Definition
noun, plural: spindles
(1) A collection of minute fibers composed of microtubules, which are prominent during cell division, as mitotic spindle or ”mitotic apparatus”.
(2) A specialized innervated muscle structure involved in the reflex action and in proprioception, as muscle spindle.
(3) A species of a poisonous shrub or small tree of the genus Euonymus, originally used for making spindles used for spinning wool.
(4) An EEG waveform that occurs during sleep, as sleep spindle.
Supplement
Word origin: Middle English spindel, alteration of Old English spinel.
Related terms:
- Spindle-shaped
- Muscle spindle
- Aortic spindle
- Sleep spindle
- Mitotic spindle
- Spindle fibre
- Spindle cell
- His spindle
- Nuclear spindle
- Cleavage spindle
- Spindle-shaped muscle
- Neuromuscular spindle
