Spin
Spin (spin) , transitive verb
[Anglo-Saxon spinnan; akin to Dutch & German spinnen, Icelandic & Swedish spinna, Danish spinde, Gothic spinnan, and probably to English span. r170. Compare Span, transitive verb, Spider.]
1.
To draw out, and twist into threads, either by the hand or machinery; as, to spin wool, cotton, or flax; to spin goat's hair; to produce by drawing out and twisting a fibrous material. [Archaic]
All the yarn she [Penelope] spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths.
2.
To draw out tediously; to form by a slow process, or by degrees; to extend to a great length; -- with out; as, to spin out large volumes on a subject.
Do you mean that story is tediously spun out?
3.
To protract; to spend by delays; as, to spin out the day in idleness.
By one delay after another they spin out their whole lives.
4.
To cause to turn round rapidly; to whirl; to twirl; as, to spin a top.
5.
To form (a web, a cocoon, silk, or the like) from threads produced by the extrusion of a viscid, transparent liquid, which hardens on coming into contact with the air; -- said of the spider, the silkworm, etc.
6.
(Mechanics) To shape, as malleable sheet metal, into a hollow form, by bending or buckling it by pressing against it with a smooth hand tool or roller while the metal revolves, as in a lathe.
Collocations (3)
To spin a yarn (Nautical) , to tell a story, esp. a long or fabulous tale.
To spin hay (Military) , to twist it into ropes for convenient carriage on an expedition.
To spin street yarn , to gad about gossiping. [Collog.]
Spin , intransitive verb
1.
To practice spinning; to work at drawing and twisting threads; to make yarn or thread from fiber; as, the woman knows how to spin; a machine or jenny spins with great exactness.
They neither know to spin, nor care to toll.
2.
To move round rapidly; to whirl; to revolve, as a top or a spindle, about its axis.
Round about him spun the landscape,
Sky and forest reeled together.
With a whirligig of jubilant mosquitoes spinning about each head.
3.
To stream or issue in a thread or a small current or jet; as, blood spinsfrom a vein. — Shakespeare
4.
To move swiftly; as, to spin along the road in a carriage, on a bicycle, etc. [Colloquial]
Spin , noun
1.
The act of spinning; as, the spin of a top; a spin a bicycle. [Colloquial]
2.
(Kinematics) Velocity of rotation about some specified axis.
3.
(Politics) an interpretation of an event which is favorable to the interpreter or to the person s/he supports. A person whose task is to provide such interpretations for public relations purposes is called a spin doctor.