whorl (redirected from Spindle-whorl)

whorl (wôrl, wûrl)

n.

1. A form that coils or spirals; a curl or swirl.

2. A turn of the cochlea or of the ethmoidal crest.

3. An area of hair growing in a radial manner.

4. One of the circular ridges or convolutions of a fingerprint.

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whorl

[(h)wurl]

Etymology: ME, hwarwy

a spiral turn, such as one of the turns of the cochlea or of the dermal ridges that form fingerprints.

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whorl

a spiral arrangement, as in the hairs that go to make up a cowlick.