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spinning wheel

spinning wheel

4 3.7
A small machine that turns wool and other fibers into yarn by hand or foot
  • noun
  • /ˈspɪnɪŋ wiːl/
translation icon : rueda de hilar
  • The king locks the girl in a room filled with straw and a spinning wheel.
  • grandmother's spinning wheel
  • spinning wheel and loom

Examples

  • King Stefan ordered his men to seize every spinning wheel in the kingdom.

    Maleficent (2014)

  • -I gathered the silk from my silkworms and I spun it into thread on my spinning wheel.

    Enchanted (2007)

  • Set up my spinning wheel, girls.

    Giant (1956)

  • You are going over to that spinning wheel and you are going to make me a suit.

    The Shrink Is In (2001)

  • A young woman sat at one of the spinning wheels, lost in her own world of daydreams.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • During the Civil War, antique spinning wheels appeared in fund-raising fairs from New York City to Saint Louis.

    Academic text (2002)

  • But King Stefan, still fearful of his daughter's life, did then and there decree that every spinning wheel in the kingdom should on that very day be burned.

    Sleeping Beauty (1959)

  • It's a soothing hobby, plus spinning wheels and drop spindles are beautiful-looking decor items.

    Blog text (24)

  • Judge Samuel Church praised the hardworking colonial wives "to whom the music of the spinning wheel and the loom was more necessary than that of the piano and the harpsichord."

    Academic text (2002)

  • Suzy brings out a spinning wheel to demonstrate her craft.

Synonyms

spinning frame
vsspinning wheel
  • Specialized
5.8

A machine that pulls, twists, and winds fibers into yarn

is a small domestic device operated by hand or foot
spinning machine
vsspinning wheel
  • Specialized
3.4

A device that twists fibers into yarn or thread

is compact for home use and worked by hand or foot

How Complex

spinning machine
  • Specialized
3.4
spinning frame
  • Specialized
5.8
spinning jenny
  • Archaic
9.3
spinning wheel
4 3.7

Surface Forms

spinning wheel singular
spinning wheels plural

Morphology

spin + wheel

The meaning is directly compositional: 'spin' (rotate) + 'wheel' (round rotating object) yields the image of a rotating circular item, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer a rotating indicator. The application to computing/UI is a straightforward metonymic extension of the literal object and is cross-linguistically comparable, so the expression remains immediately comprehensible.

Etymology

Spinning wheel was the name for a simple home machine used to turn fibers into yarn. A large round wheel is turned by hand or foot while the fibers are twisted into thread, so the name means 'a machine for spinning thread'.