reel.
A shaky or unsteady gait.
Meaning & usage
A shaky or unsteady gait.
A lively dance originating in Scotland.
The music of this dance; often called a Scottish (or Scotch) reel.
A kind of spool, turning on an axis, on which yarn, threads, lines, or the like, are wound.
a log reel
an angler's reel
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.
A short compilation of sample film work used as a demonstrative resume in the entertainment industry.
A chronological collection of pictures or short videos published by a user on an app or website and typically only available for a short period.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English reel, reele, from Old English rēol, hrēol, from Proto-West Germanic *hrehul, from Proto-Germanic *hrehulaz, *hrahilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *krek- (“to weave, beat”). Cognate with Icelandic ræl, hræll.
To wind on a reel.
To spin or revolve repeatedly.
To unwind; to bring or acquire something by spinning or winding something else.
He reeled off some tape from the roll and sealed the package.
To walk shakily or unsteadily; to stagger; move as if drunk or not in control of oneself.
To back off, step away, or sway backwards unsteadily and suddenly.
He reeled back from the punch.
To make or cause to reel.
To have a whirling sensation; to be giddy.
To be in shock.
To produce a mechanical insect-like song, as in grass warblers.
To roll.
To bring in or along.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English reel, reele, from Old English rēol, hrēol, from Proto-West Germanic *hrehul, from Proto-Germanic *hrehulaz, *hrahilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *krek- (“to weave, beat”). Cognate with Icelandic ræl, hræll.
Try it on your idea.
reel has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.