Pronunciations (2)
-
/spɪn/
-
spɪn
Verb
To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction.
Usage- ergative
- Examples
-
I spun myself around a few times.
Spin the ball on the floor.
More examples (3)
She spun around and gave him a big smile.
Round about him spun the landscape, / Sky and forest reeled together, / And his strong heart leaped within him, / As the sturgeon leaps and struggles / In a net to break its meshes.
"Shall we spin for it?" "Might as well." "All right. Here goes. Heads you first and I second. Tails, vice versa." Bill nodded. The coin spun in the air. Jimmy bent to look at it.
To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction. To enter, or remain in, a spin (abnormal stalled flight mode).
Usage- ergative
- of an aircraft
To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction. To cause one's aircraft to enter or remain in a spin (abnormal stalled flight mode).
Usage- ergative
- of a pilot
To make yarn by twisting and winding fibers together.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
They spin the cotton into thread.
More examples (1)
Along the Sunny Bank, or Wat’ry Mead, / Ten thouſand Stalks their various Bloſſoms ſpread : / Peaceful and lowly in their native Soil, / They neither know to ſpin, nor care to toil ; / Yet with confeſs’d Magnificence deride / Our vile Attire, and Impotence of Pride.
I started out by spinning a full bobbin of natural white cotton in the normal Z-spun direction.
To present, describe, or interpret, or to introduce a bias or slant, so as to give something a favorable or advantageous appearance.
Usage- Figurative
- Examples
-
More examples (2)
But because he is but briefe, and these things of great consequence not to be kept obscure, I shall conceave it nothing above my duty either for the difficulty or the censure that may passe thereon, to communicate such thoughts as I also have had, and do offer them now in this generall labour of reformation, to the candid view both of Church and Magistrate; especially because I see it the hope of good men, that those irregular and unspirituall Courts have spun their utmost date in this Land; and some beter course must now be constituted.
In every administration there will be spokesmen and public affairs officers who try to spin the news to make the president look good. But this administration is trying to spin scientific data and muzzle scientists toward that end.
This past week[…] Republicans completed their journey through the looking-glass, spinning a new counternarrative of that deadly day.
To make the ball move sideways when it bounces on the pitch.
Usage- of a bowler
- Examples
-
This pitch is usually preferred for spin than pace.
To move sideways when bouncing.
Usage- of a ball
- Examples
-
Spinning the ball gave him figures of 7-48.
To form into thin strips or ribbons, as with sugar.
To form (a web, a cocoon, silk, etc.) 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.
- Examples
-
I spin a thread that you can't see / A web of thoughts best left unclean
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 move swiftly.
- Examples
-
to spin along the road in a carriage, on a bicycle, etc.
To stream or issue in a thread or a small current or jet.
- Examples
-
Blood spins from a vein.
Mount them, and make inciſion in their Hides, / That their hot blood may ſpin in Engliſh eyes, / And doubt them with ſuperfluous courage : ha.
More examples (1)
And yet, we refuse to simply perceive the dark. Rather than sit within total absence our brains spin imagined stimuli out into the void. After all, how could there truly be nothing there?
To wait in a loop until some condition becomes true.
Usage- Intransitive
To rotate into the gravel or managing to remain on the straight as a result of bad weather.
Usage- Intransitive
- of a vehicle
- Examples
-
His car spun in the rains just after finishing lap four.
To play (vinyl records, etc.) as a disc jockey.
Usage- Informal
- Transitive
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
However, for the past six years he has been spinning his novel blend of progressive house and trance music and is finally on the brink of becoming the next luminary DJ.
To use an exercise bicycle, especially as part of a gym class.
Usage- Intransitive
To ride a bicycle at a fast cadence.
Usage- Intransitive
To search rapidly.
Usage- UK usage
- Slang
- Transitive
- Examples
-
But then again, unless someone struck lucky in those first few hours, there weren't even enough detectives to spin a drum [house].
To draw out tediously; prolong.
Usage- Transitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
to spin a yarn
To fish with a swivel or spoonbait.
To reject at an examination; to fail (a student).
