Spindle

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.
2. A slender rod or pin on which anything turns; an axis; as, the spindle of a vane.
3. The fusee of a watch.
4. A long and slender stalk resembling a spindle.
5. A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards; in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.
6. (Geom.) A solid generated by the revolution of a curved line about its base or double ordinate or chord.
1. Any marine univalve shell of the genus Rostellaria; -- called also spindle stromb.
2. Any marine gastropod of the genus Fusus.
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 . (Zoöl.)
See Spindle, 7. above.
Spindle side ,
the female side in descent; in the female line; opposed to spear side.
Spindle tree (Bot.),
any shrub or tree of the genus Eunymus. The wood of E. Europæus was used for spindles and skewers. See Prickwood.

1. To shoot or grow into a long, slender stalk or body; to become disproportionately tall and slender.