needle

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
Something like a knitting-needle is then taken by the smoker, the end of which is dipped in the jar; the needle is then turned till the opium becomes a ball as big as a pea.

View all »
Definitions (67)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (16)

  1. noun A small, slender implement used for sewing or surgical suturing, made usually of polished steel and having an eye at one end through which a length of thread is passed and held.
  2. noun Any one of various other implements, such as one used in knitting or crocheting.
  3. noun A slender piece of jewel or steel used to transmit vibrations from the grooves of a phonograph record.
13 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (42)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (6)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • Best place to hide a needle is a sewing-box, not a haystack. —  Conferences are Murder - McDermid, Val - Lindsay Gordon 04
  • You've narrowed down the search, but it's still a pretty big haystack and the needle could be anywhere. —  AnalogSF,June2003
  • The animal remained in the stereotaxic frame with the needle in place thereafter for 1 min and the needle was then slowly removed over a period of 2 min. —  PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles
  • The only thing that will move the needle is a widespread, diverse press forward with a number of different fission reactor types that focus on a variety of energy markets, use a broad base of suppliers, and diversify the fuel mix among combinations of uranium, plutonium and thorium. —  Atomic Insights Blog
  • In this case, the needle was a half-ounce wedding ring and the haystack was a 2,000-pound assortment of paper headed for recycling.
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 98 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

knife ·  wire ·  pin ·  thread ·  rod ·  stick ·  nail ·  arrow ·  brush ·  tube ·  steel ·  bolt

Used in the same contextWord Family

needle:   needles ·  needled
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English nedle, from Old English nǣdl; see (s)nē- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Also dial., by transposition, neeld; from Middle English nedle, nedel, nedele, neelde, nelde, from Anglo-Saxon nǣdl = Old Saxon nādla = OFries. nēdle, nīdle = Dutch naald = MLG, natelc, Low German natel = Old High German nādela, nādla, Middle High German nādel, German nadel, dial. nal, nole, nolde = Icelandic nāl = Swedish nål = Danish naal = Goth, nēthla, a needle; with a formative -dl (-thlo-), from a verb found only in D. naaijen = Old High German nājan, Middle High German næjen, German nähen, sew (whence also Dutch naad = Old High German Middle High German nāt, German naht, a seam, Old High German nāture, nātere, Middle High German nā-tære, a seamer, tailor, feminine Middle High German nātærin, German nähterin, a seamstress); prob. orig. with initial s, and thus related to Irish snāthad, a needle, snādhe, a thread, and Anglo-Saxon snear, string, snare (see snare), and ult. connected with L. nere = Greek νέειν, νεῖν, spin (the Greek deriv. νήτρον, a spindle. from νέ(ειν) + -τρον, is nearly identical in formation with English needle).
  2. from needle, n.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈnidl/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word a few times a week.

Recently looked up

buddhism · hurdy-gurdy · encompass · lopsided · buckboards

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

mamaroneck · maladministration · antidisestablishmentarianism · parsimonious · soliloquy