needle (redirected from needle burr)

needle, implement of metal or other material used to carry the thread in sewing and in various forms of needlework and manufacturing. The earliest needles were merely awls or punches. Stone, bone, ivory, and thorns, with or without an eye, were used by primitive peoples. The midrib of the palm is used in Africa, with the thread tied on. Much of the embroidery of antiquity must have required fine needles; China is supposed to have first used steel ones, and the Moors are credited with carrying them to the West. The needle-making trade was established in Nuremberg in the 14th cent. and in England in Elizabeth's reign. In 1656 the first needlemakers' guild was chartered. Manufacturing by machinery developed gradually. In 1785 the first steel rod was mechanically prepared; in 1826 eyes were drilled by stamping, and by 1870 the manufacture was mostly mechanical. Different kinds of steel are used for different needles, e.g., chromium and stainless steel for surgical and hypodermic uses. Over 250 kinds of needles are made, such as the pearl needles of India, bead needles for fine beadwork, and others for carpets, shoes, upholstery, sailmaking, knitting, and every type of sewing machine.

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needle

Basic implement used in sewing or embroidering and, in variant forms, for knitting and crocheting. The sewing needle is small, slender, and rodlike. One end is sharply pointed to make passing it through fabric easy; the other end has a slot (called an eye) to carry a thread. Modern sewing needles are made of steel. Crocheting needles are eyeless and have a hook on one end; they are usually of steel or plastic. Knitting needles are long, made of various materials, and bluntly pointed at one or both ends, sometimes with a knob at the end opposite the point.

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needle

1. 

a. another name for stylus

b. a small thin pointed device, esp one made of stainless steel, used to transmit the vibrations from a gramophone record to the pick-up

2. Med

a. the long hollow pointed part of a hypodermic syringe, which is inserted into the body

b. an informal name for hypodermic syringe

3. Surgery a pointed steel instrument, often curved, for suturing, puncturing, or ligating

4. a long narrow stiff leaf, esp of a conifer, in which water loss is greatly reduced

5. any slender sharp spine, such as the spine of a sea urchin

6. any slender pointer for indicating the reading on the scale of a measuring instrument

7. short for magnetic needle

8. a crystal resembling a needle in shape

9. a sharp pointed metal instrument used in engraving and etching

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needle [′nēd·əl]

(botany)

A slender-pointed leaf, as of the firs and other evergreens.

(computer science)

A slender rod or probe used to sort decks of edge-punched cards by inserting it through holes along the margin of the deck and vibrating the deck so that cards having that particular hole are retained, but those having a notch cut at that hole position drop out.

(design engineering)

A device made of steel pointed at one end with a hole at the other; used for sewing.

A device made of steel with a hook at one end; used for knitting.

(engineering)

A piece of copper or brass about ½ inch (13 millimeters) in diameter and 3 or 4 feet (90 or 120 centimeters) long, pointed at one end, thrust into a charge of blasting powder in a borehole and then withdrawn, leaving a hole for the priming, fuse, or squib. Also known as pricker.

A thin pointed indicator on an instrument dial.

(engineering acoustics)

stylus

(geology)

A pointed, elevated, and detached mass of rock formed by erosion, such as an aiguille.

(hydrology)

A long, slender snow crystal that is at least five times as long as it is broad.

(mineralogy)

A needle-shaped or acicular mineral crystal.