Spindle, spin′dl, n. the pin from which the thread is twisted: a pin on which anything turns: the fusee of a watch: anything very slender.—v.i. to grow long and slender.—adjs. Spin′dle-legged, -shanked, having long slender legs, like spindles.—ns.pl. Spin′dle-legs, -shanks, long slim legs—hence an over-long and slender person.—adj. Spin′dle-shaped, shaped like a spindle: thickest in the middle and tapering to both ends.—ns. Spin′dle-shell, a spindle-shaped shell; Spin′dle-tree, a shrub whose hard-grained wood was formerly used for making musical instruments and for spindles, and is now for skewers, &c.; Spin′dling, a person or thing too long and slender: a slender shoot.—adj. long and slender.—adj. Spin′dly, disproportionally long and slender. [A.S. spinl—spinnan, to spin; Ger. spindel.]
Spindrift, spin′drift, n. the spray blown from the crests of waves.—Also Spoon′drift.
Spine, spīn, n. a thorn: a thin, pointed spike, esp. in fishes: the backbone of an animal: any ridge extending lengthways: the heart-wood of trees.—adjs. Spined, having spines; Spine′less, having no spine, weak; Spines′cent, somewhat spiny; Spīnif erous, bearing spines or thorns; Spī′niform, shaped like a spine or thorn; Spīnig′erous, bearing spines, as a hedgehog; Spī′nigrade, moving by means of spines, as an echinoderm.—n. Spī′niness.—adjs. Spīnirec′tor, erecting the spine of the muscles of the back; Spīnispir′ular, spiny and somewhat spiral.—ns. Spīnī′tis, inflammation of the spinal cord in the horse, &c; Spin′ney, Spin′ny, a small thicket with underwood.—adjs. Spī′nose, Spī′nous, full of spines: thorny.—ns. Spinos′ity, thorniness; Spin′ūla, Spin′ūle, a minute spine.—adjs. Spin′ūlāte, Spin′ūlōse, Spin′ūlous, covered with spinules or minute spines; Spī′ny, full of spines: thorny: troublesome: perplexed. [O. Fr. espine (Fr. épine)—L. spina, a thorn.]
Spinel, spin′el, or spi-nel′, n. a mineral composed chiefly of magnesia and alumina, and crystallising in octahedra—ruby, or magnesia spinel, reddish; pleonaste, dark green to black; picotite, or chrome spinel, black; gahnite, or zinc spinel, green to brown; hercynite, or iron spinel, black. [Low L. spinellus, dim. of spina, a thorn.]
Spinet, spin′et, n. (mus.) an old-fashioned keyed instrument like the harpsichord. [O. Fr. espinette—It. spinetta, dim. of spina—L. spina, a thorn.]
Spinifex, spin′i-feks, n. porcupine-grass, a very coarse, hard, and spiny grass which grows in tussocks, and in some interior parts of Australia covers hundreds of square miles together.
Spink, spingk, n. the chaffinch.
Spink, spingk, n. the primrose, the lady's-smock.
Spinnaker, spin′ā-kėr, n. a jib-headed sail sometimes carried on the side opposite the mainsail by racing yachts. [Prob. formed from spin.]
Spinney. See under Spine.