Spinax 
5835 
capsule, with a central dilatation. 
Commonly 
represented by fi. niger or spinax, a small black 
sliark of Kuropr. called/H.vi/'oi-w mliiriu-t. 
Spindalis (spin'da-lis), n. [NL. (Jardine and spindle-cell (spin'dl-sel), w. A spindle-shaped 
S( '' '>' * M >'> " n uuk , nowu -] A ,S ( ' nus of -'HI; a fusiform cell.-splncUe-ceUlayer.thedeep- 
eet layer of the cerebral cortex, containing many fusiform 
"'."' '! few a "8 ular ccl ls. Spindle-cell sarcoma. See 
. . - 
1'> >'<<le-crlled sarcoma, under sarcoma. 
Spindle-Celled (spiu'dl-seld), a. Made up of 
containing spindle-shaped cells Snindle-ccll 
or 
Snindle-ccllcd 
,. ,. , ,, 
thick-billed tanagers, OI the lamily Lanagrtdx, 
peculiar to the Antillean region. They have a 
..impnrotively long bill, ascending gonys, and swollen 
upper nianilible; in the male the coloration is brilliant 
Granite varied with black and white. There are species, 
X. iii'iiricephala, purtoneensw, multicolor, pretrii, benedicti, 
and KIUI, respectively inhabiting Jamaica, Porto Rico, 
Sin Domingo, Cuba, Cozumel Island (off the Yucatan 
eoasl ). ami the Bahamas. The first-named builds a cup- 
shaped nest in trees or shrubs, and lays spotted eggs, and 
the others are probably similar in this respect. See cut 
SpindlT(sp'ii"di), n. [Also dial, spiiinel; < ME. Spindle-legs (spin'dl-legz), . pi. Long, slim 
spindle, spyndle, spindel, spyndel, xpi/iidelle, spun- legs , ; , nce ' a * a ,"' tum Person with such legs 
<tt/l. xpyndylle, < AS. spindle, spindel, earlier si,i- "V j, ? : "Sfd humorously or iu contempt. 
net, *i>init, xpinl (dat. spinele, spittle) (= MD Spmttle-snanked (spin dl-shangkt), a. Same 
JSKS ' '-" 
anks (spin dl-shangks), n.pl. Same 
as P" I **V' 
A We ezel-faced 
**"** 
spindle-shaped cells 
sarcoma. See sarcoma 
sninrilp loiriMii /minMI lo11 Tl^.,! ! 
legged (spin dl-legd), a. Having long, 
un Ie S s ! spindle-shanked. 
A pale, sickly, spindle legged generation of valetudina- 
rians. Addison, Taller, No. 148. 
*/./(/ (by assimilation for "spinle), D. spil = 
OHG. spiimela, spinnila, spinnala, MHG. spin- 
nele, sjiiiinel, G. spindel (also spille, < D.) = Sw. 
Dan. spindel), a spindle. < siiinnan, spin: see A We ezel-faced cross old Gentleman with Sm'ndle- 
spiii. Cf. X/-/7/2.] 1. ( ) l n hand-spinning, a **"** S*fc, Tender Husband, i. i. 
small bar, usually of wood, hung to the end of spindle-shaped (spin'dl-shapt), a. Circular in 
the thread as it is first drawn from the mass of cross-section and tapering 
from the middle to each 
fiber on the distaff. By rotating the spindle the 
spinner twists the thread, and as the thread is spun it is 
wound upon the spindle. 
Sing to those that hold the vital shears, 
And turn the adamantine spindle round, 
On which the fate of gods and men is wound. 
Milton, Arcades, 1. 68. 
(b) The pin which is used in spinning-wheels 
for twisting the thread, and on which the 
thread, when twisted, is wound. See cut un- 
der spinning-wlieel. (c) One of the skewers or 
end ; fusiform ; formed like 
a spindle. 
spindle -shell (spin'dl- 
shel ) , n . In conch. , a spin- 
dle-shaped shell; a spin- 
dle, (a) A shell of the genus 
Fusus in some of its applica- 
tions, as F. antiquus, the com- 
mon spindle or red-whelk, also 
called buckie or roaring buckie. 
