spool

Pronunciation: /spuːl/

The English word “spool” has 7 meanings listed here.

noun

A reel; a device around which thread, wire or cable is wound, especially a cylinder or spindle.
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.
A temporary storage area for electronic mail, etc.
A splinter caught in the skin.
A small swimming pool that can be used also as a spa.

verb

To wind on a spool or spools.
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).

Etymology

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.