Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun As much thread as is put at once into a needle.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun As much thread as is used in a needle at one time.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun As much thread as is put into a needle at one time

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • Tenenbaum jammed a needleful of atropine into his heart.

    Into the Story DAVID MARANISS 2010

  • Tenenbaum jammed a needleful of atropine into his heart.

    Into the Story DAVID MARANISS 2010

  • Tenenbaum jammed a needleful of atropine into his heart.

    Into the Story DAVID MARANISS 2010

  • Tenenbaum jammed a needleful of atropine into his heart.

    Into the Story DAVID MARANISS 2010

  • Justin whimpered remotely as the needleful of steroids went into his arm, his eyes closed as if he were deep in a bad dream.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • Justin whimpered remotely as the needleful of steroids went into his arm, his eyes closed as if he were deep in a bad dream.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • Justin whimpered remotely as the needleful of steroids went into his arm, his eyes closed as if he were deep in a bad dream.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • Presently he said to the Gobbo, “I desire that thou sew me up my pocket;” and the tailor took a needleful of silk and sewed up his pocket which he. had torn purposely; whereupon Ibrahim gave him five dinars and returned to his lodging.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • Modeste, determined to think Canalis sublime, sat motionless with amazement; the embroidery slipped from her fingers, which held it only by the needleful of thread.

    Modeste Mignon 2007

  • I am glad I was not really much afraid of him — that, indeed, close in his presence, I felt no terror at all; for upon his demanding cord and gibbet to execute the sentence recently pronounced, I was able to furnish him with a needleful of embroidering thread with such accommodating civility as could not but allay some portion at least of his surplus irritation.

    Villette 2003

Comments

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  • I suppose you 're too young to remember John Ashby's grandmother? A good woman she was, and she had a dreadful time with her family. They never could keep the peace, and there was always as many as two of them who did n't speak with each other. It seems to come down from generation to generation like a—curse!" And Miss Debby spoke the last word as if she had meant it partly for her thread, which had again knotted and caught, and she snatched the offered scissors without a word, but said peaceably, after a minute or two, that the thread was n't what it used to be. The next needleful proved more successful, and the listener asked if the Ashbys were getting on comfortably at present.

    --Sarah Orne Jewett, 1884, Miss Debby's Neighbors

    January 28, 2010