Spin (?), 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. &root;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.
All the yarn she [Penelope] spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths.
Shak.
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.]
© Webster 1913.
Spin (?), 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.
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 spinsfrom a vein.
Shak.
4.
To move swifty; as, to spin along the road in a carriage, on a bicycle, etc.
[Colloq.]
© Webster 1913.
Spin, n.
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.
<-- go for a spin take a spin, take a trip in a wheeled vehicle, usu. an automobile. -->
© Webster 1913.