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Webster 1913 Edition

Spin

Spin

(spĭn)
,
Verb.
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
,
Verb.
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.
All the yarn she [Penelope]
spun
in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths.
Shakespeare
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?
Sheridan.
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.
L'Estrange.
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.
(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.
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.]

Spin

,
Verb.
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.
They neither know to
spin
, nor care to toll.
Prior.
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.
Longfellow.
With a whirligig of jubilant mosquitoes
spinning
about each head.
G. W. Cable.
3.
To stream or issue in a thread or a small current or jet;
as, blood
spins
from a vein
.
Shak.
4.
To move swifty;
as, to
spin
along the road in a carriage, on a bicycle, etc.
[Colloq.]

Spin

,
Noun.
1.
The act of spinning;
as, the
spin
of a top; a
spin
a bicycle
.
[Colloq.]
2.
(Kinematics)
Velocity of rotation about some specified axis.

Webster 1828 Edition

Spin

SPIN

,
Verb.
T.
pret. and pp. 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.

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