The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Reel \Reel\ (r[=e]l), n. [AS. hre['o]l: cf. Icel. hr[ae]ll a
   weaver's reed or sley.]
   1. A frame with radial arms, or a kind of spool, turning on
      an axis, on which yarn, threads, lines, or the like, are
      wound; as, a log reel, used by seamen; an angler's reel; a
      garden reel.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A machine on which yarn is wound and measured into lays
      and hanks, -- for cotton or linen it is fifty-four inches
      in circuit; for worsted, thirty inches. --McElrath.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Agric.) A device consisting of radial arms with
      horizontal stats, connected with a harvesting machine, for
      holding the stalks of grain in position to be cut by the
      knives.
      [1913 Webster]

   Reel oven, a baker's oven in which bread pans hang
      suspended from the arms of a kind of reel revolving on a
      horizontal axis. --Knight.
      [1913 Webster]