spinner 
4. A spinneret. 5. The night-jar or night- 
ehurr, (.'(itirhinili/ii.i ciimpifHn: from its cries. 
which may be likened to the noise of u spin- 
ning-wheel. See cut under nii/lit-jfir. Also 
wheel-bird. Compare reclcr in like use for an- 
other bird. [Wexford, Ireland.] -Ring-and- 
traveler spinner. Same as ring-frame. 
spinner'-'t, . [HE. spynnri-; origin obscure.] 
A kind of boat. 
As on Monday next after May day there come tydyngs 
to London, that on Thorsday before the Uuke of Suffolk 
come unto the costea of Kent fullnere slower with his ij. 
shepes and a litel spynner ; the qweche spynner he sente 
with certeyn letters to certeyn of his trustid men. 
Paston Letters, I. 124. 
spinneret (spin'er-et), . [< spinner 1 + -el.] 
A part or organ concerned in the spinning of 
silk, gossamer, or cobweb, as of a silkworm 
or spider. Specifically (a) One of the mammillae of 
the arachnidium of a spider; one of the four, six, or eight 
little conical or nipple-like processes under a spider's abdo- 
men and near its end, through which the viscid secretion 
of the arachnidial glands is spun out into threads of silk, 
.some of the spinnerets are three-jointed. See arachnid- 
ium. (6) One of the tubules of the labium of certain 
caterpillars, as silkworms, through which silk is spun 
out of the secretion of glands connected with the mouth- 
parts. See sericterium. (c) One of the tubules of the 
anal segment of certain coleopterous larvae, as in the first 
larval stage (triungulin) of some blister-beetles (Melaidte), 
through which a little silk is spun. See cut under Sitaris. 
(d) A like organ of any other insect. 
spinnerular (spi-ner'ij-lar), . [< spinner ule 
+ -a)' 8 .] Entering into the formation of a 
spinneret, as a tubule; of or pertaining to 
spinnerules. 
spinnerule (spin'er-61), n. [(.spinner 1 + -tile.] 
One of the several individual tubules which 
collectively form the spinneret of a spider. 
spinnery (spin'er-i), n.\ pi. spinneries (-iz). 
[= D. spinnerij, a spinning-house, = G. spinne- 
ret = Sw. spinneri = Dan. spindei'i, spinning, 
spinning-house; as spin + -ery.] A spinning- 
mill. Imp. Diet. 
spinnett, See spinet*. 
spinney, spinny 2 (spin'i), n. [< ME. *spineye, 
spenne, < OF. espinaye, espinoye, espinoie, F. epi- 
naie, a thicket, grove, a thorny plot, < L. spine- 
turn, a thicket of thorns, < spina, a thorn: see 
spine. Cf . spinet 2 ."] A small wood with under- 
growth; a clump of trees or shrubs; a small 
grove or shrubbery. 
As he sprent ouer a spennf, to spye the schrewe. 
Sir Oawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1895. 
A land . . . covered with fine hedgerow timber, with 
here and there a nice little gorse or spinney. 
T. Huyhes, Tom Brown at Eugby, i. 1. 
spinning (spin'ing), n. [< ME. spynnynge ; 
verbal n. of spin, v.] 1. The act of one who 
spins. 2. The process of giving shape to ves- 
sels of thin metal by means of a turning-lathe. 
spinning-frame (spin'ing-fram), n. A machine 
by which cotton thread was twisted hard and 
firm, so as to make it suitable for the warp of 
cotton cloth: the invention of Richard Ark- 
wright. E. H. Knight. 
spinning-head (spin'ing-hed), n. An early 
form of spinning-machine in which the draw- 
ing and twisting mechanisms are combined in 
one head. 
spinning-houset (spin'ing-hous), . Same as 
spin-house. 
spinning-jack (spin'ing-jak), n. In cotton- 
manuf., a device for twisting and winding a 
sliver as it comes from the drawing-rollers. It 
is placed in the can, in which it rotates, the 
sliver being wound on a bobbin. E. H. Knight. 
spinning-jenny (spin'ing-jeu"i), . A spin- 
ning-machine, invented by James Hargreaves 
5837 
means of which the operator is enabled to clasp and draw 
out all the rovings simultaneously during the operation 
of twisting, and to feed the twisted threads to the spindles 
when winding on the whole operation being almost ex- 
actly like hand-spinning, except that a large number of 
rovings are operated upon instead of a single one. 
spinning-machine (spin'ing-ma-shen"). n. 1. 
Any machine for spinning; a mule; a spinner. 
Specifically 2. An apparatus which spins con- 
tinuously, as distinguished from the intermit- 
tent action of the mule. E. H. Knif/lit. 
spinning-mill (spin'iug-mil), n. A mill or fac- 
tory where thread is spun. 