canal slightly produced. Thespe- 
cies inhabit chiefly the northern 
cold seas. See cut under revene 
axesfof a spinning-machine upon which a bob! ^o^Z $"Z $ 
Din is placed to wind the yarn as it is spun, stromb. (c) A gastropod of the 
See cut under spinning-jenny. 2. Any slender famU y Muricida and genus 
pointed rod or pin which turns round, or on like^o^fusirorn^sha * ? pi ? tl 6 - 
which anything turns, (a) A small axle or axis, in 
contradistinction to a shaft or large axle, as the arbor or 
mandrel in a lathe : as, the spindle of a vane ; the spindle _, ,, .,. 
of the fusee of a watch. See dead-spmdle, live-spindle, (b) qninrllp stpn i^nin'rll 
A vertical shaft supporting the upper stone or runner of a SPln^ie - Step (spin dl- 
pair in a flour-mill. See cut under mill-spindle. (c)Invehi- st:e p;,tt. Inmill-and spin- 
cles, the tapering end or arm on the end of an axletree. (d) ning-spindles, the lower spindle-shaped Root of 
A small shaft which passes through a door-lock, and upon bearing of an iirmVht. Radisn (Jtafumxt sati- 
which the knobs or handles are fitted. When it is turned , inHlf V itw,,,i,t *""> 
it withdraws the latch, (e) In ship-building : (1) The up- V ji ^ v / ^ 11 
per main piece of a made mast. (2) An iron axle fitted into Spmale-Stromb (spin dl-stromb), H. A gastro- 
a block of wood, which is fixed securely between two of pod of the family Strombidm and genus Rostel- 
the ship^s beams, and upon which the capstan turns. (/) /aria, having a spindle-like or fusiform shell 
, 
mating, a short turned part, especially the turned or cir- 
cular part of a baluster, stair-rail, etc. 
a long spire, and also a long anterior ca- 
nal. The species inhabit the tropical Pacific 
and Indian oceans. See cut under Rostellaria. 
3. Something having the form of a spindle spindletail(spin'dl-tal),. The pin-tailed duck, 
(sense 1) ; a fusiform object, (a) The grip of a Dafila acuta. See pintail, 1. ("Local, U. S.I 
sword, (b) A pine-needle or -leaf. [U. S.] 
We went into camp in a magnificent grove of pines. 
The roots of the trees are buried in the spindles and burrs 
which have fallen undisturbed for centuries. 
G. W. Nichols, Story of the Great March, xxii. 
, , . . 
spindle-tree (spin'dl-tre), . A European shrub 
or small tree, Euonymus Europeea (E. vulgar is), 
growing in hedge-rows, on borders of woods, 
etc. It is so called from the use of its hard fine-grained 
wood in making spindles, and other uses have given it the 
names prick-timber, gkewer-wood, and pegwood. It is one 
of the dogwoods. The name is carried over to the Ameri- 
can E. atropurpurea, the wahop or burning-bush, and to 
the Japanese E. Japonica; it is also extended to the ge- 
nus, and even to the order (Celastrineie). 
Harris, Insects Injurious to Plants. spindle-Valve (spiu'dl-valv), n. A valve hav- 
(d) In conch., a spindle-shell, (e) In anat., a fusiform part ing an axial guide-stem. E. H. Knight. 
or organ. (1) A spindle-cell. (2) The inner segment of a 
(c) The roll of not yet unfolded leaves on a growing plant 
of Indian corn. 
Its [the spindle-worm's] ravages generally begin while 
the cornstalk is young, and before the spindle rises much 
above the tuft of leaves in which it is embosomed. 
The spindles must be tied up, and, as they grow in height, 
st by then- bending they should break. 
Mortimer. 
one of the fusiform flg'ures produced by chromatin fibers 
in the process of karyokiuesis. Amer. Nat., XXII. 933. 
4. In geom. , a solid generated by the revolution 
of the arc of a curve-line about its chord, in op- 
position to a conoid, which is a solid generated 
by the revolution of a curve about its axis. 
The spindle is denominated circular, elliptic, hyperbolic, 
or parabolic, according to the figure of its generating curve. 
5. A measure of yarn : in cotton a spindle of 18 
hanks is 15,120 yards; in linen a spindle of 48 
cuts is 14,400 yards. 6. A long slender stalk. 
