spool

American  

[spool] / spul /

noun

1. any cylindrical piece or device on which something is wound.

2. a small cylindrical piece of wood or other material on which yarn is wound in spinning, for use in weaving; a bobbin.

3. a small cylinder of wood or other material on which thread, wire, or tape is wound, typically expanded or with a rim at each end and having a hole lengthwise through the center.

4. the material or quantity of material wound on such a device.

5. Angling. the cylindrical drum in a reel that bears the line.

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verb (used with object)

1. to wind on a spool.

2. to unwind from a spool (usually followed by off orout ).

3. Computers. to operate (an input/output device) by using buffers in main and secondary storage.

verb (used without object)

1. to wind.

2. to unwind.

spool British  

/ spuːl /

noun

1. a device around which magnetic tape, film, cotton, etc, can be automatically wound, with plates at top and bottom to prevent it from slipping off

2. anything round which other materials, esp thread, are wound

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verb

1. (sometimes foll by up) to wind or be wound onto a spool or reel

spool Scientific  

/ spo̅o̅l /

1. To store data that is sent to a device, such as a printer, in a buffer that the device reads. This procedure allows the program that sent the data to the device to resume its normal operation without waiting for the device to process the data.

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Other Word Forms

• spooler noun
• spoollike adjective
• unspool verb (used with object)

Etymology

Origin of spool

1275–1325; Middle English spole < Middle Dutch spoele or Middle Low German spōle; cognate with German Spule

Example Sentences

In the seesawing tedium of daily traffic, slow and fast, the e-motor silently and seamlessly supports the big V8 in those few hundred milliseconds it takes to spool up.

From The Wall Street Journal

She points out the spool of paper tickets in the box office, now coiling on the floor and ready to be counted.

From Salon

The marriage’s past spools out with such clarity that what they have for breakfast becomes ominous.

From Los Angeles Times

Nile, though, is unencumbered by empathy, guilt, or the urge for compromise, a mile-long bunting of red flags spooled into one cashmere-clad creep.

From Salon

A pinched approximation of a muted trumpet suggests some kind of mutant jazz unfolding nearby, while unpredictable pitch changes conjure visions of a tape slipping off a spool.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• cylinder