (Physiol.), a serous fluid secreted by the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. --
Cerebro-spinal meningitis,
Cerebro-spinal fever (Med.), a dangerous epidemic, and endemic, febrile disease, characterized by inflammation of the membranes of the brain and spinal cord, giving rise to severe headaches, tenderness of the back of the neck, paralysis of the ocular muscles, etc. It is sometimes marked by a cutaneous eruption, when it is often called spotted fever. It is not contagious. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A forked piece of wood or plastic, or a small device with a spring clamp, used for fastening clothes on a line. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. 1. A shoemaker; -- jocularly so called from the patron saint of the craft. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A member of a union or association of shoemakers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A kind of ruby. See Spinel. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Seizing; embracing; catching. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Avaricious; greedy of gain; covetous; close; miserly; as, he is a grasping man. -- Grasp"ing*ly, adv. -- Grasp"ing*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Infra + spinal. ] (Anat.) (a) Below the vertebral column, subvertebral. (b) Below the spine; infraspinate; infraspinous.

{ } a. [ Infra + spinate, spinous. ] (Anat.) Below the spine; infraspinal; esp., below the spine of the scapula; as, the infraspinous fossa; the infraspinate muscle. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. (Anat.) Between spines; esp., between the spinous processes of the vertebral column. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. With a lisp; in a lisping manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a project that generates a continuous flow of money.
Syn. -- moneymaker, cash cow. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. To spin out; to finish. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To spin out to too great length; to protract unduly. W. Cartwright. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Anat.) Prevertebral. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. √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. [ 1913 Webster ]

All the yarn she [ Penelope ] spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Do you mean that story is tediously spun out? Sheridan. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To protract; to spend by delays; as, to spin out the day in idleness. [ 1913 Webster ]

By one delay after another they spin out their whole lives. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To cause to turn round rapidly; to whirl; to twirl; as, to spin a top. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

They neither know to spin, nor care to toll. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To move round rapidly; to whirl; to revolve, as a top or a spindle, about its axis. [ 1913 Webster ]

Round about him spun the landscape,
Sky and forest reeled together. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

With a whirligig of jubilant mosquitoes spinning about each head. G. W. Cable. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To stream or issue in a thread or a small current or jet; as, blood spinsfrom a vein. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To move swifty; as, to spin along the road in a carriage, on a bicycle, etc. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of spinning; as, the spin of a top; a spin a bicycle. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Kinematics) Velocity of rotation about some specified axis. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Politics) an interpretation of an event which is favorable to the interpreter or to the person s/he supports. A person whose task is to provide such interpretations for public relations purposes is called a spin doctor. [ PJC ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

‖ (Med.) [ L., cleft spine. ] A congenital malformation in which the spinal column is cleft at its lower portion, and the membranes of the spinal cord project as an elastic swelling from the gap thus formed. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Bot.) Of, pertaining to, or resembling, the plant spinach, or the family of plants to which it belongs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a beet lacking a swollen root; it is grown as a vegetable for its edible leaves and stalks.
Syn. -- chard, Swiss chard, spinach beet, leaf beet, chard plant, Beta vulgaris cicla. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. a plant with long succulent whitish stalks with large green leaves.
Syn. -- chard, Swiss chard, spinach beet, leaf beet. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a disease of spinach plants. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } n. [ OF. espinache, espinoche, F. épinard; cf. F. spinace, Sp. espinaca; all fr. Ar. isfānāj, isfināj, aspanākh, probably of Persian origin. ] (Bot.) A common pot herb (Spinacia oleracea) belonging to the Goosefoot family. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mountain spinach. See Garden orache, under Orache. --
New Zealand spinach (Bot.), a coarse herb (Tetragonia expansa), a poor substitute for spinach. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Various other pot herbs are locally called spinach. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. spinalis, fr. spina the spine: cf. F. spinal. See Spine. ] 1. (Anat.) Of, pertaining to, or in the region of, the backbone, or vertebral column; rachidian; vertebral. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Of or pertaining to a spine or spines. [ 1913 Webster ]

Spinal accessory nerves, the eleventh pair of cranial nerves in the higher vertebrates. They originate from the spinal cord and pass forward into the skull, from which they emerge in company with the pneumogastrics. --
Spinal column, the backbone, or connected series or vertebrae which forms the axis of the vertebrate skeleton; the spine; rachis; vertebral column. --
Spinal cord, the great nervous cord extending backward from the brain along the dorsal side of the spinal column of a vertebrate animal, and usually terminating in a threadlike appendage called the filum terminale; the spinal, or vertebral, marrow; the myelon. The nervous tissue consists of nerve fibers and nerve cells, the latter being confined to the so-called gray matter of the central portions of the cord, while the peripheral white matter is composed of nerve fibers only. The center of the cord is traversed by a slender canal connecting with the ventricles of the brain. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Bearing a spine; spiniform. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. spinal, fr. spinnan to spin; akin to D. spil, G. spille, spindel, OHG. spinnala. √170. See Spin. ] 1. The long, round, slender rod or pin in spinning wheels by which the thread is twisted, and on which, when twisted, it is wound; also, the pin on which the bobbin is held in a spinning machine, or in the shuttle of a loom. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A slender rod or pin on which anything turns; an axis; as, the spindle of a vane. Specifically: -- [ 1913 Webster ]

