spin

Rapid circular motion.

Noun

  1. Rapid circular motion.
    • The car went into a spin.
    • The skaters demonstrated their spins.
    • He put some spin on the cue ball.
  2. A state of confusion or disorientation.
    • My mind was in a spin.
  3. A quantum angular momentum associated with subatomic particles, which also creates a magnetic moment.
  4. A novel, creative variation of an existing thing or type; a twist.
    • 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. -...
  5. A favourable comment or interpretation intended to bias opinion on an otherwise unpleasant situation.
    • spin doctor
    • Try to put a positive spin on the disappointing sales figures.
    • The politician was mocked in the press for his reliance on spin rather than facts.

    Coordinate Terms: coloration distortion propaganda

  6. Rotation of the ball as it flies through the air; sideways movement of the ball as it bounces.

    Synonyms: swazz

  7. A condition of flight where a stalled aircraft is simultaneously pitching, yawing, and rolling in a spinning motion.
  8. 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.
  9. A brief trip by vehicle, especially one made for pleasure.
    • I'm off out for a spin in my new sports car.
    • 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...
    • 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...
  10. A bundle of spun material; a mass of strands and filaments.
    • She left him alone, and went to get Annie a spin of toffee. - 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 1, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
  11. A single play of a record; especially, one broadcast by a radio station.
    • Let's give this classic LP another spin.
    • 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. - 1996, Billboard, volume 108, number 12, page 37:
  12. A search of a prisoner's cell for forbidden articles.
    • 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. - 2002, Jeffrey Archer, A Prison Diary:

Origin

From Middle English spinnen, from Old English spinnan, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁-. Cognates Cognate with Dutch, German spinnen (“to spin”), Luxembourgish spannen (“to spin”), Yiddish שפּינען (shpinen, “spin”), Danish spinde (“to spin”), Faroese, Icelandic and Swedish spinna (“to spin”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk spinne (“to spin”), Gothic 𐍃𐍀𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (spinnan, “to spin”).

Forms

spins

Derived

antispin backspin barspin Biellmann spin camel spin cytospin despin electron spin resonance finger spin flat spin forespin free spin headspin in a flat spin in a spin interspin inverted spin isobaric spin isospin isotopic spin I-spin Jackson Haines spin layback spin leg spin

Noun nautical, transport

  1. Clipping of spinnaker.
    • “Frank!” Joe yelled. “Run the spin halyard to the cabin-top winch and pass me the free end!” - 2021 22 April, “jdale” (username), Course for Catastrophe, chapter 4

Forms

spins

Noun slang

  1. A special interest of an autistic person.
    • 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 - 2024 April 15, @XxKilla_KrisxX,...

    Synonyms: spinterest

Origin

Clipping of special interest.

Forms

spins SpIn

Verb

  1. To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction.
    • I spun myself around a few times.
    • Spin the ball on the floor.
    • She spun around and gave him a big smile.

    1. (aviation, of an aircraft) To enter, or remain in, a spin (abnormal stalled flight mode).

    2. (aviation, of a pilot) To cause one's aircraft to enter or remain in a spin (abnormal stalled flight mode).

  2. To make yarn by twisting and winding fibers together.
    • They spin the cotton into thread.
    • 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...
    • I started out by spinning a full bobbin of natural white cotton in the normal Z-spun direction. - 2026, Tom Knisley, “Exploring S- and Z-Twist”, in Spin Off, volume L, number 1, page 42:
  3. To present, describe, or interpret, or to introduce a bias or slant, so as to give something a favorable or advantageous appearance.
    • 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...
    • 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...
    • This past week[…] Republicans completed their journey through the looking-glass, spinning a new counternarrative of that deadly day. - 2021 July 31, Lisa Lerer, Nicholas Fandos, “Already Distorting Jan. 6, G.O.P. Now...

    Synonyms: whitewash sugarcoat put lipstick on gild blandish dress up

  4. To make the ball move sideways when it bounces on the pitch.
    • This pitch is usually preferred for spin than pace.
  5. To move sideways when bouncing.
    • Spinning the ball gave him figures of 7-48.
  6. To form into thin strips or ribbons, as with sugar
  7. 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.
    • I spin a thread that you can't see / A web of thoughts best left unclean - 2024, “Clawing Out”, in Greif, performed by Zeal & Ardor, Track 6:
  8. 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.
  9. To move swiftly.
    • to spin along the road in a carriage, on a bicycle, etc.
  10. To stream or issue in a thread or a small current or jet.
    • 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. - 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in...
    • 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? - 2025 January 15, Jacob...
  11. To wait in a loop until some condition becomes true.
  12. To rotate into the gravel or managing to remain on the straight as a result of bad weather.
    • His car spun in the rains just after finishing lap four.

Forms

spins spinning spun span spinned

Hypernyms

revolve rotate turn

Related

spider spindle turn around

Derived

bespin biospin make someone's head spin misspin outspin overspin prespin respin spin a tale spinathon spin a yarn spinback spin bowler spinbox spincast spincoat spindizzy spin doctor spin down spinfection spin in one's grave spinnability spinnable spinner