Reel

Reel, v. i. [Cf. Sw. ragla. See 2d Reel.] 1. To incline, in walking, from one side to the other; to stagger.

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

He, with heavy fumes oppressed,
Reeled from the palace, and retired to rest.

The wagons reeling under the yellow sheaves.

2. To have a whirling sensation; to be giddy.

In these lengthened vigils his brain often reeled.

Reel, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reeled (r?ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Reeling. ] 1. To roll. [Obs.]

And Sisyphus an huge round stone did reel.

2. To wind upon a reel, as yarn or thread.

Reel, n. [AS. kre?l: cf. Icel. kr?ll a weaver's reed or sley.] 1. A frame with radial arms, or a kind of spool, turning on an axis, on which yarn, threads, lines, or the like, are wound; as, a log reel, used by seamen; an angler's reel; a garden reel.

2. A machine on which yarn is wound and measured into lays and hanks, -- for cotton or linen it is fifty-four inches in circuit; for worsted, thirty inches. McElrath.

3. (Agric.) 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.

Reel oven, a baker's oven in which bread pans hang suspended from the arms of a kind of reel revolving on a horizontal axis. Knight.

Reel (r?l), n. [Gael. righil.] A lively dance of the Highlanders of Scotland; also, the music to the dance; -- often called Scotch reel.

Virginia reel, the common name throughout the United States for the old English "country dance," or contradance (contredanse). Bartlett.

Reel, n. The act or motion of reeling or staggering; as, a drunken reel. Shak.