Spin the Thread Came Before Spin the Story
To spin is to turn rapidly or to twist fibre into thread. Political spin borrows the older image.
To spin is to turn rapidly, or to twist fibre into thread. Textile work is the oldest sense and it has left deep marks on English: an unmarried woman was a *spinster* because spinning was her expected work, to *spin a yarn* is to make up a story the way thread is made, and the whole *distaff* side of a family means the female line, after the stick that held the wool. Political *spin*, from the 1970s, borrows the same image of giving something a twist.
- To turn rapidly. *The wheel spun.*
- To make thread. *Spinning wool.*
- To present favourably. *Spinning the story.*
- Spinster. *A spinster.*
- Old English — *spinnan*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | spin | Spinning. |
| Past | spun | Spun. |
| Noun | spin | A spin. |
| Agent | spinner | A spinner. |
| Related | spinster | A spinster. |
- The coin spun on the table.Motion.
- She spun the wool.Textile.
- Putting a spin on it.Figurative.
Textile words in everyday English
- Spinster — a woman who spins, then an unmarried woman
- Spin a yarn — make up a story, as thread is made
- Distaff side — the female line, from the spinning stick
- On tenterhooks — from frames that stretched drying cloth
- Unravel — undoing woven threads
Old English *spinnan*, to spin thread, of Germanic origin.
Why does spinster mean an unmarried woman?
Because spinning was the expected occupation of unmarried women, and the job title became the status.
What is the distaff side?
The female line of a family, named after the stick that held wool for spinning.