Definition of: needle

(nēd′l) noun
1. A small, slender, pointed instrument containing an eye at the head, or, in sewing machines, at the point, to carry thread through a fabric in sewing.
2. The straight rod, commonly of wire, bone, or wood, used in knitting; also, the hooked rod used in crocheting.
3. Any instrument or object shaped like or used as a needle, as a pinnacle of rock, or a leaf, such as that of the pine.
4. A straight wire, balanced and pivoted, as in a compass; a magnetic needle.
5. In a needle gun, the steel bolt that fires the cartridge.
6. A needle valve.
7. The sharp–pointed end of a hypodermic syringe.
8. Colloq. A hypodermic needle.
9. An obelisk.
10. A thin, sharp–pointed piece of steel, etc., often tipped with diamond, etc., to transmit the sound vibrations from a phonograph record.
—v. ·dled, ·dling v.t.
1. To sew or pierce with a needle.
2. Colloq. To heckle or annoy.
3. Colloq. To goad; prod.
4. Colloq. To increase the alcoholic content of: to needle the beer.
—v.i.
5. To sew or work with a needle. [OE nædl]