Definition of spindle

• n. - 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.
• n. - A slender rod or pin on which anything turns; an axis; as, the spindle of a vane.
• n. - 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.
• n. - The vertical rod on which the runner of a grinding mill turns.
• n. - A shaft or pipe on which a core of sand is formed.
• n. - The fusee of a watch.
• n. - A long and slender stalk resembling a spindle.
• n. - A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards; in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.
• n. - A solid generated by the revolution of a curved line about its base or double ordinate or chord.
• n. - Any marine univalve shell of the genus Rostellaria; -- called also spindle stromb.
• n. - Any marine gastropod of the genus Fusus.
• v. i. - To shoot or grow into a long, slender stalk or body; to become disproportionately tall and slender.