{Spun hay}, hay twisted into ropes for convenient carriage,
as on a military expedition.
{Spun silk}, a cheap article produced from floss, or
short-fibered, broken, and waste silk, carded and spun, in
distinction from the long filaments wound from the cocoon.
It is often mixed with cotton.
{Spun yarn} (Naut.), a line formed of two or more rope-yarns
loosely twisted.
All the yarn she [Penelope] spun in Ulysses' absence
did but fill Ithaca full of moths. --Shak.
2. To draw out tediously; to form by a slow process, or by
degrees; to extend to a great length; -- with out; as, to
spin out large volumes on a subject.
Do you mean that story is tediously spun out?
--Sheridan.
3. To protract; to spend by delays; as, to spin out the day
in idleness.
By one delay after another they spin out their whole
lives. --L'Estrange.
4. To cause to turn round rapidly; to whirl; to twirl; as, to
spin a top.
5. To form (a web, a cocoon, silk, or the like) from threads
produced by the extrusion of a viscid, transparent liquid,
which hardens on coming into contact with the air; -- said
of the spider, the silkworm, etc.
6. (Mech.) To shape, as malleable sheet metal, into a hollow
form, by bending or buckling it by pressing against it
with a smooth hand tool or roller while the metal
revolves, as in a lathe.
{To spin a yarn} (Naut.), to tell a story, esp. a long or
fabulous tale.
{To spin hay} (Mil.), to twist it into ropes for convenient
carriage on an expedition.
{To spin street yarn}, to gad about gossiping. [Collog.]