King James Bible Dictionary

SPIN, verb transitive preterit tense and participle passive spun. Span is not used. [If the sense is to draw out or extend, this coincides in origin with span.]

1. To draw out and twist into threads, either by the hand or machinery; as, to spin wool, cotton or flax; to spin goats' hair. All the yarn which Penelope spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca with moths.

2. To draw out tediously; to form by a slow process of be degrees; with out; as, to spin out large volumes on a subject.

3. To extend to a great length; as, to spin out a subject.

4. To draw out; to protract; to spend by delays; as, to spin out the day in the idleness By one delay after another, they spin out their whole lives.

5. To whirl with a thread; to turn or cause to whirl; as, to spin a top.

6. To draw out from the stomach in a filament; as, a spider spins a web.

TO spin HAY, in military language, is to twist it into ropes for convenient carriage on an expedition.

SPIN, v.il.

1. To practice spinning; to work at drawing and twisting threads; as, the woman knows how to spin They neither know to spin nor car to toil.

2. To perform the act of drawing and twisting threads; as, a machine or jenny spins with great exactness.

3. To move round rapidly; to whirl; as a top or a spindle.

4. To stream or issue in a thread or small current; as, blood spins from a vein.

SPIN'ACH, SPIN'AGE, noun [Latin spinacia.] A plant of the genus Spinacia.

SPIN'ACH, SPIN'AGE, noun [Latin spinacia.] A plant of the genus Spinacia.

SPI'NAL, adjective [See Spine.] Pertaining to the spine or back bone of an animal; as the spinal marrow; spinal muscles; spinal arteries.

Used in spinning
Proverbs 31:19

SPIN'DLE, adjective [See Spin.]

1. The pin used in spinning wheels for twisting the thread, and on which the thread when twisted, is wound.

2. A slender pointed rod or pin on which any thing turn; as the spindle of a vane.

3. The fusee of a watch.

4. A long slender stalk.

5. The lower end of a capstan, shod with iron; the pivot.

SPIN'DLE, verb intransitive To shoot or grow in a long slender stalk or body.

SPIN'DLE-LEGS, SPIN'DLE-SHANKS, noun A tall slender person; in contempt.

SPIN'DLE-SHANKED, adjective Having long slender legs.

SPIN'DLE-LEGS, SPIN'DLE-SHANKS, noun A tall slender person; in contempt.

SPIN'DLE-SHAPED, adjective Having the shape of a spindle; fusiform.

SPIN'DLE-TREE, noun A plant, prick-wood, of the genus Euonymus.

SPINE, noun [Latin]

1. The back bone of an animal.

2. The shin of the leg.

3. A thorn; a sharp process from the woody part of a plant. It differs from a prickle, which proceeds form the bark. A spine which proceeds from the bark. A spine sometimes terminates a branch or a leaf, and sometimes is axillary, growing at the angle formed by the branch or leaf with the stem. The wild apple and pear are armed with thorns; the rose, bramble, gooseberry. etc. are armed with prickles.

SPI'NEL, SPINELLE, noun The spinelle ruby, says Hauy; is the true ruby, a gem of a red color, blended with tints of blue or yellow. It is in grains more or less crystalized. A subspecies of octahedral corundum.

SPINELLANE, noun A mineral occurring in small crystaline masses and in minute crystals. It has been found only near the lake of Laach.

SPI'NEL, SPINELLE noun The SPINELLE ruby, says Hauy; is the true ruby, a gem of a red color, blended with tints of blue or yellow. It is in grains more or less crystalized. A subspecies of octahedral corundum.

SPINES'CENT, adjective [from spine.] Becoming hard and thorny.

SPIN'ET, noun An instrument of music resembling a harpsichord, but smaller; a virginal; a clavichord.

SPIN'ET, noun [Latin spinetum.] A small wood or place where briars and thorns grow. [Not in use.]

SPINIF'EROUS, adjective [Latin spina, spine, and fero, to bear.] Producing spines; bearing thorns.

SPIN'ING-WHEEL, noun A wheel for spinning wool, cotton or flax into threads.

SPINK, noun A bird; a finch.

SPIN'NER, noun

1. One that spins; one skilled in spinning.

2. A spider.

By hand
Exodus 35:25; Proverbs 31:19

The notices of spinning in the Bible are confined to (Exodus 35:25,26; Proverbs 31:19; Matthew 6:28) The latter passage implies (according to the Authorized Version) the use of the same instruments which have been in vogue for hand-spinning down to the present day, viz. the distaff and spindle. The distaff however, appears to have been dispensed with, and the term so rendered means the spindle itself, while that rendered "spindle" represents the whirl of the spindle, a button of circular rim which was affixed to it, and gave steadiness to its circular motion. The "whirl" of the Syrian women was made of amber in the time of Pliny. The spindle was held perpendicularly in the one hand, while the other was employed in drawing out the thread. Spinning was the business of women, both among the Jews and for the most part among the Egyptians.

SPIN'NING, participle present tense Drawing out and twisting into threads; drawing out; delaying.

SPIN'NING, noun

1. The act, practice or art of drawing out and twisting into threads, as wool, flax and cotton.

2. The act or practice of forming webs, as spiders.

SPIN'NING-JENNY, noun An engine or complicated machine for spinning wool or cotton, in the manufacture of cloth.

SPIN'OLET, noun A small bird of the lark kind.

SPINOS'ITY, noun The state of being spiny or thorny; crabbedness.

SPI'NOUS, adjective [Latin spinosus, from spina.] Full of spines; armed with thorns; thorny.

SPI'NOZISM, noun The doctrines or principles of Spinoza, a native of Amsterdam, consisting in atheism and pantheism, or naturalism and hulotheism, which allows of no God but nature or the universe.

SPIN'STER, noun [spin and ster.]

1. A woman who spins, or whose occupation is to spin. Hence,

2. In law, the common title by which a woman without rank or distinction is designated. If a gentlewoman is termed a spinster she may abate the writ.

SPIN'STRY, noun The business of spinning.

SPIN'THERE, noun A mineral of a greenish gray color.

SPI'NY, adjective [from spine.]

1. Full of spines; thorny; as a spiny tree.

2. Perplexed; difficult; troublesome.