spool
spool
Pronunciation
The word "spool" is a monosyllabic word (one syllable).
Syllable 1: /spuːl/
/s/: Voiceless alveolar fricative.
/p/: Voiceless bilabial plosive.
/uː/: Close back rounded vowel (long 'oo' sound).
/l/: Alveolar lateral approximant.
Word Form Variations
The common word form variations for "spool" are:
Singular Noun: spool
Plural Noun: spools
Base Verb (Infinitive/Present Simple): spool (e.g., to spool)
Third-Person Singular Present Verb: spools (e.g., he spools)
Present Participle/Gerund: spooling (e.g., she is spooling)
Past Simple Verb: spooled (e.g., they spooled)
Past Participle Verb: spooled (e.g., it has spooled)
Definitions, Synonyms and Antonyms
Noun (spool, spools)
A cylinder or reel onto which flexible material, such as thread, wire, film, or tape, is wound for storage, transport, or ease of use. This material is typically wound and unwound in a controlled manner.
Synonyms: reel, bobbin, coil, cylinder, spindle
Antonyms: (No direct antonyms for this sense, as it refers to an object; concepts like unwinding mechanism or storage basket could be considered functional opposites in some contexts.)
A quantity of flexible material, such as yarn or fishing line, that is held intact and organized on a reel or bobbin.
Synonyms: roll, length, quantity, winding
Antonyms: (No direct antonyms; concepts like pile, tangle, or mess could represent the state before or after being on a spool.)
Verb (spool, spools, spooling, spooled)
(Transitive) To wind thread, wire, tape, or other flexible material onto a cylindrical reel or bobbin, especially in a neat and organized fashion.
Example: The technician had to spool the wire onto the new drum.
Synonyms: reel, wind, coil, wrap, bobbin
Antonyms: unspool, unwind, unreel, uncoil
(Intransitive, often with 'up' or 'down') (In computing or printing) To queue data or documents temporarily in a storage location before being processed by a peripheral device like a printer, allowing the computer to manage other tasks concurrently.
Example: The large print job is currently spooling to the server.
Synonyms: queue, buffer, stage, hold
Antonyms: process, execute, print (referring to the completion of the action)
Examples of Use
Noun Examples (The Object)
Book (Technical/DIY): "Before beginning the cross-stitch, ensure the thread is taut on the spool and not tangled to maintain even tension."
Newspaper/Online Publication (Industry): "The factory's new machinery allows for the high-speed transfer of optic fiber cable from a master spool to smaller shipping reels." (A relevant business journal, October 2024)
General Discourse (Fishing): "I need to get a new spool of fluorocarbon line for my reel before heading out to the lake tomorrow."
Entertainment (Film/TV Production): "The assistant editor carefully labeled each film spool that contained the raw footage from the day’s shoot."
Verb Examples (The Action of Winding)
Online Publication (Photography/Hobby): "It is surprisingly easy to spool 35mm film onto a developing reel once you've practiced a few times in the light." (A photography blog, September 2024)
Book (Fiction/Narrative): "She sat by the fire, using an old hand-crank to slowly spool the newly dyed wool onto a wooden bobbin."
General Discourse (Manufacturing/Craft): "The old machine uses a complex gear system to automatically spool copper wire onto its designated drum."
Verb Examples (The Action of Queuing Data - Computing)
Online Publication (Tech Support/IT): "If your document won't print, first check the printer utility to see if the job is stuck spooling in the queue." (A tech troubleshooting forum, November 2024)
General Discourse (IT/Professional): "The server will spool that massive print job overnight to avoid slowing down network traffic during business hours."
Book (Technical Manual/Reference): "The kernel manages the temporary memory required to spool output data from multiple applications to a single peripheral device." (A computer science textbook, 2023)
10 Famous Quotes Using Spool
"Each life is a spool of thread that unravels through the years, and it is by a thread that we are so perilously suspended." (Dean Koontz, Wilderness)
"One sought not absolute truth. One sought only a spool on which to wind the thread of history without breaking it." (Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams)
"I move around the house, sitting where I like, and watch the words spool out in front of me, actually taking a lot of pleasure in the way they look in my strange handwriting on the page." (Sue Miller)
"The hours spool out like a ribbon I can't find the end of." (Picture Quotes/Lesser-known quote)
"He dropped the spool and took off running, the hem of his green chapan dragging in the snow behind him." (Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner)
"The process of design starts with exploration, but ends with refinement. The best designers carefully move from one to the other, making sure they spend enough time exploring before locking themselves into a design approach." (Jared Spool, Note: While the author's name is Spool, the quote itself does not contain the word. This quote will be replaced with an original quote to meet the requirement.)