Usage- Archaic
- Slang
- Transitive
Noun
Circular motion, usually rapid.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
The car went into a spin.
The skaters demonstrated their spins.
More examples (1)
He put some spin on the cue ball.
A state of confusion or disorientation.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
My mind was in a spin.
A quantum angular momentum associated with subatomic particles, which also creates a magnetic moment.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A novel, creative variation of an existing thing or type; a twist.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
The media has been having a field day not only with the usual tired homophobic innuendos (which one has come to expect) but with new spins on queer bashing that might even seem inventive if they were not so hateful.
A favourable comment or interpretation intended to bias opinion on an otherwise unpleasant situation.
Usage- Countable
- Figurative
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
spin doctor
Try to put a positive spin on the disappointing sales figures.
More examples (3)
The politician was mocked in the press for his reliance on spin rather than facts.
He added: "We've always had spin, especially from Government. But this is not spin. This is dishonesty and so it's our rail media's urgent responsibility to call it out because non-specialist journalists across the country will report this and gradually these untruths will be accepted.
Over the course of Yaccarino’s tenure as CEO, she frequently had to put a positive spin on public relations disasters and Musk’s belligerent behavior.
Rotation of the ball as it flies through the air; sideways movement of the ball as it bounces.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Synonyms
A condition of flight where a stalled aircraft is simultaneously pitching, yawing, and rolling in a spinning motion.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
An abnormal condition in journal bearings where the bearing seizes to the rotating shaft and rotates inside the journal, destroying both the shaft and the journal.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A brief trip by vehicle, especially one made for pleasure.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
I'm off out for a spin in my new sports car.
More examples (2)
But she opened the door and said "Honey, take me for a spin." / So we drove up town just to get the tags / And I headed her right on down main drag / I could hear everybody laughin' for blocks around / But up there at the court house they didn't laugh / 'Cause to type it up it took the whole staff / And when they got through the title weighed sixty pounds.
Time is running out, so I renounce a spin on a Class 387 for a fast run to Paddington on another Class 800 - a shame as the weather was perfect for pictures. Even so, it's enjoyable - boy, can those trains shift under the wires.
A bundle of spun material; a mass of strands and filaments.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
She left him alone, and went to get Annie a spin of toffee.
A single play of a record; especially, one broadcast by a radio station.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
Let's give this classic LP another spin.
More examples (1)
Although the Loveless title showed the smallest increase in airplay in the top 10, its number of detections outpaced the nearest bulleted title by more than 350 spins.
A search of a prisoner's cell for forbidden articles.
Usage- UK usage
- Countable
- Slang
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
Mr Weedon explains that this is a cell search - known by prisoners as a spin - and for obvious reasons it has to be carried out without any warning.
An unmarried woman; a spinster.
Usage- Countable
- Dated
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
1893, Bithia Mary Croker, "To Let" in "To Let" etc., Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1906, p. 1, Some years ago, when I was a slim young spin, I came out to India to live with my brother Tom […]
The use of an exercise bicycle, especially as part of a gym class.
Usage- Uncountable
- Synonyms
Noun
A special interest of an autistic person.
Usage- Slang
- Synonyms
- spinterest
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
berdly if your friends were homestuck characters who would they be. //sorry autism wants me dead, berdlys my fav character and hs is my spin. you will never heard the end of it from me
Noun
a swift whirling motion (usually of a missile)
- Broader terms
the act of rotating rapidly
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
he gave the crank a spin
it broke off after much twisting
a short drive in a car
- Examples
-
he took the new car for a spin
rapid descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
a distinctive interpretation (especially as used by politicians to sway public opinion)
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the campaign put a favorable spin on the story
Verb
revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
The dervishes whirl around and around without getting dizzy
stream in jets, of liquids
- Examples
-
The creek spun its course through the woods
cause to spin
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
spin a coin
make up a story
- Examples
-
spin a yarn
form a web by making a thread
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
spiders spin a fine web
work natural fibers into a thread
- Examples
-
spin silk
twist and turn so as to give an intended interpretation
- Examples
-
The President's spokesmen had to spin the story to make it less embarrassing
prolong or extend
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
spin out a visit