needle
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See also: Needle
English[edit]



Etymology[edit]
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- (“to spin, twist”).
Cognates
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
needle (plural needles)
- 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.
- The seamstress threaded the needle to sew on a button.
- reusable needles
- single-use needles
- 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 compass needle
- The needle on the fuel gauge pointed to empty.
- (informal) A sensor for playing phonograph records, a phonograph stylus.
- Ziggy bought some diamond needles for his hi-fi phonograph.
- A needle-like leaf found on some conifers.
- 1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus:
- At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. Disgusted with himself at such cowardice, he spat a needle from his mouth.
- A strong beam resting on props, used as a temporary support during building repairs.
- (informal, usually preceded by the) The death penalty carried out by lethal injection.
- (programming) A text string that is searched for within another string. (see: needle in a haystack)
- 2010, Peter MacIntyre, PHP: The Good Parts, page 39:
- Both of these functions will look through the haystack for the specified needle and, if they find it, will return the portion of the string from the beginning of the needle to the end of the haystack.
- (entomology) Any of various species of damselfly of the genus Synlestes, endemic to Australia.
Derived terms[edit]
terms derived from needle (noun)
- Adam's needle
- bore needle
- budge the needle
- camel through the eye of a needle
- compass needle
- cop the needle
- darning needle
- dining needle
- dip of the needle
- dipping needle
- eye of a needle
- fashioning needle
- fine-needle aspiration
- fissure needle
- hypodermic needle
- ice needle
- intraosseous needle
- it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God
- knight of the needle
- knitting needle
- larding needle
- move the needle
- needle-and-thread grass
- needle aspiration biopsy
- needle bar
- needle beam
- needle bearing
- needle bush
- needle-clawed bushbaby
- needle dick
- needle drop
- needle exchange
- needle furze
- needle-girl
- needle girl
- needle gun
- needle ice
- needle in a haystack
- needle-in-a-haystack
- needle lace
- needle loom
- needle match
- needle-mover
- needle mover
- needlenose
- needle-nose gar
- needlenose pliers
- needle ore
- needle park
- needle phobia
- needlepunch
- needle-shaped
- needle sharer
- needle sharing
- needle-sharp
- needle shell
- needle sickness
- needle spar
- needle telegraph
- needle threader
- needle time
- needle valve
- needlewise
- needlework
- netting-needle
- on pins and needles
- packing-needle
- packing needle
- peg the needle
- pine needle
- pins and needles
- roweling-needle
- sea needle
- sewing needle
- shepherd's needle
- stick a needle in my eye
- thread the needle
- touch-needle
Translations[edit]
implement for sewing etc.
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indicating device
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sensor phonograph stylus
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leaf of conifer
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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See also[edit]
Verb[edit]
needle (third-person singular simple present needles, present participle needling, simple past and past participle needled)
- To pierce with a needle, especially for sewing or acupuncture.
- 1892, H. Lindo Ferguson, “Operation on Microphthamlmic Eyes”, in Ophthalmic Review, volume 11, page 48:
- […] the eyes were once more beginning to show the old nystagmus; so I decided to needle the cataracts, and on Jan. 31 I needled the right eye.
- 2000, Felix Mann, Reinventing Acupuncture, page 109:
- Possibly the greatest effect is achieved in the hand by needling the thumb, the index finger and the region of the 1st and 2nd metacarpal.
- (transitive) To tease in order to provoke; to poke fun at.
- Billy needled his sister incessantly about her pimples.
- 1984, Leopold Caligor; Philip M. Bromberg; James D. Meltzer, Clinical Perspectives on the Supervision of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, page 14:
- FRED: Well, I teased her to some extent, or I needled her, not teased her. I needled her about—first I said that she didn't want to work, and then I think that there were a couple of comments.
- 2015, Carl Gleba, “Megaverse in Flames”, in Rifts World Book 35:
- To needle Lady Leviathan, Hel has convinced her husband to agree to the heartful offer.
- (transitive, intransitive) To form, or be formed, in the shape of a needle.
- to needle crystals
Synonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
to pierce with a needle
to tease in order to provoke
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Anagrams[edit]
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)neh₁-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/iːdəl
- Rhymes:English/iːdəl/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English informal terms
- English terms with quotations
- en:Programming
- en:Entomology
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Damselflies
- en:Conifers
- en:Knitting
- en:Sewing