spindle vs swivel

spindle

noun
  • A muscle spindle. 

  • 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. 

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

  • 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 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. 

swivel

noun
  • A rotating of the hips. 

  • A piece, such as a ring or hook, attached to another piece by a pin, in such a manner as to permit rotation about the pin as an axis. 

  • A small piece of ordnance, turning on a point or swivel; called also swivel gun. 

  • Strength of mind or character that enables one to overcome adversity; confidence; force of will. 

  • The act of swivelling. 

  • A small, usually ball- or barrel-shaped device used in angling to connect sections of fishing lines, consisting of two rings linked via a thrust bearing pivot joint. 

verb
  • To swing or turn, as on a pin or pivot. 

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