Definitions
- WordNet 3.6
- v needle goad or provoke,as by constant criticism"He needled her with his sarcastic remarks"
- v needle prick with a needle
- n needle a sharp pointed implement (usually steel)
- n needle a slender pointer for indicating the reading on the scale of a measuring instrument
- n needle a stylus that formerly made sound by following a groove in a phonograph record
- n needle the leaf of a conifer
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Additional illustrations & photos:
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
- Interesting fact:If you put a piece of scotch tape on an inflated balloon, then stick it with a small pin or needle, it won't pop.
- Needle A hypodermic needle; a syringe fitted with a hypodermic needle, used for injecting fluids into the body.
- Needle A slender rod or wire used in knitting; a knitting needle; also, a hooked instrument which carries the thread or twine, and by means of which knots or loops are formed in the process of netting, knitting, or crocheting.
- Needle A small instrument of steel, sharply pointed at one end, with an eye to receive a thread, -- used in sewing.
- Needle An injection of medicine from a hypodermic needle; a shot.
- Needle Any slender, pointed object, like a needle, as a pointed crystal, a sharp pinnacle of rock, an obelisk, etc.
- Needle (Bot) One of the needle-shaped secondary leaves of pine trees. See Pinus.
- Needle See Magnetic needle, under Magnetic.
- Needle To form in the shape of a needle; as, to needle crystals.
- v. i Needle To form needles; to crystallize in the form of needles.
- Needle To prod or goad (someone) into action by teasing or daring.
- Needle To tease (a person), especially repeatedly.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Interesting fact:The first revolving restaurant, The Top of the Needle, was located at the 500-foot level of the 605-foot-high steel-and-glass tower at the Century 21 Exposition in Seattle, Washington. It contained 260 seats and revolved 360 degrees in an hour. The state-of-the-art restaurant was dedicated on May 22, 1961.
- n needle A small pointed instrument, straight or curved, for carrying a thread through a woven fabric, paper, leather, felt, or other material. It consists of a slender sharp-pointed bar pierced with a hole for the thread, either at the blunt end, at the point, or in the middle. The first form is that of the common sewing-needle; the second, which is practically an awl with an eye at the point, is that of the sewing-machine needle, and the third form, which is made with a point at each end. is employed in sonic embroidery-machines. Sewing-needles are commonly made of steel; they range in size from coarse darning-needles to fine cambric-needles, and besides the distinctions of purpose and size are classified, according to the shape and character of the eye, the sharpness of the point, and the style of finish, as drill-eyed, golden-eyed, sharps, betweens, blunts, blue pointed needles, etc.
- n needle In a wider sense, any slender pointed instrument shaped like a needle or used in a similar way: as, a knitting-, crochet-, or engraving- needle; a surgeons' needle.
- n needle Anything resembling a needle in shape.
- n needle Specifically— A small piece of steel pointed at both ends, and balanced centrally on a pivot, such as is used in the magnetic compass, in which it points to the magnetic poles, and in the needle-telegraph, in which its deflections, produced by electric currents, are used to give indications. See compass, magnet, dipping-needle, galvanometer, and needle-telegraph.
- n needle A thin rod, usually made of copper, which is inserted in a drill-hole while this is being charged with powder. When the rod is withdrawn, it leaves a space in which can be inserted the tube of rush or grass, or the fuse, by which the charge is ignited. Also called a blasting-needle, or a nail
- n needle In w eaving, a horizontal piece of wire with an eye to receive the lifting-wire in a Jacquard loom.
- n needle A sharp pinnacle of rock; a detached pointed rock
- n needle In chem. and mineralogy, a crystal shaped like a needle; an aciform crystal.
- n needle In zool, a slender, sharp spicule; an aciculum.
- n needle In bot, a needle-shaped leaf, as of a conifer: as, a pine -needle.
- n needle In a central-fire hammerlesa gun of the variety called needle-gun, a pointed, slender, longitudinally sliding bolt or wire which, being driven forcibly forward by the spring-mechanism of the lock when the gun is tired, strikes with its front end against a fulminate or fulminating compound attached to the interior of the cartridge. The famous Prussian needle-gun is believed to be the first gun constructed to be fired on this principle. See cut under needle-gun.
- n needle In architecture, a piece of timber laid horizontally and supported on props or shores under a wall or building, etc., which it serves to sustain temporarily while the foundation or the part beneath is being altered, repaired, or underpinned.
- n needle A beam carrying a pulley at the end projecting from a building. The fall is worked by a crab inside the building.
- needle To form into crystals in the shape of needles.
- needle To perform or work with a needle.
- needle To shoot in crystallization into the form of needles.
- n needle plural In mining: Beams laid across a mine shaft to support a cage.
