Windles

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A spindle or reel used for winding thread or yarn ; to gradually waste away or decline in strength over time
2. A small spool or spindle on which yarn is wound ; a dialect verb meaning to slowly wither, decay or fade away
3. A reel or spindle that holds and turns thread ; in dialect usage, to pine, shrink or dwindle away little by little

Etymology: "Windles" is the plural noun and third-person form of a verb, and it is a form of "windle," which is related to "windlass." The noun is a dialect or slurred variant of "windlass," the winch or hoisting device, and the verb "windle" comes from the same root, meaning to wind or turn a winch. Windlass itself is the older form in the family, and the shortened pronunciation is what produced "windle." Readers meeting the word in older texts or regional speech will find it used for the same mechanical sense: something wound round a drum or axle to lift a weight.

Synonyms: winds, coils, twists

Antonyms: unwinds, unrolls