reel

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“
True, the reel was there in place.

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Definitions (69)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (17)

  1. noun A device, such as a cylinder, spool, or frame, that turns on an axis and is used for winding and storing rope, tape, film, or other flexible materials.
  2. noun A cylindrical device attached to a fishing rod to let out or wind up the line.
  3. noun The quantity of wire, film, or other material wound on one reel.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (38)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (5)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (9)

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Examples (50)

  • There was a reel, a large fishing reel which had a multiplying spool and contained a considerable length of stout line. —  088 - The Awful Egg
  • When fighting a fish, the reel is your most important weapon, and one thing worth splurging on.
  • Then there's a gag reel, which is all fun and games until —  GreenCine Daily
  • There's a nine-minute blooper reel which is actually funny and one of the better reels I've seen in recent memory, and about ten minutes 'worth of deleted scenes over the season (and put on each disc) that were either redundant or not necessary to the storytelling. —  DVD Verdict
  • His personal choice for a reel is a Shimano TLD15; this reel retrieves about 21 ⁄ 2 feet of line per turn of the handle, doesn't have a crossbar on top to jam line when the spool is full, and has a smooth lever drag with adequate power for the 20-pound line class.
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This word has been looked up 125 times.

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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

spool ·  pulley ·  bobbin ·  disc ·  jig

Used in the same contextWord Family

reel:   reeled ·  reeling
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 (9)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. Middle English, from Old English hrēol.
  2. Middle English relen, to whirl about, probably from reel, spool; see reel1.
  3. Origin unknown.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (6)

  1. from Middle English reel, reele, rele, reyle, a reel, from Anglo-Saxon reól, also hreól (glossing Middle Latin alibrum), a reel; cf. Icelandic hræl, ræll, a weavers' rod or sley; Gael, ruidhil, a reel for winding yarn on. Root unknown. Cf. reel.
  2. from Middle English relen, reolen, relien, reel; from the noun: see reel, n. Cf. reel, v.
  3. Early modern English also rele; from Middle English relen, turn round and round; apparently a particular use of reel, v., but cf. Icelandic ridhlask, rock, waver, move to and fro (as ranks in battle), from ritha, tremble. Not connected with roll.
  4. from reel, v.
  5. Formerly also reill; from Gaelic righil, a reel (dance).
  6. from reel, n.
 

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