needle

Pluralneedles

Formsneedles, needling, needled

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A long, thin, sharp tool used for piercing in sewing, acupuncture, or injections, or a similar blunt tool for forming loops in knitting and other crafts.

   The nurse inserted the needle into his arm to draw blood.

   A knitting needle slid through the wool as she worked the next row.

   Note

   A word that began with thread rather than points. Old English nǣdl goes back to a root meaning "to spin, twist," so the name belonged to the work of sewing before it belonged to sharpness. That history explains why it covers blunt knitting and tatting needles as easily as sharp sewing or medical ones. An older form, neele, survives only as an obsolete variant.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A slender, pointed leaf of the kind found on pines and other conifers.

   Each needle on the spruce stays green through the winter.

   Fallen needles formed a soft carpet beneath the pines.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A fine pointer on a dial or graph that indicates a measured value.

   The compass needle settled, pointing steadily north.

   As the tank filled, the fuel needle crept toward full.

   Similarpointer, indicator

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To tease someone in order to provoke them, or to poke fun at them.

   Fans needle the referee whenever a call goes against their team.

   He needles his rivals with sly comments before every match.

   Similartease, goad

   Note

   Needling is sharper than teasing and has a target: a small, repeated jab meant to provoke, which is why goad stands beside tease as a synonym. In Caligor, Bromberg and Meltzer's Clinical Perspectives (1984), Fred corrects himself: "I needled her, not teased her." The verb takes a direct object, often with about for the sore spot, and sits easily in the passive: needled by a question.

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A slender, pointed object resembling a needle, such as a sharp rock pinnacle, a crystal, or an obelisk.

   The cathedral's stone needle pierced the morning fog.

   Quartz often grows in clusters of fine needles.

   Similarspire, pinnacle, spike

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To pierce something with a needle, especially when sewing or performing acupuncture.

   Acupuncturists needle precise points along the body to relieve tension.

   She needled the canvas, drawing the thread through in neat rows.

   Similarpierce, prick, stitch

   Note

   In medical and therapeutic use, the object is the part being treated rather than the thread or cloth. H. Lindo Ferguson wrote in 1892 that he "decided to needle the cataracts." Felix Mann's Reinventing Acupuncture (2000) speaks of needling the thumb and index finger. The -ing form, needling, can name the treatment itself.

7. 7
   nouncolloquialcountable

   The small stylus that rests in the grooves of a phonograph record to reproduce sound.

   A worn needle can scratch your favorite vinyl.

   She replaced the needle before playing the rare jazz album.

   Similarstylus

8. 8
   nouncolloquial

   Execution carried out by lethal injection, used as a form of capital punishment.

   After years of appeals, he finally faced the needle.

   Opponents argue the needle is no more humane than older methods.

9. 9
   nouncountable

   A move in which the performer balances on two hands and one leg, then kicks the other leg up into a full vertical split.

   The young gymnast nailed her needle during the floor routine.

   Coaches teach the needle once a student can hold a steady handstand.

10. 10
    nouncountable

    The text string being searched for within a larger string, as when finding a word inside a document.

    The function returns the position where the needle first appears in the haystack.

    A faster algorithm locates the needle without scanning every character.

    Note

    Programmers took this term from the proverb about a needle in a haystack, and the two words travel as a pair. The needle is what you look for, and the haystack is the string you look in. Peter MacIntyre's PHP: The Good Parts (2010) describes functions that search the haystack for the needle and return everything from the needle to the end of the haystack.

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