The spindles muslin 
rods set by them, lest 
7. Something very thin and slender. 
I am fall'n away to nothing, to a spindle. 
Fletcher, Women Pleased, iv. 3. 
Ring-spindle, a spindle which carries a traveling ring. 
Spindle side of the house, the female side. See spear- 
side. 
spindle (spin'dl), . i. ; pret. and pp. spindled, 
ppr. spindling. [< spindle, .] To shoot or 
grow in a long, slender stalk or body. 
When the flowers begin to spindle, all but one or two of 
the biggest at each root should be nipped off. Mortimer. 
spindle-cataract (spin'dl-kat"a-rakt), w. A 
form of cataract characterized by a spindle- 
shaped opacity extending from the posterior 
surface of the anterior part of the capsule to 
the anterior surface of the posterior part of the 
the noctuid moth Aclia todes (or Gortyna) zex : so 
called because it burrows into the spindle of 
Indian corn. See spindle, n., 3 (c). [Local, 
U. S.] 
spindling (spind'ling), a. and n. [< spindle + 
-4ng2.~\ i. a. Long and slender ; disproportion- 
ately slim or spindle-like. 
II. n. A spindling or disproportionately long 
and slim person or thing; a slender shoot. 
[Bare.] 
Half-conscious of the garden-squirt, 
The spindlings look unhappy. 
Tennyson, Amphion. 
spindly (spind'li), a. [< spindle + -yi.] Spin- 
dle-like; disproportionately long and slender 
or slim. [Colloq.] 
The effect of all this may be easily imagined a spindly 
growth of rootless ideas. Pop. Set. Mo., XXXVI. 556. 
spindrift (spiu'drift), . [A var. (simulating 
spin, go rapidly) of spoon-drift, q. v.] Nawt., 
the spray of salt water blown along the surface 
of the sea in heavy winds. 
spine (spin), n. [< OP. espine, P. epine = 
Pr. Sp. espina = Pg. cspinha = It. spina, < L. 
spiiKi, a thorn, prickle, also the backbone; 
prob. for 'spicna, and akin to spica, a point, 
spike : see spike 1 . In the sense of ' backbone ' 
spine is directly < L. spina. Hence spinach, spin- 
aye, spinal, spiny, spinet, spinney, etc.] 1. In 
spine 
hot., a stiff Sharp-pointed process, containing 
more or less woody tissue, ami originating in 
the degeneracy or modification of some organ. 
Usually it is a branch or the termination of a stem nr 
branch, indurated, leafless, and attenuated to a point, as 
in the hawthorn, sloe, pear, and honey-locust; its nature 
is clearly manifest by the axillary position, and also by 
the fact that it sometimes produces imperfect leaves ami 
buds. A spine may also consist of a modified leaf (all 
gradations being found between merely spiny-tootheil 
leaves and leaves which are completely contracted into 
simple or multiple spines, as in the barberry), or of a per- 
sistent petiole, as in some Astragali and in Fouquieria, or 
of a modified stipule, as in the common locust. A spine 
Is to be clearly distinguished from a prickle, which is mere- 
ly a superficial outgrowth from the bark. See prickle, 1. 
2. The backbone; the rai-his, Hpinu. or spinal 
column of a vertebrate. The name is due to the 
series of spinous processes of the several vertebras which 
it presents, forming a ridge along the middle of the back. 
See spinal column (under spinal), and vertebra, vertebral. 
3. A name of some part in various animals, 
(a) In anat., a sharp process, point, or crest of bone ; a 
spinous process, generally stouter than a styloid process : 
as, the spiiie of the ilium, of the ischium, of the scapula, 
of the pubis. See cuts under innnminatum and shoulder- 
blade. (6) In morph., a bony element, or pair of bony ele- 
ments, which completes a segment of either the neural 
canal or the hemal canal of a vertebrate on the midline of 
the dorsal or ventral aspect of the body, the ossification 
intervening dorsad between a pair of neurapophyses or 
yentrad between a pair of hemapophyseg, the former be- 
ing a neural spine, the latter a hemal spine. Thus, the 
spinous process of a dorsal vertebra is the neural spine of 
that vertebra, and the segment of the sternum with which 
the rib of that vertebra articulates is the hemal spine of 
the same vertebra. Owen. See cuts under dorsal, cara- 
pace, and endoskeleton. (c) In mammal. , a modified hair ; 
a sharp, stiff , hard, horny dermal outgrowth, as one of the 
quills of a porcupine, or of the prickles of the hedgehog or 
spiny ant-eater. In many animals the transition from soft 
f ur through harsh or bristlypelage to spines is very gradual. 
