spool

/spu:l/

Thân thiện

A spool of red thread sits on a sewing table.

Definition

1. Noun:

   • A cylindrical device on which thread, tape, film, or other flexible materials are wound for storage or use. A spool is a core, often with flanged ends, designed to hold a length of material neatly.

2. Verb:

   • To wind or be wound onto a spool. This is the action of transferring a flexible material onto a spool.
   • (Computing) To transfer data intended for a peripheral device (like a printer) into a temporary storage area or queue. This allows a program to send data faster than the peripheral can process it, freeing the program to continue other tasks.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • She bought a new spool of thread for her sewing project.
  • The old film was still on its original spool.

• Verb (Physical winding):

  • Please spool the fishing line onto the reel carefully.
  • The machine automatically spools the cable as it is manufactured.

• Verb (Computing):

  • The document is spooling to the printer; it should start printing in a moment.
  • Large print jobs are often spooled to disk to manage system resources.

Advanced Usage

• "Spool up" / "Spool down": These phrasal verbs are often used in engineering, particularly for turbines and engines, meaning to increase or decrease rotational speed.
  • The jet engines began to spool up for takeoff.
• In computing, the temporary storage area itself can be called a spool (short for "simultaneous peripheral operations online").
  • The print job is waiting in the spool.

Variants and Related Words

• Spooler (noun): A computer program or process that manages spooled data, especially for printing.
  • Check the print spooler if your documents are not printing.
• Respool (verb): To wind something onto a spool again.
  • I had to respool the tangled thread.

Synonyms

• Noun: Bobbin, reel, cylinder, core.
• Verb (wind): Wind, reel, coil.
• Verb (computing): Queue, buffer.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Spool out: To unwind or pay out from a spool.
  • The climber spooled out the rope gradually.
• Spool up: (As above) To increase operational speed or readiness.
  • The system takes a minute to spool up after booting.

Related Idioms

• While not a common idiom, the phrase "on the spool" can metaphorically refer to something that is queued, prepared, or in the process of being delivered.
  • Your request is on the spool and will be handled next.

Học thuật

Noun

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

Verb

1. wind onto a spool or a reel
2. transfer data intended for a peripheral device (usually a printer) into temporary storage

Từ đồng nghĩa

• bobbin
• reel