needle

Meanings

Noun

• A long, thin, sharp implement usually for piercing as in sewing, embroidery, acupuncture, tattooing, body piercing, medical injections, sutures, etc; or a blunt but otherwise similar implement used for forming loops or knots in crafts such as darning, knitting, tatting, etc.
• Any slender, pointed object resembling a needle, such as a pointed crystal, a sharp pinnacle of rock, an obelisk, etc.
• A fine measurement indicator on a dial or graph.
• A sensor for playing phonograph records, a phonograph stylus.
• A needle-like leaf found on some conifers.
• A strong beam resting on props, used as a temporary support during building repairs.
• The death penalty carried out by lethal injection.
• A text string that is searched for within another string. (see: needle in a haystack)
• Any of various species of damselfly of the genus Synlestes (genus), endemic to Australia.

Verb

• To pierce with a needle, especially for sewing or acupuncture.
• To tease in order to provoke; to poke fun at.
• To form, or be formed, in the shape of a needle.

Related

Similar words

• goad, tease

Origin

• From Middle English nedle, from Old English nǣdl, from Proto-West Germanic *nāþlu, from Proto-Germanic *nēþlō, from pre-Germanic *neh₁-tleh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₁-.
• Cognate with Dutch naald, German Nadel, Norwegian nål. Further related with Welsh nyddu, Latin nēre, Sanskrit स्नायति. Related to snood.