- n needle Buntons.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
- Interesting fact:The first manager of the Seattle Space Needle, Hoge Sullivan, was acrophobic - fearful of heights. The 605 foot tall Space Needle is fastened to its foundation with 72 bolts, each 30 feet long. The Space Needle sways approximately 1 inch for every 10 mph of wind. It was built to withstand a wind velocity of 200 miles-per-hour.
- n Needle nēd′l a small, sharp-pointed steel instrument, with an eye for a thread: anything sharp and pointed, like a pinnacle of rock, &c.: an aciform crystal: a temporary support used by builders to sustain while repairing, being a strong beam resting on props: the long, narrow, needle-like leaf of a pine-tree
- v.t Needle to form into a shape like a needle, as crystals: to work with a needle
- v.i Needle to become of the shape of needles, as crystals
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Quotations
Idioms
Needle in a haystack - If trying to find something is like looking for a needle in a haystack, it means that it is very difficult, if not impossible to find among everything around it.
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On pins and needles - If you are on pins and needles, you are very worried about something.
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Rusty needle - When something is described as a rusty needle, it is badly damaged but still works, or if someone very is sick or tired but still manages to do things at a fairly good level. An alternative form is "a tarnished needle".
***Etymology
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
OE. nedle, AS. nǣdl,; akin to D. neald, OS. nādla, G. nadel, OHG. nādal, nādala, Icel. nāl, Sw. nål, Dan.naal, and also to G. nähen, to sew, OHG. nājan, L. nere, to spin, Gr. ne`ein, and perh. to E. snare,: cf. Gael. & Ir. snathad, needle, Gael. snath, thread, G. schnur, string, cord
Usage
In literature:
Acupunctate: a surface with fine punctures as if made with a needle.
"Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology" by John. B. Smith
I paused once to send a hail of needles ricocheting down the corridor behind me, and I heard a yelp from around the corner.
"Greylorn" by John Keith Laumer
Our fingers, forceps and a setting needle made of a large needle or part of a hat pin in a wooden handle will accomplish this.
"Home Taxidermy for Pleasure and Profit" by Albert B. Farnham
He remarked that this variation of the needle increased as he advanced.
"Notable Voyagers" by W.H.G. Kingston and Henry Frith
Will it affect the galvanometer needle, or other delicate electrical or physical instruments?
"The Problems of Psychical Research" by Hereward Carrington
This was to keep her needles bright and smooth.
"A Little Girl in Old New York" by Amanda Millie Douglas
Coarser and heavier needles are required, also a wider gauge for the needle cylinder.
"Textiles" by William H. Dooley
And I'll needle those big brains till they do something about this.
"Alarm Clock" by Everett B. Cole
To look for a quarter-section here was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
"Land of the Burnt Thigh" by Edith Eudora Kohl
From the left nostril of the not-rat, a tiny, glasslike needle snapped out at bullet speed.
"Anything You Can Do ..." by Gordon Randall Garrett
***In poetry:
In news:
'There are some brides on pins and needles '.
Emelie Hall, 22, of New Britain, was arrested after assaulting a police officer with a pair of needle-nose pliers .
Vets removed 500 needles from the bulldog.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff in a case that has had the pharmaceutical industry on pins and needles.
Student pricked 20 others with needle.
After fruit develops, gardeners can employ some tricks to avoid getting needled.
Tube and needle fabricator thrives with a unique workforce.
The median age of the Vita Needle emloyee is 73.
The front plate is chome and the arm has the needle intact and the wiring to the radio is there.
They want condoms for school kids and prisoners, public money for needle-exchange programs, health care for everyone with HIV and prevention campaigns that aren't anti-sex.
It might look painful- getting poked by dozens of needles- but for many people, acupuncture can be a very therapeutic pain relief method.
In November, The Needle published a story about Deb Manuma, a single mom who was facing eviction when her landlord failed to make house payments and the home entered foreclosure.
But I don't like needles.
There is strong scientific evidence for supporting medication-assisted therapies and needle exchange programs.
Mathematical models show that needle exchange programs prevent H.I.V.
***In science:
The cosine-type bias leads to very regular needle like cracks (fig. 23) while the sine-type bias produces a completely new structure (fig. 24).
New model for crack growth using random walkers
One observes that a cosine-type bias leads to one-dimensional, needle-like structures, whereas the sine-type bias leads to ramified fractals.
New model for crack growth using random walkers
Grover L K 1997 Quantum mechanics helps in searching for a needle in a haystack, Phys.
Quantum Computing
Quantum mechanics helps in searching for a needle in a haystack.
Experimental Quantum Computation with Nuclear Spins in Liquid Solution
In an earlier study (Nieminen & Takala 1996) applied nonlinear time series analysis to measured (by needle) myoelecric signals (MES) and compared the result with classical ARMA models.
Review of Nonlinear Methods and Modelling
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