spin

«spin» in Mova's school dictionary: to turn round and round quickly — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (spin, spins, spun, spinning); noun (a spin, spins)

meaning for a pupil

1) To spin is to turn round and round quickly. tree →

2) To spin something is to make it turn round quickly, like a top. tree →

3) To spin is to make thread by twisting fibres, or (for spiders) to make a web. tree →

4) A spin is a short ride in a car or on a bike for fun. tree →

5) If your head spins, you feel dizzy or confused. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, the Earth spins on its axis once a day, which gives us day and night. Spinning tops and wheels show turning forces. Spiders spin webs from silk. In history, people spun wool into yarn on spinning wheels. In safety, spinning too much makes you dizzy; sit down. Phrases: spin round, spin a top, spin a web, go for a spin, my head is spinning, in a spin (confused), spin a story.

examples

• The Earth spins once every day. tree →
• The top spun on the table. tree →
• Spiders spin webs to catch flies. tree →
• My head is spinning from all that information. tree →
• Let's go for a spin on our bikes. tree →
• She spun round when she heard her name. tree →
• In the past, people spun wool on a spinning wheel. tree →
• Spin, sew, and weave--that is all your learning. tree →

note

Past form spun (not "spinned"); -ing form spinning, double n. "Spin" (turn on its own axis) is not the same as "orbit" (move around another body): the Earth spins and also orbits the Sun.

In the corpora

• Dancers avoid getting dizzy when spinning by spotting: fixing their eyes on one point and whipping the head round to find it again.
• In the death roll a crocodile spins in the water to tear chunks off its prey, because it can't chew.
• Weaver ants sew leaves into nests, holding their own larvae like glue sticks that spin silk.
• In late summer the beekeeper slices the wax caps off heavy frames and spins the honey out in a drum called an extractor.
• Toad: «You've been listening to some of the yarns they spin in the public-houses about here.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «spin» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.