spindle

Spindle may refer to:

In technology

• See also: Axle
• A spindle is part of an automobile suspension system. It carries the hub for the wheel and attaches to the upper and lower control arms.
• A spindle is part of a bicycle pedal. It carries the pedal body, and threads into the crank arm.
• A spindle is the axis on which the platters of a computer hard disk spin. Database performance can be improved by spindling, the action of mounting data files and index files on different hard disks so that contention for read or write resources is diminished.
• A spindle, also called cakebox, is a type of optical disc packaging - the plastic container in which bulk blank CDs and DVDs are often sold.
• A spindle in machine tools is the main rotating shaft of the machine. On lathes, it is the heart of the headstock. On milling machines and drill presses, it is the shaft to which the tool is attached (e.g., via a chuck).
• A segmented spindle is a spindle consisting of discrete elements forming a spindle.
• In fire making a spindle is a straight wooden rod used to create fire through various techniques.

In biology

• Spindle apparatus, a cellular structure organizing and separating the chromosomes during cell division
• A muscle spindle is a specialized innervated muscle structure involved in the reflex action and in proprioception
• Spindle neurons are a specific class of neurons that participate in signal transmission in the nervous system.
• Spindle, any of the species of poisonous shrubs or small trees of the genus Euonymus, including Euonymus europaeus

Music

• Spindle (band)
• Broken Spindles

Other

• A Spindle in furniture design refers to an axially symmetric shaft usually with decoration.
• Spindle (textiles), a device to spin fibres into thread. It is the root from which other usages derive

*A spindle is a measure of spun cotton equal to 18 hanks

• Spindle (stationery), a device for holding paper documents
• A spindle is a woodworking machine rotating on a vertical axis in which shaped cutters are mounted for cutting mouldings, rebates and similar features in wood. It does (usually on a bigger scale) many of the non-routing jobs done by a modern portable (spindle) router. See also router.
• Spindle (sculpture) a 40-foot sculpture made from cars in Berwyn, Illinois.
• Spindle (sleep) a burst in the brain activity during sleeping