Spinning-mite (spin'ing-mit), . Any mite or 
acarid of the family I'etraonychidee; a red- 
spider. 
spinning-organ (spin'ing-6r"gan), H. The or- 
gan or apparatus by means of which a spider 
or caterpillar spins silk; an arachnidium, as of 
a spider. See cut under arachnidium. 
spinning-roller (spin'ing-rp'ler), . One of 
the iron wheels, covered with various materi- 
als as rubber, vulcanite, paper, or felt run- 
ning in pairs in the drawing mechanism of a 
spinning-machine. 
spinning-spider (spin'ing-spi // der), H. A spider 
which spins cobwebs ; specifically, a true spider 
or araneid, as distinguished from any other 
arachnidan, whether it actually spins or not. 
spinning-wart (spin'ing-wart), n. A spinner- 
et ; one of the papilla? or mammillse out of which 
a spider spins silk. See cut under arachnidium. 
Gegenbatir, Comp. Auat. (trans.), p. 291. 
spinning-wheel (spiu'ing-hwel), n. A machine 
for spinning wool, cotton, or flax into threads 
by hand. It consists of a wheel, band, and spindle, and 
Spinning-wheel for WooL 
a, bench ; b, t>', standards ; ', driving band-wheel with flat rim, 
turned by the peg k held in the right hand of the spinner ; d, cord- 
band, crossed at e and driving the speed-pulley./",- g, cord-band im- 
parting motion to the spindle Jt ; i, thread in process of spinning. 
is driven by foot or by hand. Before the introduction of 
machinery for spinning there were two kinds of spinning- 
wheels in common 
use the large wheel 
for spinning wool 
and cotton, and 
the small or Saxon 
wheel for spinning 
flax. The girdle- 
wheel was a spin- 
ning-wheel for- 
merly in use, small 
enough to be fas- 
tened to a girdle- 
or apron-string, and 
used while standing 
or walking about. 
spinny 1 , >*. See 
spinney. 
spinny^t, & [Ap- 
par. an irreg. 
var. of spiny, 3, 
or of spindly.] 
Thin ; slender ; 
Spinning-wheel for Flax. 
<* bench or stool; t>, standards; c t driv- 
ing band-wheel grooved in its perimeter;*, 
treadle; e, rod which connects treadle with 
crank ; /, cord-band which drives the flier- 
spindle ; , flier ; h, distaff upon which the 
flax to be spun is placed, and which in use 
is held in the left hand of the operator. 
Hargreaves's Original Spinning-jenny. 
a, frame ; b, frames supporting spindles ; c, drum driven by the 
band e from the band- wheel/", and carrying separate bands (not shown) 
which separately drive each spindle ; rf, fluted wooden ciasp which 
travels on wheels on the top of the frame, and in which the rovings 
are arranged in due order. 
in 1767, which was the first to operate upon more 
than one thread. It has a series of vertical spindles, 
each of which is supplied with roving from a separate 
spool, and has a clasping and traversing mechanism by 
slim; lank. 
They plow it early in the year, and then there will come 
some spinny grass that will keep it from scalding. 
Mortimer. 
spinode (spi'nod), /. [< L. spina, a thorn, spine, 
+ nodus, a knot.] In geom., a stationary point 
or cusp on a curve. A spinode may be conceived as 
resulting from the vanishing of the angle at a node be- 
tween the two branches, the length of arc between them 
being reduced to zero, just as an inflection may be regarded 
as resulting from the vanishing of the interval between 
the two points of tangency of a bitangent, the total curva- 
ture between them at the same time vanishing. But this 
view in the latter case includes all the points of the in- 
flectional tangent as points of the curve, and in the former 
case includes all lines through the spinode as tangents. 
For this reason the spinode, like the inflection, is reck- 
oned as a distinct kind of singularity. A curve cannot, 
while remaining real, change continuously from having a 
crunode to having an acnode without passing through a 
form in which it has a spinode. 
spinode-curve (spi'nod-kerv), . A singularity 
of a surface consisting in a locus of points 
where tangent-planes to the curve intersect it 
in curves having spinodes at those points. The 
sptnode-curve on a real surface is the boundary between a 
synclastlc and an anticlastic region. It bears no resem- 
spinster 
blancc to that singularity of a surface termed the cuspidal 
mint, 
spinode-torse (nd'nM-tdn), . That torse of 
which a spinodc-curvc is the edge of regres- 
sion. It is the envelop of tangent-planes to a 
surface intersecting it in curves having spi- 
nodes. 
spinose (spi'nos), a. [< L. ftjtiiKisiis, full of 
thorns: seespinitnx.] Full of spines; spinous; 
spinigerous or spiniferous; armed with spines 
or thorns; of a spiny character: as, a spinosr 
leaf; a spinose stem Spinose maxillae, in entmn., 
maxillfc armed with spinus at the apex, as in the dragon- 
fly. 
spinosely (spi'nos-li), ndi: In but., in a spinose 
manner. 
spinosity (spi-nos'i-ti), .; pi. spinositics (-tiz). 
