Definition

1. Noun:
   • A cylindrical device for winding thread, yarn, tape, or film: A "bobbin" is a small cylinder, spool, or reel around which flexible materials like thread, wire, or film are wound for storage, organization, or use in a machine.

Usage

• The word "bobbin" is used to refer to the object that holds thread in sewing machines, looms, and other textile machinery.
• It describes a core component in electrical engineering, where wire is wound around it to create a coil.
• It is a countable noun (e.g., a bobbin, three bobbins).

Examples

• Noun:
  • The sewing machine needs a new bobbin.
  • She wound the black thread onto an empty bobbin.
  • The old film projector was loaded with a bobbin of 8mm film.

Advanced Usage

• "Bobbin case": The part of a sewing machine that holds the bobbin.
  • She removed the bobbin case to clean it.
• "Bobbin lace": A type of delicate lace made using bobbins to hold and twist the threads.
  • The intricate pattern was created using the bobbin lace technique.
• "Bobbin winder": A device, often part of a sewing machine, used to wind thread onto a bobbin.
  • Use the bobbin winder to prepare your thread spools.

Variants and Related Words

• Spool (n): A cylindrical device similar to a bobbin for holding thread, wire, etc. (Often used more generally than "bobbin," which is specific to machinery).
  • A spool of fishing line.
• Reel (n): A cylinder on which film, tape, wire, or thread is wound.
  • A reel of magnetic tape.
• Coil (n): A series of loops or a single spiral of something wound or gathered together.
  • A coil of rope.

Synonyms

• Spindle: A rod or pin serving as an axis for winding thread.
• Cylinder: A three-dimensional geometric shape; can describe the form of a bobbin.

Related Phrases

(Note: "Bobbin" itself is not commonly used in phrasal verbs.)

Related Idioms

(Note: There are no common idioms that feature the word "bobbin.")

Noun

1. a winder around which thread or tape or film or other flexible materials can be wound