(a) (Mach.) The shaft, mandrel, or arbor, in a machine tool, as a lathe or drilling machine, etc., which causes the work to revolve, or carries a tool or center, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) (Mach.) The vertical rod on which the runner of a grinding mill turns. [ 1913 Webster ]

(c) (Founding) A shaft or pipe on which a core of sand is formed. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The fusee of a watch. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A long and slender stalk resembling a spindle. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15, 120 yards; in linen yarn, 14, 400 yards. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Geom.) A solid generated by the revolution of a curved line about its base or double ordinate or chord. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Zool.) (a) Any marine univalve shell of the genus Rostellaria; -- called also spindle stromb. (b) Any marine gastropod of the genus Fusus. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dead spindle (Mach.), a spindle in a machine tool that does not revolve; the spindle of the tailstock of a lathe. --
Live spindle (Mach.), the revolving spindle of a machine tool; the spindle of the headstock of a turning lathe. --
Spindle shell. (Zool.) See Spindle, 7. above. --
Spindle side, the female side in descent; in the female line; opposed to spear side. Ld. Lytton. [ R. ] “King Lycaon, grandson, by the spindle side, of Oceanus.” Lowell. --
Spindle tree (Bot.), any shrub or tree of the genus Eunymus. The wood of Eunymus Europaeus was used for spindles and skewers. See Prickwood. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Spindled p. pr. & vb. n. Spindling ] To shoot or grow into a long, slender stalk or body; to become disproportionately tall and slender. [ 1913 Webster ]

It has begun to spindle into overintellectuality. Lowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having long, slender legs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A spindleshanks. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having long, slender legs. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A person with slender shanks, or legs; -- used humorously or in contempt. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Having the shape of a spindle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Thickest in the middle, and tapering to both ends; fusiform; -- applied chiefly to roots. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The pintail duck. [ Local, U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The larva of a noctuid moth (Achatodes zeae) which feeds inside the stalks of corn (maize), sometimes causing much damage. It is smooth, with a black head and tail and a row of black dots across each segment. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Long and slender, or disproportionately tall and slender; as, a spindling tree; a spindling boy.
Syn. -- spindly. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Long and slender, or disproportionately tall and slender; as, spindly legs.. Used in some cases to suggest weakness.
Syn. -- spindling. [ PJC ]

n. a spokesperson for a political party or candidate who tries to forestall negative publicity. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. Same as Spoondrift.

The ocean waves are broken up by wind, ultimately producing the storm wrack and spindrift of the tempest-tossed sea. J. E. Marr. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. a machine that uses centrifugal motion to dry the clothes that are put into it. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. spina thorn, the spine; akin to spica a point: cf. OF. espine, F. épine. Cf. Spike, Spinet a musical instrument, Spinny. ] 1. (Bot.) A sharp appendage to any of a plant; a thorn. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) (a) A rigid and sharp projection upon any part of an animal. (b) One of the rigid and undivided fin rays of a fish. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Anat.) The backbone, or spinal column, of an animal; -- so called from the projecting processes upon the vertebrae. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Anything resembling the spine or backbone; a ridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A fish having spines in, or in front of, the dorsal fins. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Any species of Australian birds of the genus Acanthorhynchus. They are related to the honey eaters. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Furnished with spines; spiny. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Having fine supported by spinous fin rays; -- said of certain fishes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Bleached yarn in making the linen tape called inkle; unwrought inkle. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Having no spine, or vertebral column. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having no thorns or barbs. [ PJC ]

3. lacking in strength of character; cowardly, in a physical or moral sense. [ PJC ]

{ } n. [ F. spinelle, or LL. spinellus, perhaps from L. spina a thorn, a prickle, in allusion to its pointed crystals. ] (Min.) A mineral occuring in octahedrons of great hardness and various colors, as red, green, blue, brown, and black, the red variety being the gem spinel ruby. It consist essentially of alumina and magnesia, but commonly contains iron and sometimes also chromium. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The spinel group includes spinel proper, also magnetite, chromite, franklinite, gahnite, etc., all of which may be regarded as composed of a sesquioxide and a protoxide in equal proportions. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or quality of being spinescent or spiny; also, a spiny growth or covering, as of certain animals. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a.[ L. spinescens, -entis, p. pr. of spinescere to know to grow thorny, fr. spina a thorn: cf. F. spinescent. ] (Bot.) Becoming hard and thorny; tapering gradually to a rigid, leafless point; armed with spines. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. espinete, F. épinette (cf. It. spinetta), fr. L. spina a thorn; -- so called because its quills resemble thorns. See Spine. ] (Mus.) A keyed instrument of music resembling a harpsichord, but smaller, with one string of brass or steel wire to each note, sounded by means of leather or quill plectrums or jacks. It was formerly much used. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dumb spinet. (Mus.) See Manichordon. [ 1913 Webster ]