spool

/spul/

/spul/

Other forms: spools; spooled; spooling

Fishing line, thread, and wire are usually wound around a special cylinder called a spool. If you enjoy sewing, you might buy spools of colored thread at the crafts store.

Back in the days of cassette tapes, the magnetic tape would occasionally get tangled in the tape player and have to be wound back on its spool. You can use this word as a verb, too: "Will you spool that loose thread back on the bobbin for me?" Computer experts use spool to mean "store data temporarily," so they might spool computer files to a desktop folder, for example.

Definitions of spool

1. noun

   a winder around which thread or tape or film or other flexible materials can be wound
   synonyms: bobbin, reel

   types:

   filature

   a bobbin used in spinning silk into thread

   shuttle

   bobbin that passes the weft thread between the warp threads

   type of:

   winder

   mechanical device around which something can be wound
2. verb

   wind onto a spool or a reel
   types:

   cheese

   wind onto a cheese

   type of:

   roll, twine, wind, wrap

   arrange or coil around
3. verb

   transfer data intended for a peripheral device (usually a printer) into temporary storage
   type of:

   transfer

   move from one place to another