needle

n. [ OE. nedle, AS. n&aemacr_;dl; akin to D. neald, OS. nādla, G. nadel, OHG. nādal, nādala, Icel. nāl, Sw. nål, Dan. naal, and also to G. nähen to sew, OHG. nājan, L. nere to spin, Gr. ne`ein, and perh. to E. snare: cf. Gael. & Ir. snathad needle, Gael. snath thread, G. schnur string, cord. ] 1. A small instrument of steel, sharply pointed at one end, with an eye to receive a thread, -- used in sewing. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In some needles (as for sewing machines) the eye is at the pointed end, but in ordinary needles it is at the blunt end. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. See Magnetic needle, under Magnetic. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A slender rod or wire used in knitting; a knitting needle; also, a hooked instrument which carries the thread or twine, and by means of which knots or loops are formed in the process of netting, knitting, or crocheting. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Bot.) One of the needle-shaped secondary leaves of pine trees. See Pinus. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Any slender, pointed object, like a needle, as a pointed crystal, a sharp pinnacle of rock, an obelisk, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A hypodermic needle; a syringe fitted with a hypodermic needle, used for injecting fluids into the body. [ Informal ] [ PJC ]

7. An injection of medicine from a hypodermic needle; a shot. [ PJC ]

Dipping needle. See under Dipping. --
Needle bar, the reciprocating bar to which the needle of a sewing machine is attached. --
Needle beam (Arch.), in shoring, the horizontal cross timber which goes through the wall or a pier, and upon which the weight of the wall rests, when a building is shored up to allow of alterations in the lower part. --
Needle furze (Bot.), a prickly leguminous plant of Western Europe; the petty whin (Genista Anglica). --
Needle gun, a firearm loaded at the breech with a cartridge carrying its own fulminate, which is exploded by driving a slender needle, or pin, into it. [ archaic ] --
Needle loom (Weaving), a loom in which the weft thread is carried through the shed by a long eye-pointed needle instead of by a shuttle. --
Needle ore (Min.), acicular bismuth; a sulphide of bismuth, lead, and copper occuring in acicular crystals; -- called also aikinite. --
Needle shell (Zool.), a sea urchin. --
Needle spar (Min.), aragonite. --
Needle telegraph, a telegraph in which the signals are given by the deflections of a magnetic needle to the right or to the left of a certain position. --
Sea needle (Zool.), the garfish. [ 1913 Webster ]