[< L. spinoxita(t-)s, thominess, (. spinosus, 
thorny, spiny: see spinous.] 1. The state of 
being spinous or spinose; rough, spinous, or 
thorny character or quality; thominess: liter- 
ally or figuratively. 
The part of Human Philosophy which is Rational . . . 
seemeth but a net of subtilty and spinosity. 
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 
2. A thorny part or thing; something thorny 
or crabbed. 
spinous (spl'nus), a. [= F. cpineux = Sp. es- 
pinoso = Pg. cspinhoso = It. spinoso, (. L. spi- 
nosus, full of thorns, thorny, spiny, < spina, a 
thorn, spine: see spine.] 1. In eool. and anat. : 
(a) Having spines; spiny; spinigerous or spi- 
niferous. (b) Shaped like a spine ; spiniform; 
having the character of a spine ; sharp or point- 
ed: as, a spinous process of bone. See spinose. 
2. In bot., same as spinose Spinous foramen, 
the foramen spinosum of uie sphenoldT See under fora- 
men. Spinous process Of a vertebra, one of the ele- 
ments of most vertebrae, usually autogenous, or having 
Its own center of ossification, forming a process, point, or 
plate of bone where the lateral halves of the neural arch, 
or neurapophyses, come together behind (in man) or above 
the neural arch ; a neural spine. See cuts urrfler axis, cer- 
vical, dorsal, hypapophysit, lumbar, and vertebra. Spi- 
nous process of the sphenoid. See spine of the sphe- 
noid, under spine. Spinous rat, a spiny rat, in any sense. 
Spinous Shark. See sharW, ana Echinorhinus (with 
cut). Spinous spider-crab, Maia sguinado, the com- 
mon spider-crab. 
spinous-radiate (spi-'nus-ra'di-at), o. In en- 
torn., rayed or encircled with spines. 
Spinozism (spi-no'zizm), n. [< Spinoza (see 
def. ) + -ism.] The metaphysical doctrine of 
Baruch (afterward Benedict) de Spinoza (1632- 
1677), a Spanish Jew, born at Amsterdam. Spi- 
noza's chief work, the "Ethlcs,"ls an exposition of the idea 
of the absolute, with a monistic theory of the correspon- 
dence between mind and matter, and applications to the 
philosophy of living. It is an excessively abstruse doc- 
trine, much misunderstood, and too complicated for brief 
exposition. The style of the book, an imitation of Euclid's 
*' Elements." is calculated torepel the mathematician and 
logician, and to carry the attention of the ordinary reader 
away from the real meaning, while conveying a completely 
false notion of the mode of thinking. Yet, while the form 
is pseudomathematical. the thought itself is truly mathe- 
matical. The main principle is, indeed, an anticipation 
in a generalized form of the modern geometrical concep- 
tion of the absolute, especially as this appears in the hy- 
perbolic geometry, where the point and plane manifolds 
have a correspondence similar to that between Spinoza's 
worlds of extension and thought. Spinoza is described as 
a pantheist ; he identifies God and Nature, but does not 
mean by Nature what is ordinarllymeant. Somesaylngsof 
Spinoza are frequently quoted in literature. One of these 
liomnis determinate est negatio,"&\\ specification involves 
exclusion " ; another is that matters must be considered 
sub specie seternitatis, "under their essential aspects." 
Spinozist (spi-no' zist), . [< Spinoza + -ist.] 
A follower of Spinoza. 
Spinozistic (spi-no-zis'tik), a. [< Spinozist + 
-ic.] Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Spi- 
noza or his followers : as, the Spinozistic school ; 
Spinozistic pantheism. 
spinster (spin'ster), . [< ME. spinster, spyn- 
stare,spinnestere, spynnester(=D.spinster),wit}i 
suffix -estre (E. -ster), < AS. spinnan, spin : see 
xpin.] 1. A woman who spins; by extension, 
any person who spins; a spinner. 
My wlf was a webbe and wollen cloth made. 
Hu spak to the spynnesters to spynnen hit oute. 
Piers Plowman (C), vii. 222. 
The silkworm is 
Only man's spinster. 
Randolph, Muses' Looking-Glass, iv. 1. 
Let the three housewifely spinsters of destiny rather 
curtail the thread of thy life. 
Dekker, Gull's Hornbook, p. 83. 
2. An unmarried woman (so called because she 
was supposed to occupy herself with spinning) : 
the legal designation in England of all unmar- 
ried women from a viscount's daughter down- 
ward ; popularly, an elderly unmarried woman ; 
an "old maid": sometimes used adjectively. 
I, Anthony Lumpkin, Esquire, of Blank place; refuse 
you, Constantia Neville, spinster, of no place at all. 
Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, T. 1. 