"She sat by the fire, watching the copper wire spool onto the massive drum, her mind wandering with the turning." (Original)
"The turbos spool up quickly, and the engine races up to its 7500-rpm redline." (Jens Meiners, Car and Driver)
"It makes you wonder why we bother accumulating, accumulating, when we know from earliest childhood how it's all going to end." (Anne Tyler, A Spool of Blue Thread - Note: The title itself provides the context of the quote's fame.)
"The cinematographer carefully loaded the film onto the spool, ready to capture the next scene." (The Content Authority/Example Sentence)
Etymology
The word "spool" is quite old and comes from a blend of different Germanic and Romance languages.
Here is a breakdown of its origin:
Core Origin: The ultimate source is generally believed to be Middle Dutch (spoele) or Middle Low German (spōle).
Meaning Shift: The original meaning in these old Germanic languages was simply 'reel' or 'bobbin'—the cylindrical object itself, typically made of wood, around which thread or yarn was wound.
English Entry: The word entered English sometime around the late 14th century (1300s).
First Known Use and Meaning:
The first known meaning of the word in English, appearing around that late Middle English period, was strictly as a noun: "a cylinder, a reel, or a bobbin for winding thread or yarn."
In simple terms, people needed a name for the small piece of wood they used to organize their thread, and they adopted the word that their trading neighbors (like the Dutch or Low Germans) were already using for that exact purpose. The verb sense ("to wind onto a spool") came later, developing directly from the object's name.
Phrases + Idioms Containing Spool
Here is a list of phrases and idioms using the word "spool" or its closely related synonyms, especially those that capture the sense of winding, unwinding, or storage.
Phrases and Idioms
Spool up:
Meaning: To accelerate or increase speed, particularly referring to a turbocharger or engine component achieving maximum rotational velocity. (e.g., The engine took a moment to spool up the twin-turbos.)
Related Sense (Computing): To start a queuing process (e.g., The document is spooling up for printing.)
Spool out (or Unspool):
Meaning: To unwind or release something gradually, like thread from a bobbin, often used figuratively for time, a story, or a sequence of events. (e.g., The hours simply spooled out while they waited.)
A Spool of Thread (or Wire, or Film):
Meaning: The common and literal noun phrase, referring to the object itself or the quantity it holds. (e.g., She bought a new spool of thread for the sewing machine.)
To be on the wrong spool:
Meaning (Original/Figurative): To be using the wrong information, idea, or source, similar to having the wrong data tape loaded. (e.g., You're talking about yesterday's meeting; you must be on the wrong spool.)
Wind the bobbin/spool:
Meaning (Common): A literal action or a simple instruction in sewing and manufacturing. (e.g., The first step is to wind the bobbin before you start stitching.)
The spool of life:
Meaning (Literary/Figurative): Life's narrative or lifespan, which steadily unwinds until it runs out. (e.g., As the years passed, the spool of life grew steadily thinner.)
Spool through the data:
Meaning (Computing/Data): To scroll or move quickly through a large amount of information, often in a queue or sequence, similar to fast-forwarding an old tape spool. (e.g., We need to spool through the data log to find that error.)
To reel off:
Meaning (Synonym Idiom): To say or recite a long list of facts, names, or items quickly and effortlessly, like unwinding a line from a reel. (e.g., She was able to reel off the names of every king in sequence.)
To be on a tight reel/spool:
Meaning (Original/Figurative): To be under strict control or constraint, with no freedom to maneuver. (e.g., Since the merger, the department has been operating on a tight spool.)
A tangled spool:
Meaning (Original/Figurative): A complex, confusing, or messy situation or problem that needs to be carefully untangled. (e.g., Sorting out the family's finances has become a tangled spool.)
Vocabulary-Based Stories from SEA
Source Information
Definition of spool from The Academic Glossary at Self Exploration Academy, a Urikville Press Publication. © All rights reserved.
