See Also: needle(encyclopedia)
sea needle(medicine)
Needle(medicine)
needle(1)(dictionary)
needle(2)(dictionary)
pine-needle oil(medicine)
needle sharing(medicine)
needle forceps(medicine)
needle culture(medicine)
needle biopsy(medicine)

needle(1) (iou)



needle noun.

I.
A thin pointed instrument for conveying one thing, esp. a thread, into or through another; spec. a small slender piece of polished steel etc. with a hole or eye for thread to pass through, used in sewing, surgical stitching, etc. OE.
darning-needle, larding-needle, sewing-needle, etc.
b. Any of various other pointed pins or implements used in making or working fabric; spec. (a) = KNITTING-needle; (b) = CROCHET hook. L16.
c. transf. A user of a needle, a needlewoman. rare. M19.
A piece of magnetized steel (orig. a sewing-needle) used as an indicator of direction, spec. as a part of a compass, or in connection with magnetic or electrical apparatus in telegraphy etc. Also magnetic needle. LME.
b. Hist. A small strip of gold or silver of known or standard fineness used with a touchstone in testing the purity of other pieces of those metals. LME.
c. A tongue or index of a scale or balance. L16.
d. A slender, usu. pointed, indicator on a dial or other measuring instrument, spec. on a speedometer. E20.
a. A pointed instrument used in engraving or etching. M17.
b. In a breech-loading firearm, a slender steel pin by the impact of which a cartridge is exploded. M19.
c. A thin sharply pointed hollow attachment for the end of a hypodermic syringe or other injector; slang (orig. US) an injection of a drug through such a needle, a quantity of a drug for injection. L19.
d. A thin pointed or tapering rod used to secure fine adjustment in closing an aperture, as in a valve. L19.
e. A small pointed jewel or piece of metal, wood, etc., for resting in the groove of a revolving gramophone record to receive and transmit the vibrations set up; a similar device used to cut grooves in records; a stylus. E20.
A fit of bad temper or nervousness (freq. in the needle); anger, enmity; esp. in Sport, antagonism provoked by rivalry. slang. L19.
II.
An obelisk, a pillar. Chiefly in proper names. LME.
Cleopatra's Needle etc.
A sharply pointed mass of rock, a peak. Chiefly in proper names. LME.
A beam or post of wood, esp. one used as a temporary support for a wall during underpinning. LME.
The penis. coarse slang. Now rare. M17.
Chemistry & Mineralogy. A long narrow pointed crystal or spicule. E18.
Any of the sharp stiff slender leaves characteristic of conifers. L18.
sing. & in pl. = shepherd's needle s.v. SHEPHERD noun. L18.
Phrases: get the needle become angry or upset, lose one's temper. look for a needle in a haystack, look for a needle in a bottle of hay, & vars., attempt an extremely difficult, impossible, or foolish task. naked as a needle: see NAKED adjective. pins and needles: see PIN noun1. sharp as a needle: see SHARP adjective. shepherd's needle: see SHEPHERD noun. the eye of a needle = needle's eye below. variation of the needle: see VARIATION 8. Whitechapel needle: see WHITECHAPEL 2.
Comb.: needle-and-pin rhyming slang gin; needle-and-thread rhyming slang bread; needle-beam = sense 7 above; needle bearing a bearing using needle rollers; needle beer US slang (a drink of) liquor made (more) alcoholic by the addition of ethyl alcohol; needle biopsy Medicine removal of tissue with a hollow needle for analysis and diagnosis; needle-book a needle-case resembling a small book; needle-bug = water measurer s.v. WATER noun; needle-bush any of various Australian shrubs or small trees of the genus Hakea (family Proteaceae), with stiff needle-like leaves, esp. H. leucoptera and H. tephrosperma; needle-case a case for keeping needles in; needle-cast any of several fungal diseases of conifers, causing the leaves to go brown and drop off; esp. = larch needle-cast s.v. LARCH noun1; needle contest = needle match below; needlecord adjective & noun (of) a finely ribbed corduroy; needlecraft the art of using a needle for sewing, embroidering, etc., skill in needlework; needle exchange a public health service which makes sterile hypodermic needles available to drug users; a place or building in which such a service is based; needle fight a closely contested fight, a fight arousing exceptional personal antagonism between the participants; needlefish any of various elongated fishes, esp. garfishes; needle furze petty whin, Genista anglica; needle game a closely contested game, a game arousing exceptional personal antagonism between the participants; needle gap Electricity a pair of needle-shaped electrodes placed in line, separated by a gap across which an electric discharge can take place when the potential difference between them exceeds a value dependent on the size of the gap; needle-grass any of various long-awned grasses of the genera Aristida and Stipa, of dry areas in the south-western US; needle-gun a gun in which a cartridge is exploded by the impact of a needle; needle ice ice formed into thin needle-like crystals just beneath the soil surface and often pushing up through it; needle-lace lace made with a needle, as opp. to bobbin-lace, point lace; needleloom noun & adjective (a) noun a loom with needles rather than shuttles, esp. one for making carpeting by forcing fibre through a base of rubber, hessian, etc.; (b) adjective made using such a loom; needleman (a) arch. a man who works with a needle, esp. a tailor; (b) US slang (usu. needle-man) a drug addict, esp. a person addicted to injecting drugs; needle match a closely contested match or contest, a contest arousing exceptional personal antagonism between the participants; needle paper stout black paper of a type orig. used for wrapping up needles; needlepoint (a) the point of a needle; a fine sharp point; (b) = needle-lace above; (c) embroidery worked over canvas, esp. gros point or petit point; needle-pointed adjective having a point like that of a needle, sharply pointed; needle roller a roller in the form of a long thin, sometimes tapered cylinder, used in roller bearings; needle's eye a minute opening or space (chiefly in echoes of Matthew 19:24 etc.); needle shower a shower-bath of strong fine jets of water; needlestone Mineralogy any of various minerals having needle-like crystals; needle-threader a device for threading a needle; needle time an agreed limited amount of time for broadcasting recorded music; needle valve a valve worked by a narrow pointed rod fitting into a conical seating; needle-whin = needle-furze above; needlewoman (a) a woman who works with a needle, a seamstress; (b) a woman who is good, bad, etc., at using a sewing-needle; needle-wood = needle-bush above; needlework (a) work done with a needle; sewing or embroidery; (b) (now rare) a piece or kind of this work (usu. in pl.); needleworker a worker with a needle, a sewer or embroiderer.
needle-like adjective resembling a needle in shape; long, slender, and pointed: L17.