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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Spin \Spin\, noun
1. The act of spinning; as, the spin of a top; a spin a bicycle. [Colloq.]
2. (Kinematics) Velocity of rotation about some specified axis.
3. (Politics) an interpretation of an event which is favorable to the interpreter or to the person s/he supports. A person whose task is to provide such interpretations for public relations purposes is called a {spin doctor}. [PJC]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Spin \Spin\ (sp[i^]n), verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Spun}(Archaic imp. {Span}); p. pr. & vb. n. {Spinning}.] [AS. spinnan; akin to D. & G. spinnen, Icel. & Sw. spinna, Dan. spinde, Goth. spinnan, and probably to E. span. [root]170. Cf. {Span}, v. t., {Spider}.]
1. To draw out, and twist into threads, either by the hand or machinery; as, to spin wool, cotton, or flax; to spin goat's hair; to produce by drawing out and twisting a fibrous material.
All the yarn she [Penelope] spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths. --Shak.
2. To draw out tediously; to form by a slow process, or by degrees; to extend to a great length; -- with out; as, to spin out large volumes on a subject.
Do you mean that story is tediously spun out? --Sheridan.
3. To protract; to spend by delays; as, to spin out the day in idleness.
By one delay after another they spin out their whole lives. --L'Estrange.
4. To cause to turn round rapidly; to whirl; to twirl; as, to spin a top.
5. To form (a web, a cocoon, silk, or the like) from threads produced by the extrusion of a viscid, transparent liquid, which hardens on coming into contact with the air; -- said of the spider, the silkworm, etc.
6. (Mech.) To shape, as malleable sheet metal, into a hollow form, by bending or buckling it by pressing against it with a smooth hand tool or roller while the metal revolves, as in a lathe.
{To spin a yarn} (Naut.), to tell a story, esp. a long or fabulous tale.
{To spin hay} (Mil.), to twist it into ropes for convenient carriage on an expedition.
{To spin street yarn}, to gad about gossiping. [Collog.]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Spin \Spin\, verb (used without an object)
1. To practice spinning; to work at drawing and twisting threads; to make yarn or thread from fiber; as, the woman knows how to spin; a machine or jenny spins with great exactness.
They neither know to spin, nor care to toll. --Prior.
2. To move round rapidly; to whirl; to revolve, as a top or a spindle, about its axis.
Round about him spun the landscape, Sky and forest reeled together. --Longfellow.
With a whirligig of jubilant mosquitoes spinning about each head. --G. W. Cable.
3. To stream or issue in a thread or a small current or jet; as, blood spinsfrom a vein. --Shak.
4. To move swifty; as, to spin along the road in a carriage, on a bicycle, etc. [Colloq.]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
spin
noun
1: a swift whirling motion (usually of a missile)
2: the act of rotating rapidly; "he gave the crank a spin"; "it broke off after much twisting" [syn: {twirl}, {twist}, {twisting}, {whirl}]
3: a short drive in a car; "he took the new car for a spin"
4: rapid descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral [syn: {tailspin}]
5: a distinctive interpretation (especially as used by politicians to sway public opinion); "the campaign put a favorable spin on the story"
verb
1: revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis; "The dervishes whirl around and around without getting dizzy" [syn: {spin around}, {whirl}, {reel}, {gyrate}]
2: stream in jets, of liquids; "The creek spun its course through the woods"
3: cause to spin; "spin a coin" [syn: {whirl}, {birl}, {twirl}]
4: make up a story; "spin a yarn"
5: form a web by making a thread; "spiders spin a fine web"
6: work natural fibers into a thread; "spin silk"
7: twist and turn so as to give an intended interpretation; "The President's spokesmen had to spin the story to make it less embarrasing"
8: prolong or extend; "spin out a visit" [syn: {spin out}] [also: {spun}, {spinning}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
215 Moby Thesaurus words for "spin": Charybdis, Sunday drive, advance, airing, angle, angular momentum, angular motion, angular velocity, ascend, axial motion, back, back up, bait the hook, bank, bob, bowling, budge, centrifugate, centrifugation, centrifuge, change, change place, circle, circulate, circulation, circumgyration, circumrotate, circumrotation, circumvolute, clam, climb, come about, concoct, continue, crab, crack up, crank, crash, dap, derive, descend, devise, dib, dibble, dip, dizzy, dizzy round, drag out, draw out, drive, ebb, eddy, excursion, extend, fabricate, feather, fetch about, filament, fish, fishtail, flat spin, flow, fluster, fly-fish, full circle, get over, giddy, gig, gin, go, go about, go around, go fishing, go round, go sideways, grig, guddle, gurge, gyrate, gyration, gyre, heel, invent, jack, jacklight, jaunt, jig, joyride, keep alive, keep going, lift, loop, maelstrom, make up, mix up, mount, move, move over, muddle, narrate, net, oscillate, outing, pendulate, perpetuate, pickup, pirouette, pivot, pivot about, pivoting, plow, plunge, porpoise, produce, progress, prolong, protract, pull out, pull up, purl, push down, put about, rat race, recount, reel, reeling, regress, relate, retail, retrogress, revolution, revolve, revolving, ride, rise, roll, rolling, rotate, rotating, rotation, rotational motion, round, run, screw, seine, separate, shift, shred, shrimp, sideslip, sink, skid, soar, spin off, spin out, spinning, spiral, still-fish, stir, stream, stretch out, stunt, subside, surge, swim, swing, swing round, swinging, swirl, swirling, swivel, swiveling, tailspin, tell, torch, tour, travel, trawl, troll, trolling, trundling, turbination, turn, turn a pirouette, turn about, turn around, turn round, turn tail, turning, twirl, twirling, twist, undulate, unfold, veer, veer around, vibrate, volutation, volution, vortex, wamble, wane, weave, whale, wheel, wheel about, wheeling, whir, whirl, whirligig, whirling, whirlpool, whirlwind, wind, yaw
From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:
spin vi. Equivalent to {buzz}. More common among C and Unix programmers. See the discussion of 'spinlock' under {busy-wait}.
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
spin Equivalent to {buzz}. More common among {C} and {Unix} programmers. [{Jargon File}]
From Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002) [vera]:
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