v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Spun Archaic imp. Span ; p. pr. & vb. n. Spinning. ] [ AS. spinnan; akin to D. & G. spinnen, Icel. & Sw. spinna, Dan. spinde, Goth. spinnan, and probably to E. span. √170. Cf. Span, v. t., 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

All the yarn she [ Penelope ] spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Do you mean that story is tediously spun out? Sheridan. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To protract; to spend by delays; as, to spin out the day in idleness. [ 1913 Webster ]

By one delay after another they spin out their whole lives. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To cause to turn round rapidly; to whirl; to twirl; as, to spin a top. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Mech.) 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

To spin a yarn (Naut.), to tell a story, esp. a long or fabulous tale. --
To spin hay (Mil.), to twist it into ropes for convenient carriage on an expedition. --
To spin street yarn, to gad about gossiping. [ Collog. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of spinning; as, the spin of a top; a spin a bicycle. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Kinematics) Velocity of rotation about some specified axis. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ PJC ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

They neither know to spin, nor care to toll. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To move round rapidly; to whirl; to revolve, as a top or a spindle, about its axis. [ 1913 Webster ]

Round about him spun the landscape,
Sky and forest reeled together. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

With a whirligig of jubilant mosquitoes spinning about each head. G. W. Cable. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To stream or issue in a thread or a small current or jet; as, blood spinsfrom a vein. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To move swifty; as, to spin along the road in a carriage, on a bicycle, etc. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ (Med.) [ L., cleft spine. ] A congenital malformation in which the spinal column is cleft at its lower portion, and the membranes of the spinal cord project as an elastic swelling from the gap thus formed. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Bot.) Of, pertaining to, or resembling, the plant spinach, or the family of plants to which it belongs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a beet lacking a swollen root; it is grown as a vegetable for its edible leaves and stalks.
Syn. -- chard, Swiss chard, spinach beet, leaf beet, chard plant, Beta vulgaris cicla. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. a plant with long succulent whitish stalks with large green leaves.
Syn. -- chard, Swiss chard, spinach beet, leaf beet. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a disease of spinach plants. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } n. [ OF. espinache, espinoche, F. épinard; cf. F. spinace, Sp. espinaca; all fr. Ar. isfānāj, isfināj, aspanākh, probably of Persian origin. ] (Bot.) A common pot herb (Spinacia oleracea) belonging to the Goosefoot family. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mountain spinach. See Garden orache, under Orache. --
New Zealand spinach (Bot.), a coarse herb (Tetragonia expansa), a poor substitute for spinach. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Various other pot herbs are locally called spinach. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. spinalis, fr. spina the spine: cf. F. spinal. See Spine. ] 1. (Anat.) Of, pertaining to, or in the region of, the backbone, or vertebral column; rachidian; vertebral. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Of or pertaining to a spine or spines. [ 1913 Webster ]

Spinal accessory nerves, the eleventh pair of cranial nerves in the higher vertebrates. They originate from the spinal cord and pass forward into the skull, from which they emerge in company with the pneumogastrics. --
Spinal column, the backbone, or connected series or vertebrae which forms the axis of the vertebrate skeleton; the spine; rachis; vertebral column. --
Spinal cord, the great nervous cord extending backward from the brain along the dorsal side of the spinal column of a vertebrate animal, and usually terminating in a threadlike appendage called the filum terminale; the spinal, or vertebral, marrow; the myelon. The nervous tissue consists of nerve fibers and nerve cells, the latter being confined to the so-called gray matter of the central portions of the cord, while the peripheral white matter is composed of nerve fibers only. The center of the cord is traversed by a slender canal connecting with the ventricles of the brain. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Bearing a spine; spiniform. [ 1913 Webster ]