needle
Meanings
- A long, thin, sharp implement usually for piercing as in sewing, embroidery, acupuncture, tattooing, body piercing, medical injections, sutures, etc; or a blunt but otherwise similar implement used for forming loops or knots in crafts such as darning, knitting, tatting, etc.
- Any slender, pointed object resembling a needle, such as a pointed crystal, a sharp pinnacle of rock, an obelisk, etc.
- A fine measurement indicator on a dial or graph.
- A sensor for playing phonograph records, a phonograph stylus.
- A needle-like leaf found on some conifers.
- A strong beam resting on props, used as a temporary support during building repairs.
- The death penalty carried out by lethal injection.
- A text string that is searched for within another string. (see: needle in a haystack)
- Any of various species of damselfly of the genus Synlestes, endemic to Australia.
- A move in which the performer begins with two hands and one leg on the floor, then kicks the other leg into a full split.
- To pierce with a needle, especially for sewing or acupuncture.
- To tease in order to provoke; to poke fun at.
- To form, or be formed, in the shape of a needle.
- A surname.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-trom Proto-Indo-European *-tlom Proto-Indo-European *(s)néh₁tlom Proto-Germanic *nēþlą Proto-Germanic *-ō Proto-Germanic *nēþlō Proto-West Germanic *nāþlu Old English nǣdl Middle English nedle English needle From Middle English nedle, from Old English nǣdl, from Proto-West Germanic *nāþlu, from Proto-Germanic *nēþlō, from pre-Germanic *neh₁-tleh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₁- (“to spin, twist”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Näddele (“sewing needle”), Dutch naald (“needle”), German Nadel (“needle, pin, crochet hook”), nähen (“sew”), Luxembourgish Nol (“needle”), Vilamovian nöłd (“needle”), Yiddish נאָדל (nodl, “needle, pin”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Swedish nål (“needle”), Elfdalian ną̊l (“needle”), Faroese, Icelandic nál (“needle”), Gothic 𐌽𐌴𐌸𐌻𐌰 (nēþla, “sewing needle”), Finnish neula (“needle”). Further related with Welsh nyddu, Latin nēre, Sanskrit स्नायति (snāyati, “wraps up, winds”). Related to snood.