An assortment of sewing needles
a hypodermic needle and syringe
From Middle English nedle, from Old English nædl, from Proto-Germanic *nēþlō, from pre-Germanic *neh₁-tleh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)néh₁- ‘to spin, twist’ (compare Dutch naaien, Welsh nyddu, Latin nēre, Lithuanian snāju, Sanskrit snāyati ‘wraps up, winds’). Related to snood.
needle (plural needles)
- A long, thin, sharp implement usually for piercing such as sewing, or knitting, acupuncture, tattooing, body piercing, medical injections etc.
- The seamstress threaded the needle to sew on a button.
- A long, thin device for indicating measurements on a dial or graph, e.g. a compass needle.
- The needle on the fuel gauge pointed to empty.
- A sensor for playing phonograph records, a phonograph stylus.
- Ziggy bought some diamond needles for his hi-fi phonograph.
- A long, pointed leaf found on some conifers.
- 1994, Stephen Fry, The Hippopotamus, ch. 2:
- At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. Disgusted with himself at such cowardice, he spat a needle from his mouth.
- (informal, usually preceded by the) The death penalty carried out by lethal injection.
terms derived from needle (noun)
implement for sewing etc.
- Sorani: دهرزی (ku)
- Kyrgyz: ийне (ky) (iyne)
- Lao: ເຂັມ (lo) (kʰěm)
- Latgalian: odota
- Latin: acus (la)
- Latvian: adata (lv) f
- Lithuanian: adata (lt) f
- Macedonian: игла (mk) (ígla) f
- Malay: jarum (ms)
- Maori: mātuhi (mi), uhi (mi) (for tattooing)
- Mongolian: зүү (mn) (züü), тэвнэ (mn) (tevne)
- Navajo: tsah, tsah bee náʼálkadí
- Norman: aigùule f
- Norwegian: nål (no) m and f, strikkepinne (no) m (for knitting)
- Occitan: agulha (oc) f
- Old Norse: nál f
- Ossetian: please add this translation if you can
- Papiamentu: angua, hangua
- Persian: سوزن (fa) (suzan)
- Polish: igła (pl) f, drut (pl)
- Portuguese: agulha (pt) f
- Romanian: ac (ro)
- Romansch: guglia (rm)
- Russia Buryat: зүүн (züün)
- Russian: игла (ru) (iglá) f, иголка (ru) (igólka) f, спица (ru) (spíca) f for knitting
- Sanskrit: सूची (sa) (sūcī)
- Sardinian: àcu (sc)
- Sasak: jarum
- Saterland Frisian: Näddele f
- Scottish Gaelic: snàthad (gd) f
- Cyrillic: игла (sh) f
- Roman: igla (sh) f
- Shor: инге (inge)
- Sicilian: augghia f
- Sinhalese: කටුව (si) (kaṭuva), සූචිය (si) (sūčiya)
- Slovak: ihla (sk) f
- Slovene: igla (sl) f, šivanka (sl) f
- Southern Altai: ийне (iyne)
- Spanish: aguja (es) f
- Swahili: sindano (sw)
- Swedish: nål (sv) c, (for knitting) sticka (sv) c
- Tatar: энә (tt) (enä), инә (tt) (inä)
- Thai: เข็ม (th) (kĕm)
- Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
- Turkish: iğne (tr)
- Turkmen: iňňe (tk)
- Tuvan: ине (ine)
- Ukrainian: голка (uk) (hólka) f
- Urdu: سوئی (ur) (su'ī)
- Uyghur: يىڭنە (ug) (yingne)
- Uzbek: igna (uz)
- Vietnamese: cây kim (vi)
- Volapük: nad (vo)
- West Frisian: nuddel (fy) c
- Yakut: иннэ (inne)
- Yiddish: שפּילקע (yi) (shpilke) f
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
needle (third-person singular simple present needles, present participle needling, simple past and past participle needled)
- To pierce with a needle, especially for sewing or acupuncture.
- 1892, H. Lindo Ferguson, "Operation on Microphthamlmic Eyes", Ophthalmic Review, volume 11, page 48
- […] the eyes were once more beginning to show the old nystagmus; so I decided to needle the cataracts, and on Jan. 31 I needled the right eye.
- 2000, Felix Mann, Reinventing Acupuncture, page 109
- Possibly the greatest effect is achieved in the hand by needling the thumb, the index finger and the region of the 1st and 2nd metacarpal.
- (transitive) To tease in order to provoke; to poke fun at.
- Billy needled his sister incessantly about her pimples.
- 1984, Leopold Caligor, Philip M. Bromberg, & James D. Meltzer, Clinical Perspectives on the Supervision of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, page 14
- FRED: Well, I teased her to some extent, or I needled her, not teased her. I needled her about—first I said that she didn't want to work, and then I think that there were a couple of comments.
- (transitive) To form in the shape of a needle.
- to needle crystals
to tease in order to provoke