<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>a rounded rod, usually of wood, tapering toward each end, used in hand-spinning to twist into thread the fibers drawn from the mass on the distaff, and on which the thread is wound as it is spun.</li><li>the rod on a spinning wheel by which the thread is twisted and on which it is wound.</li><li>one of the rods of a spinning machine that bear the bobbins on which the spun thread is wound.</li><li>any rod or pin suggestive of a spindle used in spinning, as one that turns around or on which something turns; an axle, axis, or shaft.</li><li>a vertical shaft that serves to center a phonograph record on a turntable.</li><li>either of two shafts or arbors that support the work on a lathe, one live spindle on the headstock, rotating with and imparting motion to the work, the other dead spindle on the tailstock, motionless.</li><li>a small axis, arbor, or mandrel.</li><li>an iron rod or the like, usually with a ball or cage at the top, fixed to a rock, sunken reef, etc., to serve as a guide in navigation.</li><li>a measure of yarn, containing, for cotton, 15,120 yards (13,825 meters), and for linen, 14,400 yards (13,267 meters).</li><li>a hydrometer.</li><li>a spindle-shaped structure, composed of microtubules, that forms near the cell nucleus during mitosis or meiosis and, as it divides, draws the chromosomes to opposite poles of the cell.</li><li>a short, turned or circular ornament, as in a baluster or stair rail.</li><li>a tassel on an ear of corn.</li><li>dragonfly.</li></ul><p><strong>Adjective</strong></p><ul><li>spindle side.</li></ul><p><strong>Verb (used with object)</strong></p><ul><li>to give the form of a spindle to.</li><li>to provide or equip with a spindle or spindles.</li><li>to impale (a card or paper) on a spindle, as for sorting purposes.</li></ul><p><strong>Verb (used without object)</strong></p><ul><li>to shoot up, or grow, into a long, slender stalk or stem, as a plant.</li><li>to grow tall and slender, often disproportionately so.</li></ul>