reel

Noun · Verb
Synonyms: bobbinspoolScottish reelVirginia reelstaggerkeellurchswagcareenspinspin aroundwhirl

WordNet 3.0

Noun (6)

  1. a roll of photographic film holding a series of frames to be projected by a movie projector
  2. music composed for dancing a reel
  3. winder consisting of a revolving spool with a handle; attached to a fishing rod
  4. a winder around which thread or tape or film or other flexible materials can be woundSynonyms: bobbinspool
  5. a lively dance of Scottish Highlanders; marked by circular moves and gliding stepsSynonyms: Scottish reel
  6. an American country dance which starts with the couples facing each other in two linesSynonyms: Virginia reel

Verb (3)

  1. walk as if unable to control one's movements“The drunken man staggered into the room”Synonyms: staggerkeellurchswagcareen
  2. revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis“The dervishes whirl around and around without getting dizzy”Synonyms: spinspin aroundwhirlgyrate
  3. wind onto or off a reel
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

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]

Reel \Reel\ (r[=e]l), n. [Gael. righil.] A lively dance of the Highlanders of Scotland; also, the music to the dance; -- often called Scotch reel. [1913 Webster]

Virginia reel, the common name throughout the United States for the old English "country dance," or contradance (contredanse). --Bartlett. [1913 Webster]

Reel \Reel\ (r[=e]l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reeled (r?ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Reeling. ]

1.To roll. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

And Sisyphus an huge round stone did reel.— Spenser.[1913 Webster]

2.To wind upon a reel, as yarn or thread. [1913 Webster]

Reel \Reel\ (r[=e]l), v. i. [Cf. Sw. ragla. See 2d Reel.]

1.To incline, in walking, from one side to the other; to stagger. [1913 Webster]

They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man.— Ps. cvii. 27.[1913 Webster]
He, with heavy fumes oppressed, Reeled from the palace, and retired to rest.— Pope.[1913 Webster]
The wagons reeling under the yellow sheaves.— Macaulay.[1913 Webster]

2.To have a whirling sensation; to be giddy. [1913 Webster]

In these lengthened vigils his brain often reeled.— Hawthorne.[1913 Webster]
Reel \Reel\ (r[=e]l), n. The act or motion of reeling or staggering; as, a drunken reel. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
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