reel

Meaning

Noun

1. A shaky or unsteady gait.
2. A lively dance originating in Scotland.
3. The music of this dance; often called a Scottish (or Scotch) reel.
4. A kind of spool, turning on an axis, on which yarn, threads, lines, or the like, are wound.
5. A device consisting of radial arms with horizontal stats, connected with a harvesting machine, for holding the stalks of grain in position to be cut by the knives.
6. A short compilation of sample film work used as a demonstrative resume in the entertainment industry.

Verb

1. To wind on a reel.
2. To spin or revolve repeatedly.
3. To unwind; to bring or acquire something by spinning or winding something else.
4. To walk shakily or unsteadily; to stagger; move as if drunk or not in control of oneself.
5. To back off, step away, or sway backwards unsteadily and suddenly.
6. To make or cause to reel.
7. To have a whirling sensation; to be giddy.
8. To be in shock.
9. To produce a mechanical insect-like song, as in grass warblers.
10. (obsolete) To roll.
11. To bring in or along.

Synonyms

spool

stagger

totter

bobbin

wind

spin

whirl

sway

lurch

coil

wind up

roll

roll up

teeter

stumble

wobble

careen

spindle

spinning wheel

waver

walk unsteadily

keel

swag

falter

rotate

unsteady

shake

gyrate

revolve

flounder

turn

volume

rock

🪨

be unsteady

weave

lose one’s balance

vacillate

spin around

Virginia reel

Scottish reel

cylinder

radius

record

relative

roller

run

sag

shamble

shillyshally

spinner

spin thread

spoke

spooler

swift

swirl

swoon

taxi

🚕

tergiversate

feel giddy

transit

troll

🧌

trundle

turn over

turn round

twine

twirl

twist

unstable

upset

vortex

waddle

wheel

🛞

wheels

whim

whirligig

whirlwind

winch

winder

wrap

folk dancing

move to and fro

roll about

unsteady on one’s feet

birle

ginning machine

winding shaft

reel case

pony roll

data cell unit

tray frame

data cell drive

winding tube

cable stock

baluster

rool

birl

boggle

bolt

broach

bump

bundle

cakewalk

cancan

capstan

cheese

🧀

crab

🦀

curl

dance

💃

destabilize

dizzy

💫

draw

drive

drum

🥁

enfold

enwrap

expansion

faint

fall

fall back

folk dance

foxtrot

gin

give way

hoist

hornpipe

ignition coil

jig

lean

loop

➿

lunge

oscillate

pitch

pull

purchase

🛍️

quadrille

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɹiːl/

Etymology

From Middle English reel, reele, from Old English rēol, hrēol, from Proto-West Germanic *hrehul, from Proto-Germanic *hrehulaz, *hrahilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *krek- (“to weave, beat”). Cognate with Icelandic ræl, hræll.