spin
pronunciation
How to pronounce spin in British English:
UK [spɪn]
How to pronounce spin in American English:
US [spɪn]
-
- Noun:
- a swift whirling motion (usually of a missile)
- the act of rotating rapidly
- a short drive in a car
- rapid descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral
- a distinctive interpretation (especially as used by politicians to sway public opinion)
-
- Verb:
- revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis
- stream in jets, of liquids
- cause to spin
- make up a story
- form a web by making a thread
- work natural fibers into a thread
- twist and turn so as to give an intended interpretation
- prolong or extend
Word Origin
- spin
- spin: [OE] Spin is a general Germanic word, with relatives in German and Dutch spinnen, Swedish spinna, and Danish spinde. It goes back ultimately to a prehistoric Indo-European base *spen- or *pen- ‘stretch’ which also produced English span, Lithuanian pinti ‘plait’, and Old Church Slavonic peti ‘stretch’. English words derived from it or its immediate Germanic ancestor include spider, spill ‘slip of wood’, spindle [OE], and spinster [14] (originally a ‘female spinner’, and not used as a designation of an unmarried woman until the 17th century).=> spider, spill, spindle, spinster
- spin (v.)
- Old English spinnan (transitive) "draw out and twist fibers into thread," strong verb (past tense spann, past participle spunnen), from Proto-Germanic *spenwan (cognates: Old Norse and Old Frisian spinna, Danish spinde, Dutch spinnen, Old High German spinnan, German spinnen, Gothic spinnan), from PIE *spen-wo-, from root *(s)pen- "to draw, stretch, spin" (cognates: Armenian henum "I weave;" Greek patos "garment," literally "that which is spun;" Lithuanian pinu "I plait, braid," spandau "I spin;" Middle Welsh cy-ffiniden "spider;" see span (v.)). Intransitive senses of "to form threads from fibrous stuff; to twist, writhe" developed in late Old English. Transitive sense of "cause to turn rapidly" is from 1610s; intransitive meaning "revolve, turn around rapidly" first recorded 1660s. Meaning "attempt to influence reporters' minds after an event has taken place but before they have written about it" seems to have risen to popularity in the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign; as in spin doctor, first attested 1984.
- spin (n.)
- 1831, "a rapid revolving motion," from spin (v.). Meaning "fairly rapid ride" is from 1856. Sense of "a twisting delivery in throwing or striking a ball" is from 1851. Sense in physics is from 1926. Meaning "act of playing a phonograph record" is from 1977. Meaning "influence imparted by a media source" is from 1984.
Example
- 1. You can of course spin a real bucket of water .
- 2. The spin filter is described in science 331 894 .
- 3. A miller has a beautiful daughter who he claims can spin straw into gold .
- 4. But nothing makes the head spin like trying to keep up with marijuana law in california .
- 5. Do they blink and spin around ?