GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 4 definitions 

  1.       

    Needle , n. [OE. nedle, AS. nǣdl; akin to D. neald, OS. nādla, G. nadel, OHG. nādal, nādala, Icel. nāl, Sw. nål, Dan. naal, and also to G. nähen to sew, OHG. nājan, L. nere to spin, Gr. νέειν, and perh. to E. snare: cf. Gael. & Ir. snathad needle, Gael. snath thread, G. schnur string, cord.]
    1. A small instrument of steel, sharply pointed at one end, with an eye to receive a thread, -- used in sewing.
      Chaucer.

      1913 Webster
      ☞ In some needles (as for sewing machines) the eye is at the pointed end, but in ordinary needles it is at the blunt end.
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    2. See Magnetic needle, under Magnetic.
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    3. A slender rod or wire used in knitting; a knitting needle; also, a hooked instrument which carries the thread or twine, and by means of which knots or loops are formed in the process of netting, knitting, or crocheting.
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    4. (Bot.) One of the needle-shaped secondary leaves of pine trees. See Pinus.
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    5. Any slender, pointed object, like a needle, as a pointed crystal, a sharp pinnacle of rock, an obelisk, etc.
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    6. A hypodermic needle; a syringe fitted with a hypodermic needle, used for injecting fluids into the body. [Informal]
      PJC
    7. An injection of medicine from a hypodermic needle; a shot.
      PJC
      Dipping needle. See under Dipping. -- Needle bar, the reciprocating bar to which the needle of a sewing machine is attached. -- Needle beam (Arch.), in shoring, the horizontal cross timber which goes through the wall or a pier, and upon which the weight of the wall rests, when a building is shored up to allow of alterations in the lower part. -- Needle furze (Bot.), a prickly leguminous plant of Western Europe; the petty whin (Genista Anglica). -- Needle gun, a firearm loaded at the breech with a cartridge carrying its own fulminate, which is exploded by driving a slender needle, or pin, into it. [archaic] -- Needle loom (Weaving), a loom in which the weft thread is carried through the shed by a long eye-pointed needle instead of by a shuttle. -- Needle ore (Min.), acicular bismuth; a sulphide of bismuth, lead, and copper occuring in acicular crystals; -- called also aikinite. -- Needle shell (Zool.), a sea urchin. -- Needle spar (Min.), aragonite. -- Needle telegraph, a telegraph in which the signals are given by the deflections of a magnetic needle to the right or to the left of a certain position. -- Sea needle (Zool.), the garfish.
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  2.       

    Needle, v. t.
    1. To form in the shape of a needle; as, to needle crystals.
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    2. To tease (a person), especially repeatedly.
      PJC
    3. To prod or goad (someone) into action by teasing or daring.
      PJC
    
      
    
  3.       

    Needle, v. i. To form needles; to crystallize in the form of needles.
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  4.       

    ‖Stylus , n. [L. stylus, or better stilus.]
    1.  An instrument for writing. See Style, n., 1.
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    2. That needle-shaped part at the tip of the playing arm of phonograph which sits in the groove of a phonograph record while it is turning, to detect the undulations in the phonograph groove and convert them into vibrations which are transmitted to a system (since 1920 electronic) which converts the signal into sound; also called needle. The stylus is frequently composed of a hard metal or of diamond.
      PJC
    3. The needle-like device used to cut the grooves which record the sound on the original disc during recording of a phonograph record; it is moved by the vibrations given to the diaphragm by a sound, and produces the indented record.
      PJC
    4. (Computers) A pen-shaped pointing device used to specify the cursor position on a graphics tablet.
      PJC

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