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spool

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spool¹

  • /spuːl/
  • /spʉl/ Northern Ireland, Scotland

Rhymes with -uːl

Where it comes from

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 *(s)pel- (“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). See also spill.

noun spools

  1. A reel; a device around which thread, wire or cable is wound, especially a cylinder or spindle. If you need to reload film, the cassette can be rewound slightly by turning the hub located on one end of its spool.
  2. 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 hea
  3. A temporary storage area for electronic mail, etc.
  4. West, Yorkshire A splinter caught in the skin.

verb spools · spooling · spooled

  1. To wind on a spool or spools.
  2. 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).

spool²

  • /spuːl/
  • /spʉl/ Northern Ireland, Scotland

Rhymes with -uːl

Where it comes from

From blend of spa + pool.

noun spools

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

Translations

Every language

noun spindle

Españolcarrete, bobina
한국어스풀 seupul, 실패 silpae
日本語スプール supūru
中文捲筒 /卷筒 juǎntǒng
हिन्दीअटेरन aṭeran
Portuguêscarretel, bobina
Françaisbobine
DeutschSpule
Italianobobina, rocchetto, spagnoletta, spoletta, fuso, spola
Ελληνικάκαρούλι karoúli, πηνίο pinío, κουβαρίστρα kouvarístra
Românămosor, bobină
Русскийкату́шка katúška, шпу́лька špúlʹka, боби́на bobína
Tiếng Việtsuốt
العربيةبَكَرَة bakara
עבריתסְלִיל slil

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

Françaisbobiner

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MLA

"spool." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/spool. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

spool. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/spool

Chicago

"spool." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/spool.

BibTeX
@misc{spool_2026,
  title = {spool},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/spool},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}