rod vs spindle

rod

noun
  • A Cuisenaire rod. 

  • A rod cell: a rod-shaped cell in the eye that is sensitive to light. 

  • A hot rod, an automobile or other passenger motor vehicle modified to run faster and often with exterior cosmetic alterations, especially one based originally on a pre-1940s model or (currently) denoting any older vehicle thus modified. 

  • A coupling rod or connecting rod, which links the driving wheels of a steam locomotive, and some diesel shunters and early electric locomotives. 

  • A long slender usually tapering pole used for angling; fishing rod. 

  • A straight, round stick, shaft, bar, cane, or staff. 

  • A straight bar that unites moving parts of a machine, for holding parts together as a connecting rod or for transferring power as a driveshaft. 

  • Any of a number of long, slender microorganisms. 

  • An implement held vertically and viewed through an optical surveying instrument such as a transit, used to measure distance in land surveying and construction layout; an engineer's rod, surveyor's rod, surveying rod, leveling rod, ranging rod. The modern (US) engineer's or surveyor's rod commonly is eight or ten feet long and often designed to extend higher. In former times a surveyor's rod often was a single wooden pole or composed of multiple sectioned and socketed pieces, and besides serving as a sighting target was used to measure distance on the ground horizontally, hence for convenience was of one rod or pole in length, that is, 5+¹⁄₂ yards. 

  • The penis. 

  • A stirring rod: a glass rod, typically about 6 inches to 1 foot long and ¹⁄₈ to ¹⁄₄ inch in diameter that can be used to stir liquids in flasks or beakers. 

  • A stick used to measure distance, by using its established length or task-specific temporary marks along its length, or by dint of specific graduated marks. 

  • An implement resembling and/or supplanting a rod (particularly a cane) that is used for corporal punishment, and metonymically called the rod, regardless of its actual shape and composition. 

  • A longitudinal pole used for forming part of a framework such as an awning or tent. 

  • A stick, pole, or bundle of switches or twigs (such as a birch), used for personal defense or to administer corporal punishment by whipping. 

  • A pistol; a gun. 

  • A rod-shaped object that appears in photographs or videos traveling at high speed, not seen by the person recording the event, often associated with extraterrestrial entities. 

verb
  • To penetrate sexually. 

  • To reinforce concrete with metal rods. 

  • To hot rod. 

  • To furnish with rods, especially lightning rods. 

spindle

noun
  • A rod which turns, or on which something turns. 

  • A solid generated by the revolution of a curved line about its base or double ordinate or chord. 

  • Any marine gastropod with a spindle-shaped shell formerly in one of the three invalid genera called Fusus. 

  • The fusee of a watch. 

  • A rotary axis of a machine tool or power tool. 

  • A long and slender stalk resembling a spindle. 

  • Any marine univalve shell of the genus Tibia; a spindle stromb. 

  • Certain of the species of the genus Euonymus, originally used for making the spindles used for spinning wool. 

  • A rod used for spinning and then winding natural fibres (especially wool), usually consisting of a shaft and a circular whorl positioned at either the upper or lower end of the shaft when suspended vertically from the forming thread. 

  • A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards; in linen yarn, 14,400 yards. 

  • A sleep spindle. 

  • An upright spike for holding paper documents by skewering. 

  • A cytoskeletal structure formed during mitosis 

  • a dragonfly, calque of Swedish slända (dragonfly/spindle), introduced by New Sweden settlers. 

  • A muscle spindle. 

  • A plastic container for packaging optical discs. Bulk blank CDs, DVDs, and BDs are often sold in such a package. 

verb
  • To make into a long tapered shape. 

  • To impale on a device for holding paper documents. 

  • To take on a long tapered shape. 

How often have the words rod and spindle occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )