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

Explanation

Fishing line, thread, and wire are usually wound around a special cylinder called a spool. If you enjoy sewing, you might buy spools of colored thread at the crafts store. Back in the days of cassette tapes, the magnetic tape would occasionally get tangled in the tape player and have to be wound back on its spool. You can use this word as a verb, too: "Will you spool that loose thread back on the bobbin for me?" Computer experts use spool to mean "store data temporarily," so they might spool computer files to a desktop folder, for example.

Example Sentences

Last year, the MGU-H - the motor generator unit on the turbo shaft - was used to spool up the turbo to aid performance in a number of ways, including at the starts.

From BBC • Mar. 17, 2026

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

From Salon • Dec. 18, 2025

The props turn slowly in unison—calibrating, calibrating—then spool furiously, a squadron of lawn mowers on deck.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 17, 2025

She hit the buzzer at the first high chain-link fence, which was garlanded with a spool of razor wire atop.

From Slate • May 2, 2025

While Despereaux watched, the threadmaster unwound a length of red thread from the spool and tied a loop.

From "The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread" by Kate DiCamillo

Related Words

• cylinder