reel

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reel

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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”).^[1] Cognate with Icelandic ræl, hræll.

• IPA^(key): /ɹiːl/, /ˈɹiːəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: real (some accents)
• Rhymes: -iːl, -iːəl

reel (plural reels)

1. A shaky or unsteady gait.
   • 2010, Andrew Koppelman, The Gay Rights Question in Contemporary American Law, page 92:

     Doubtless the present game of chess was developed through just such fiddling; perhaps someone once thought that the drunken reel of the knight was hostile to the essence of Chess.

2. (dance) A lively dance originating in Scotland.
   • 1824, Felix M'Donogh, The Hermit in Edinburgh:

     So strict is the kirk of Scotland, that one minister was unfrocked for writing a play (in former times); and another was sent about his business for being too fond of whiskey and of dancing the reel of Tullochgorum.

3. (music) The music of this dance; often called a Scottish (or Scotch) reel.
   • 1913, Forest and Stream, volume 80:

     […] sample the famed waters from the Scottish mountains like a native born, and last but not least, play a reel on the bagpipes in the big hall that set all the laddies and lassies dancing.

   • 2023 November 13, Patrick Clarke, “‘People’s idea of Irishness is so warped’: John Francis Flynn, the folk singer fighting for Dublin’s spirit”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     The traditional reel Within a Mile of Dublin, for instance, distorts until it reaches something quasi-industrial.

4. A kind of spool, turning on an axis, on which yarn, threads, lines, or the like, are wound.

   a log reel (used by seamen)

   an angler's reel

   a garden reel

   nudge the fruit machine reel

5. (agriculture) 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. (film) A short compilation of sample film work used as a demonstrative resume in the entertainment industry.

   Synonym: showreel

reel (third-person singular simple present reels, present participle reeling, simple past and past participle reeled)

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.

   He reeled off some tape from the roll and sealed the package.

4. To walk shakily or unsteadily; to stagger; move as if drunk or not in control of oneself.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Psalms 107:27:

     They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man.

   • 1725, Homer, “Book II”, in [William Broome], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. , volume I, London: Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:

     He, with heavy fumes oppress'd, / Reel'd from the palace, and retired to rest.

   • 1770, Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: W Griffin, , →OCLC:

     the wagons reeling under the yellow sheaves

   • 1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 30, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:

     It was by his order the shattered leading company flung itself into the houses when the Sin Verguenza were met by an enfilading volley as they reeled into the calle.

   • 1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, paperback edition, Virago Press, page 111:

     Sarah reels a little, nevertheless, under the dog's boisterous greeting.

   • 2019 April 10, qntm, “CASE HATE RED”, in SCP Foundation‎, archived from the original on 29 May 2024:

     Wheeler reels with fright. He almost falls off the front of the stage. His stomach convulses and he wants to vomit, but a frantic fragment of his brain hasn't panicked yet and tells him, Wait. Nothing's changed. That's what humans have always looked like. Right? What's happening? What's wrong?

5. (with back) To back off, step away, or sway backwards unsteadily and suddenly.

   He reeled back from the punch.

   • 1936, F.J. Thwaites, chapter XX, in The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards, published 1940, page 205:

     Terry's fist lashed out, but Simpson, anticipating the blow, stepped quickly to one side. Another followed, however, and caught the older man fairly on the chin, sent him reeling back.

6. To make or cause to reel.
7. To have a whirling sensation; to be giddy.
   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:

     In these lengthened vigils his brain often reeled.

   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xi:

     The high school had a send-off in my honour. It was an uncommon thing for a young man of Rajkot to go to England. I had written out a few words of thanks. But I could scarcely stammer them out. I remember how my head reeled and how my whole frame shook as I stood up to read them.

8. (figurative, especially as "be reeling") To be in shock.
   • 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, New York Times, retrieved 31 October 2012:

     New Jersey was reeling on Wednesday from the impact of Hurricane Sandy, which has caused catastrophic flooding here in Hoboken and in other New York City suburbs, destroyed entire neighborhoods across the state and wiped out iconic boardwalks in shore towns that had enchanted generations of vacationgoers.

9. To produce a mechanical insect-like song, as in grass warblers.
10. (obsolete) To roll.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 35:

      And Sisyphus an huge round stone did reele.

11. (figurative) To bring in or along.
    • 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

      Frank stood at the sink, and began washing the plates. He realised if he was going to reel his great-aunt into his plan, he was going to have to do it very gently.

• Erle, LREE, leer

Borrowed from English rail, from Middle English rail, rayl, partly from Old English regol (“a ruler, straight bar”) and partly from Old French reille; both from Latin regula (“rule, bar”).

• IPA^(key): /reːl/

reel (Bengali script রেঽল)

1. rains
2. train
3. stud (of a fence)

• van Breugel, Seino. 2015. Atong-English dictionary, second edition. Available online: https://www.academia.edu/487044/Atong_English_Dictionary.

Borrowed from French réel (“real”), from Medieval Latin reālis (“actual”).

• IPA^(key): /rɛɛl/, ,

reel

1. real, proper
2. reliable, trustworthy, honest (about a person)
3. (mathematics) real (being a real number)

Borrowed from English reel.

• IPA^(key): /riːl/, , ,

reel c (singular definite reelen, plural indefinite reeler)

1. (dance) reel

reel m or n (feminine singular reelă, masculine plural reeli, feminine and neuter plural reele)

1. Obsolete form of real.

• reel in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

From French réel, from Latin reālis.

• IPA^(key): /ɾeæ̯l/

reel

1. real

   Synonym: gerçek

• realite