See cuts under Echidnidee, Erinaceus, and porcupine, (d) 
In ornith., a spur or calcar, as of the wing or foot ; a mu- 
cro, as of a feather. See cuts under Palamedea, Jiasores, 
and mucronate. (e) In herpet., a sharp, prickly scale of 
considerable size ; a horn. See cuts under Cerastes and 
Phrynosoma. (/) In conch., any considerable sharp pro- 
jection of the shell. Such spines are endlessly modified 
in size, shape, and site. Good examples are figured under 
murex, scorpion-shell, and Spondylus. (y) In Crustacea, any 
considerable spinous process of the carapace, of the legs, 
etc. Such spines are the rule with most crustaceans. 
The large tail-spine of some is specified as the telsm. (h) 
In entom., any comparatively short sharp projection of 
the chitinous body-wall of an insect. Such occur com- 
monly upon the larvte of Lepidoptera, upon the bodies of 
many adult Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Hymenoptera. and 
upon the legs (principally upon the tibia;) of these and 
nearly all Orthoptera and many Neuroptera. The body- 
spines of adult insects are always of great use in classifi- 
cation, (i) In ichth. : (1) A fin-spine ; one of the unjointed 
and unbranched sharp bony rays of the fins, such as those 
the presence of which 
gives name to the 
acanthopterygian 
fishes ; a spinous fin- 
ray, as distinguished 
from a soft ray. See 
rayi, 7, and the for- 
mula under radial, a. 
(2) A spinous process, 
as of an opercular 
bone. (3) The spinous 
process of some gan- 
oid, placoid, etc., 
scales. See cuts un- 
der Echinorhinus, 
sand-fish, scale, sea- 
raven, and shackle- 
joint, (f) In echino- 
derms, one of the movable processes which beset the ex- 
terior, as of an echinus, and are articulated with the 
tubercles of the body-wall. Primary spines are the large 
ones forming continuous series along the anibulacral, as 
distinguished from less-developed secondary and tertiary 
spines. Other spines are specified as semital. See cuts 
under Cidaris, Echinometra, Echinus, semita, and Spatan- 
gus. (i) In general, some or any hard sharp process, like 
a spine ; a thorn ; a prickle : as, the spine at the end of 
the tail of the lion or the fer-de-lance. 
4. In macli., any longitudinal ridge ; a fin. E. 
H. Knight. 5. In lace-making, a raised projec- 
tion from the cordonnet: one of the varieties of 
pinwork ; especially, one of many small points 
that project outward from the edge of the lace, 
forming a sort of fringe. 6. The duramen or 
heart wood of trees : a ship-builders' term. See 
duramen Angular curvature of the spine. See 
curvature. Anterior superior spine of the Ilium 
See spines of the ilium. Concussion of the spine, in 
theoretic strictness, a molecular lesion of the spinal cord 
too fine for microscopic detection, but impairing the func- 
tions of the cord, and produced by violent jarring, as in a 
railway accident : often applied, without discrimination 
to cases which, after an accident, exhibit various nervous 
or spinal symptoms without any manifest gross lesion 
which explains them. These include cases of traumatic 
neurasthenia, of hemorrhage in the cord or its mem- 
branes, of displacement and fracture of vertebrae, and of 
muscular and ligamentous strains. Ethmoldal spine 
a projection of the sphenoid hone for articulation with 
the cribriform plate of the ethmoid. Hemal spine. See 
def. 3 (b\ and hemal. Interhemal spine. See inter- 
hemal. Interneural spine. See interneuraL Lateral 
curvature of the spine. See curvature. Mental ex- 
ternal spine, the mental protuberance of the human 
mandible. Mental spines, the genial tubercles. See 
Nasal, pharyngeal, pleural spine. See the 
. -. -, -.. (followed by soft rays) of 
the dorsat, ventral, and anal fins of an 
acanthopterygian fish: a, ten spines; *, 
one spine ; c, three spines. 
