Spin Meaning

/spɪn/
B1

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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verbTo rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction.

verbTo rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction., To enter, or remain in, a spin (abnormal stalled flight mode).

The room started to spin after I drank too much.
I drank too much and the ground seemed to spin under my feet.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
During the performance, the dancer made the top ____ quickly on the floor.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The figure skater performed a very fast ____ on one leg, which impressed all the judges in the arena.

From Middle English spinnen, from Old English spinnan, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁-. Cognates Cognate with Dutch, German spinnen (“to spin”), Luxembourgish spannen (“to spin”), Yiddish שפּינען (shpinen, “spin”), Danish spinde (“to spin”), Faroese, Icelandic and Swedish spinna (“to spin”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk spinne (“to spin”), Gothic 𐍃𐍀𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (spinnan, “to spin”).

"Round about him spun the landscape, / Sky and forest reeled together, / And his strong heart leaped within him, / As the sturgeon leaps and struggles / In a net to break its meshes." — 1855, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Hiawatha’s Fasting”, in The Song of Hiawatha, Boston: Ticknor and Fields, page 76:
""Shall we spin for it?" "Might as well." "All right. Here goes. Heads you first and I second. Tails, vice versa." Bill nodded. The coin spun in the air. Jimmy bent to look at it." — 1929, Agatha Christie, The Seven Dials Mystery:
"Along the Sunny Bank, or Wat’ry Mead, / Ten thouſand Stalks their various Bloſſoms ſpread : / Peaceful and lowly in their native Soil, / They neither know to ſpin, nor care to toil ; / Yet with confeſs’d Magnificence deride / Our vile Attire, and Impotence of Pride." — 1718, Matthew Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World”, in Poems on Several Occasions, volume II, Dublin: George Grierson, published 1738, book I, page 115:
"I started out by spinning a full bobbin of natural white cotton in the normal Z-spun direction." — 2026, Tom Knisley, “Exploring S- and Z-Twist”, in Spin Off, volume L, number 1, page 42:
"But because he is but briefe, and these things of great consequence not to be kept obscure, I shall conceave it nothing above my duty either for the difficulty or the censure that may passe thereon, to communicate such thoughts as I also have had, and do offer them now in this generall labour of reformation, to the candid view both of Church and Magistrate; especially because I see it the hope of good men, that those irregular and unspirituall Courts have spun their utmost date in this Land; and some beter course must now be constituted." — 1643, John Milton, Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
During the performance, the dancer made the top ____ quickly on the floor.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The figure skater performed a very fast ____ on one leg, which impressed all the judges in the arena.

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