'Spindle shell' definitions:

Definition of 'Spindle shell'

From: GCIDE

Spindle \Spin"dle\, n. [AS. spinal, fr. spinnan to spin; akin to D. spil, G. spille, spindel, OHG. spinnala. [root]170. See Spin.]
1. The long, round, slender rod or pin in spinning wheels by which the thread is twisted, and on which, when twisted, it is wound; also, the pin on which the bobbin is held in a spinning machine, or in the shuttle of a loom. [1913 Webster]
2. A slender rod or pin on which anything turns; an axis; as, the spindle of a vane. Specifically: [1913 Webster] (a) (Mach.) The shaft, mandrel, or arbor, in a machine tool, as a lathe or drilling machine, etc., which causes the work to revolve, or carries a tool or center, etc. [1913 Webster] (b) (Mach.) The vertical rod on which the runner of a grinding mill turns. [1913 Webster] (c) (Founding) A shaft or pipe on which a core of sand is formed. [1913 Webster]
3. The fusee of a watch. [1913 Webster]
4. A long and slender stalk resembling a spindle. [1913 Webster]
5. A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards; in linen yarn, 14,400 yards. [1913 Webster]
6. (Geom.) A solid generated by the revolution of a curved line about its base or double ordinate or chord. [1913 Webster]
7. (Zool.) (a) Any marine univalve shell of the genus Rostellaria; -- called also spindle stromb. (b) Any marine gastropod of the genus Fusus. [1913 Webster]
Dead spindle (Mach.), a spindle in a machine tool that does not revolve; the spindle of the tailstock of a lathe.
Live spindle (Mach.), the revolving spindle of a machine tool; the spindle of the headstock of a turning lathe.
Spindle shell. (Zool.) See Spindle, 7. above.
Spindle side, the female side in descent; in the female line; opposed to spear side. --Ld. Lytton. [R.] "King Lycaon, grandson, by the spindle side, of Oceanus." --Lowell.
Spindle tree (Bot.), any shrub or tree of the genus Eunymus. The wood of Eunymus Europaeus was used for spindles and skewers. See Prickwood. [1913 Webster]