reel
part of speech
noun (a reel, reels); verb (reel, reels, reeled, reeling)
meaning for a pupil
1) (noun) A round thing that thread, film, fishing line or wire is wound on. tree →
2) (noun) A fast lively folk dance from Scotland or Ireland, and its music. tree →
3) (verb) To pull something towards you by winding a line: reel in a fish. tree →
4) (verb) To walk unsteadily, as if about to fall; to stagger. tree →
5) (verb) To feel shocked or confused: "My head is reeling." tree →
6) (noun, social media) A short video on an app like Instagram. tree →
7) To reel can also mean to spin thread or wool into yarn on a spinning wheel. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life, a fishing rod has a reel, and old films were on reels. In Scotland and Ireland, children learn reels at ceilidhs and Irish dancing. In stories, a character reels from a punch or from shocking news. Phrases: reel in, reel off (say a long list quickly), reeling from the news, a cotton reel, highlights reel.
examples
- Grandad reeled in a huge fish. tree →
- Pass me the reel of cotton, please. tree →
- At the ceilidh we danced a Scottish reel. tree →
- He reeled back after bumping his head. tree →
- I was still reeling from the news that we were moving. tree →
- She reeled off the names of all the planets. tree →
- My cousin posted a funny reel of her dog. tree →
- Reel away, reel away, Straw into gold!’ tree →
note
Homophone: "real" (true, not fake) sounds almost the same — do not mix them up. Past form: reeled. "Reel off" means say quickly from memory; "reel in" means pull in. A cotton reel (UK) = a spool of thread (US).
In the corpora
- They reeled to and fro, and staggered like a drunken man, and all their wisdom was swallowed up —
- He shall die for lack of instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall reel.
- Wine is a mocker, strong drink is riotous; and whosoever reeleth thereby is not wise.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «reel» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.