spinner

[spin-er]

noun

1. a person or thing that spins.

2. Angling.,  a lure, as a spoon bait, that revolves in the water in trolling and casting.

3. Also called spinner play. Football.,  a play in which the player carrying the ball twirls about, to deceive the other team as to where the player intends to hit the line.

4. Aeronautics.,  a streamlined fairing over a propeller hub.

5. British Informal.,  nightjar.

6. Slang.,  a disc jockey.

spinner

/ ˈspɪnə /

noun

1. a person or thing that spins

2. informal,  a spin doctor

3. cricket

   1. a ball that is bowled with a spinning motion

   2. a bowler who specializes in bowling such balls

4. a streamlined fairing that fits over and revolves with the hub of an aircraft propeller

5. a fishing lure with a fin or wing that revolves when drawn through the water

6. an angler's name for the mature adult form (imago) of various flies, especially the mayflies Compare dun 2

Other Word Forms

• underspinner noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of spinner¹

First recorded in 1175–1225, spinner is from the Middle English word spinnere. See spin, -er ¹

Example Sentences

Harmer outdid the Indian spinners in their own den with his guile and turn.

Read more on Barron's

Herodotus was an anthropological Autolycus, a spinner of yarns from Halicarnassus, a Greek colony in Asia Minor.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Former England spinner Monty Panesar has responded to Steve Smith's bizarre swipe at him by saying he made his mistakes "on a quiz show", while the stand-in Australia captain "made his on a cricket field".

Read more on BBC

The left-arm spinner had correctly answered six questions on Sikhism and its history in the specialist subject round.

Read more on BBC

England have backed Bashir, 22, as their first-choice spinner for more than a year and in May he became the youngest England bowler to reach 50 wickets in Tests.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• gyroscope