Search the Dictionary

A woman whose occupation is sewing; a needlewoman.

rbon (C13H10) obtained in white fluorescent crystals, in the distillation products of the needles of the California "big tree" (Sequoia gigantea).

or horsehairs, or a strip of linen or the like, introduced beneath the skin by a knife or needle, so as to form an issue; also, the issue so formed.

To unite or fasten together by stitches, as with a needle and thread. No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment. Mark ii. 21.

That which is sewed with the needle. Sewing horse (Harness making), a clamp, operated by the foot, for holding pieces of leather while being sewed. -- Sewing machine, a machine for sewing or stitching. -- Sewing press, or Sewing table (Bookbinding), a fixture or table having a frame in which are held the cords to whi…

A sewing needle having a very slender point; a needle of the most pointed of the three grades, blunts, betweens, and sharps.

ff having the end curved so as to form a large hook, -- used by shepherds. -- Shepherd's needle (Bot.), the lady's comb. -- Shepherd's plaid, a kind of woolen cloth of a checkered black and white pattern. -- Shephered spider (Zoöl.), a daddy longlegs, or harvestman. -- Shepherd's pouch, or Shepherd's purse (Bot.),…

l quantities of iron in any substance by means of a very delicate combination of magnetic needles.

of the thin plates, blades, or other devices, that depress the loops upon or between the needles. Dividing sinker, in knitting machines, a sinker between two jack sinkers and acting alternately with them. -- Jack sinker. See under Jack, n. -- Sinker bar. (a) In knitting machines, a bar to which one set of the sinker…

To break short, or at once; to part asunder suddenly; as, a mast snaps; a needle snaps. But this weapon will snap short, unfaithful to the hand that employs it. Burke.

A tendency in the end of a magnetic needle to point toward the south pole. Faraday.

ships from the New to the Old World. -- Spanish moss. (Bot.) See Tillandsia. -- Spanish needles (Bot.), a composite weed (Bidens bipinnata) having achenia armed with needlelike awns. -- Spanish nut (Bot.), a bulbous plant (Iris Sisyrinchium) of the south of Europe. -- Spanish potato (Bot.), the sweet potato. See un…

To stab. [Obs.] Gammer Gurton's Needle.

ody of small branches; as, the tree has a beautiful spray. And from the trees did lop the needless spray. Spenser.

A culture made by inoculating a solid medium, as gelatin, with the puncture of a needle or wire. The growths are usually of characteristic form.

To cause to penetrate; to push, thrust, or drive, so as to pierce; as, to stick a needle into one's finger. Thou stickest a dagger in me. Shak.

A single pass of a needle in sewing; the loop or turn of the thread thus made.

Needlework; -- in comtempt. Shak.

An instrument for writing. See Style, n., 1. 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 electron…

Serving no purpose; superfluous; needless. [Obs.] Howell.