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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Spiral \Spi"ral\, noun [Cf. F. spirale. See {Spiral}, adjective]
1. (Geom.) A plane curve, not re["e]ntrant, described by a point, called the generatrix, moving along a straight line according to a mathematical law, while the line is revolving about a fixed point called the pole. Cf. {Helix}.
2. Anything which has a spiral form, as a spiral shell.
{Equiangular spiral},a plane curve which cuts all its generatrices at the same angle. Same as {Logarithmic spiral}, under {Logarithmic}.
{Spiral of Archimedes}, a spiral the law of which is that the generatrix moves uniformly along the revolving line, which also moves uniformly.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Spiral \Spi"ral\, adjective [Cf. F. spiral. See {Spire} a winding line.]
1. Winding or circling round a center or pole and gradually receding from it; as, the spiral curve of a watch spring.
2. Winding round a cylinder or imaginary axis, and at the same time rising or advancing forward; winding like the thread of a screw; helical.
3. (Geom.) Of or pertaining to a spiral; like a spiral.
{Spiral gear}, or {Spiral wheel} (Mach.), a gear resembling in general a spur gear, but having its teeth cut at an angle with its axis, or so that they form small portions of screws or spirals.
{Spiral gearing}, a kind of gearing sometimes used in light machinery, in which spiral gears, instead of bevel gears, are used to transmit motion between shafts that are not parallel.
{Spiral operculum}, an operculum whih has spiral lines of growth.
{Spiral shell}, any shell in which the whorls form a spiral or helix.
{Spiral spring}. See the Note under {Spring}, noun, 4.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
spiral
adjective: in the shape of a coil [syn: {coiling}, {helical}, {spiraling}, {volute}, {voluted}, {whorled}, {turbinate}]
noun
1: a plane curve traced by a point circling about the center but at ever-greater distances from it
2: a curve that lies on the surface of a cylinder or cone and cuts the element at a constant angle [syn: {helix}]
3: ornament consisting of a curve on a plane that winds around a center with an increasing distance from the center [syn: {volute}]
4: a structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops; "a coil of rope" [syn: {coil}, {volute}, {whorl}, {helix}]
5: flying downward in a helical path with a large radius
verb
1: to wind or move in a spiral course; "the muscles and nerves of his fine drawn body were coiling for action"; "black smoke coiling up into the sky"; "the young people gyrated on the dance floor" [syn: {gyrate}, {coil}]
2: form a spiral; "The path spirals up the mountain"
3: move in a spiral or zigzag course [syn: {corkscrew}] [also: {spiralling}, {spiralled}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
218 Moby Thesaurus words for "spiral": Milky Way, O-shaped, Via Lactea, acrobatics, aerobatics, ambagious, anfractuous, arise, ascend, aspire, backhanded, bank, banking, barred spiral, barred spiral galaxy, become airborne, chandelle, circle, circling, circuit, circuiteer, circuition, circuitous, circuitousness, circuitry, circular, circularity, circulate, circulation, circumambience, circumambiency, circumambulate, circumambulation, circumflexion, circumlocution, circummigrate, circummigration, circumnavigate, circumnavigation, circumvent, cirrus, claw skyward, close the circle, cochlear, cochleate, coil, coiled, come full circle, come up, compass, corkscrew, corkscrewy, cosmic noise, crab, crabbing, curl, curl upwards, curlicue, cycle, describe a circle, deviance, deviancy, deviating, deviation, deviative, devious, deviousness, digression, digressive, dip, discursive, dive, diving, encircle, encompass, entwine, evolute, excursion, excursive, excursus, feather, fishtail, fishtailing, flank, float, fly, fly aloft, gain altitude, galactic circle, galactic cluster, galactic coordinates, galactic latitude, galactic longitude, galactic nebula, galactic noise, galactic pole, galaxy, girdle, girdle the globe, glide, go about, go around, go round, go the round, go up, grow up, gyre, gyring, hang, helical, helicoid, helix, hover, indirect, indirection, involute, island universe, kink, kite, lap, leave the ground, levitate, loom, loop, make a circuit, meandering, mount, nose dive, oblique, orbit, orbital, orbiting, out-of-the-way, plane, plow, poise, porpoise, power dive, pull out, pull up, pull-up, pullout, push down, pushdown, rear, rear up, revolve, ringlet, rise, rise up, roll, rolling, rotary, round, roundabout, roundaboutness, rounding, screw, screw-shaped, scroll, scrolled, sideslip, skid, skirt, soar, spheroidal galaxy, spin, spiral galaxy, spiral nebula, spiraling, spire, spiroid, stall, stand up, stunt, stunting, supergalaxy, surge, surround, swarm up, sweep up, swirl, tactical maneuvers, take off, tendril, tower, turbinal, turbinate, turn, turning, twine, twirl, twist, undulate, up, upgo, upgrow, upheave, uprise, upspin, upstream, upsurge, upswarm, upwind, verticillate, volplane, volute, voluted, volution, vortex, wheel, wheeling, whirl, whorl, whorled, wreathe, yaw, zoom
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