spool
noun
\ ˈspül
\
\
Definition of spool
(Entry 1 of 2)
1
: a cylindrical device which has a rim or ridge at each end and an axial hole for a pin or spindle and on which material (such as thread, wire, or tape) is wound
2
: material or the amount of material wound on a spool
spool
verb
spooled;
spooling;
spools
Definition of spool (Entry 2 of 2)
1
: to wind on a spool
2
: wind
spool the thread off the bobbin
3
: to regulate the transmission of by means of a spooler
spool data
1
: to wind itself on a spool
2
: to be wound or unwound
3
: to regulate data flow by means of a spooler
Examples of spool in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
Its streets, once teeming with traffic, are dotted with spools of concertina wire, blocking movement. — Washington Post, "Kashmir’s streets silent as people’s despair and rage grow," 10 Aug. 2019 Large spools of silvery fiber feed an industrial loom, which converts the threads into flat sheets by mixing them with a creamy resin. — David J. Lynch, Washington Post, "With ‘America First’, some foreign companies in the U.S. fear Trump is putting them last," 19 Aug. 2019 Aaron struck it with a homemade harpoon attached to a spool of venetian blind cord, but the crocodile dislodged the hook and disappeared underwater. — Ngm Maps, National Geographic, "‘This photograph was the hardest I’ve ever had to make’," 1 Aug. 2019 Rolls of cloth and spools of thread were all around. — Vincent T. Davis, ExpressNews.com, "City of San Antonio helps fund West Side summer youth leadership program," 27 July 2019 Women in blouses and long skirts clock in, then lean over machines, winding wire into large spools. — al.com, "What technology looked like 115 years ago," 23 June 2019 Taking a cue from the Frog Bridge in Willimantic, where four ornamental 11-foot-high metal frogs were installed atop massive concrete sculptures of thread spools. — Don Stacom, courant.com, "‘Beehive Bridge’ giving a new look to New Britain," 1 July 2019 One of Francine Haskins’s pieces includes some of the things used to make cloth items, such as spools, buttons, a tape measure and two pairs of scissors. — Washington Post, "In the galleries: Cold War ignites inspiration for Culture House DC artist," 14 June 2019 Chromatin is built when DNA winds around millions of spool-like protein structures called nucleosomes. — Quanta Magazine, "Genetic Geometry Takes Shape," 25 Feb. 2015Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
Goldsmith saw in fiction a way to spool today’s technology forward, to have her students imagine dilemmas that would arise out of coming advances in things like killer drones and carebots that tend to the elderly. — Gregory Barber, WIRED, "What Sci-Fi Can Teach Computer Science About Ethics," 26 Aug. 2019 Her plots are dreamlike and nonlinear, spooling backward and forward in time as though characters bring the entire weight of history to bear on their every act. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Toni Morrison, ‘Beloved’ author and nobel laureate, dies at 88," 6 Aug. 2019 Her plots are dreamlike and nonlinear, spooling backward and forward in time as though characters bring the entire weight of history to bear on their every act. — Margalit Fox, New York Times, "Toni Morrison, Towering Novelist of the Black Experience, Dies at 88," 8 Apr. 2015 Town after town spooled by, tire shop after U-Haul dealer after cheap motel. — Andrew Moore, National Geographic, "To build the cities of the future, we must get out of our cars," 17 June 2019 Electric chargers spin up nearly instantly and are used briefly during acceleration to create boost before a turbocharger has the time to spool. — Jens Meiners, Car and Driver, "Volvo to Start Using Electrically Driven Superchargers," 17 May 2019 The Air Force, busy spooling up to fight major wars against big-power enemies, may worry that buying OA-X could be spending money on the wars of the past—not the wars to come. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "The U.S. Air Force May Not Buy New Stealth Tanker After All, and the Light Attack Aircraft Could be Dead Too," 30 Jan. 2019 At first, air-traffic controllers didn’t seem alarmed when Richard Russell climbed into the cockpit of a small airliner here Friday evening, spooled up its twin turboprop engines and trundled from its parking spot near a cargo area. — Jay Greene, WSJ, "Airplane Stunt Startles Onlookers, Ends Tragically," 12 Aug. 2018 While new messages will be spooled on senders' servers and sent as soon as Internet service is restored, that’s still a major disruption. — Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, "Meet Helm, the startup taking on Gmail with a server that runs in your home," 17 Oct. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'spool.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for spool
spool
noun
English Language Learners Definition of spool
: a round object that is made to have something (such as thread, wire, or tape) wrapped around it
See the full definition for spool in the English Language Learners Dictionary
spool
noun
\ ˈspül
\
\
Kids Definition of spool
: a small cylinder which has a rim or ridge at each end and a hole from end to end for a pin or spindle and on which material (as thread, wire, or tape) is wound
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