spool

English

Spools

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spuːl/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): /spʉl/
• Rhymes: -uːl

Etymology 1

From Middle English spole (possibly via Old Northern French spole, espole), from Middle Dutch spoele, from Old Dutch *spōla, *spuola, from Proto-Germanic *spōlǭ (“spool”), from Proto-Indo-European *spel- (“to cleave, split”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Spoule (“spool”), Dutch spoel (“spool”), German Spule (“spool”), Swedish spole (“spool”), Icelandic spóla (“spool; reel”). The aviation usage is based on the visual similarity of one of the spools of a turbine engine to a spool used for thread (especially in cross-section).

Noun

spool (plural spools)

1. A reel; a device around which thread, wire or cable is wound, especially a cylinder or spindle.
   • 2011, Rebekah Modrak, Bill Anthes, Reframing Photography: Theory and Practice:

     If you need to reload film, the cassette can be rewound slightly by turning the hub located on one end of its spool.

2. (aviation) One of the rotating assemblies of a gas turbine engine, composed of one or more turbine stages, a shaft, and one or more compressor or fan stages.

   The high-pressure spool rotates faster than the intermediate- and low-pressure spools, as the high-pressure turbine is driven by superheated combustion gases straight out of the burners, while the high-pressure compressor has to spin very fast to compress air that has already been compressed and heated by the low- and intermediate-pressure compressors.

3. (computing) A temporary storage area for electronic mail, etc.
4. (West Yorkshire) A splinter caught in the skin.

Derived terms

• pipe spool
• spool brush
• spool cannon
• spool of thread
• unspool

 

(rotating assembly of a turbine engine):

• spool down; spooldown
• spool up; spoolup

Translations

spindle

• Abkhaz: акәанҷ (akʷʼančʼ)
• Afrikaans: spoel
• Albanian: shtjellë (sq) f
• Arabic: بَكَرَة f (bakara)

  Egyptian Arabic: بكرة f (bakara)

• Armenian: կոճ (hy) (koč)
• Belarusian: кату́шка f (katúška), шпу́лька f (špúlʹka)
• Breton: kanell (br) f
• Bulgarian: макара (bg) f (makara), шпула (bg) f (špula)
• Catalan: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 捲筒／卷筒 (zh) (juǎntǒng)

• Czech: naviják (cs) f, cívka (cs) f, špulka (cs) f
• Danish: spole c
• Dutch: bobijn (nl) f, spoel (nl) f
• Emilian: please add this translation if you can
• Esperanto: bobeno
• Finnish: hylsy (fi), rulla (fi), puola (fi)
• French: bobine (fr) f
• Friulian: spuele f
• German: Spule (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: πήνη f (pḗnē), πηνίον n (pēníon)

• Haitian Creole: bobin
• Hawaiian: pōkaʻa
• Hungarian: tekercs (hu)
• Icelandic: spóla f, kefli n
• Indonesian: kumparan (id)
• Ingrian: katuška
• Irish: roithleán m
• Italian: bobina (it) f, rocchetto (it) m, spagnoletta (it) f, spoletta (it) f, fuso (it) m, spola (it) f, navicella (it) f
• Japanese: スプール (supūru)
• Khmer: ត្រសាល់ (km) (trɑsal)
• Korean: 스풀 (seupul), 실패 (ko) (silpae)
• Ladin: please add this translation if you can
• Lao: ກະສວຍ (lo) (kat wa nya)
• Latin: alabrum n
• Ligurian: bobìnn-a f
• Lombard: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: ма́кара f (mákara)
• Malay: kekili
• Maori: takatakai, pōkaimiro (for thread or yarn)
• Ottoman Turkish: ماسوره (masura), استاج (istac), مقره (makara)
• Persian: قرقره (fa) (qerqere)
• Piedmontese: please add this translation if you can
• Plautdietsch: Spool f
• Polish: szpula (pl), szpulka (pl) f
• Portuguese: carretel (pt) m, bobina (pt)
• Romagnol: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: mosor (ro) n, bobină (ro) f
• Russian: кату́шка (ru) f (katúška), шпу́лька (ru) f (špúlʹka), боби́на (ru) f (bobína)
• Slovak: cievka f
• Spanish: carrete (es) m, bobina (es) f
• Swedish: spole (sv) c
• Tagalog: ulak, mag-ikid, kidkiran
• Thai: ม้วน (th) (múuan), กระสวย (th) (grà-sǔai)
• Turkish: makara (tr)
• Ukrainian: коту́шка f (kotúška), шпу́лька f (špúlʹka)
• Uzbek: gʻaltak (uz), naycha (uz)
• Vietnamese: suốt (vi)
• Welsh: sbŵl m

Verb

spool (third-person singular simple present spools, present participle spooling, simple past and past participle spooled)

1. To wind on a spool or spools.
2. (computing) To send files to a device or a program (a spooler or a daemon that puts them in a queue for processing at a later time).

Derived terms

• respool
• spool out
• spooler

Translations

to send files to some device or program that puts them in a queue for later processing of some kind

• Finnish: lähettää jonoon
• French: bobiner (fr)
• Icelandic: biðfæra

Etymology 2

From blend of spa +‎ pool.

Noun

spool (plural spools)

1. A small swimming pool that can be used also as a spa.

Anagrams

• Loops, OOPLs, Sloop, loops, polos, pools, sloop