1. [n]  rapid descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral spin
2. [n]  the act of rotating rapidly; "he gave the crank a spin"; "it broke off after much twisting"
3. [n]  a swift whirling motion (usually of a missile)
4. [v]  prolong or extend; "spin out a visit"
5. [v]  narrate or give a detailed account of; "Tell what happened"; "The father told a story to his child"
6. [v]  work natural fibers into a thread; "spin silk"
7. [v]  form a web by making a thread, as of spiders
8. [v]  make up a story, as in"spin a yarn"
9. [v]  revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis; "The dervishes whirl around and around without getting dizzy"
10. [v]  cause to spin; "spin a coin"
11. [v]  stream in jets, of liquids; "The creek spun its course through the woods"

1. \Spin\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Spun}(Archaic imp. {Span}); p.
   pr. & vb. n. {Spinning}.] [AS. spinnan; akin to D. & G.
   spinnen, Icel. & Sw. spinna, Dan. spinde, Goth. spinnan, and
   probably to E. span. [root]170. Cf. {Span}, v. t., {Spider}.]
   1. To draw out, and twist into threads, either by the hand or
      machinery; as, to spin wool, cotton, or flax; to spin
      goat's hair; to produce by drawing out and twisting a
      fibrous material.
            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.]
   

2. \Spin\, v. i.
   1. To practice spinning; to work at drawing and twisting
      threads; to make yarn or thread from fiber; as, the woman
      knows how to spin; a machine or jenny spins with great
      exactness.
            They neither know to spin, nor care to toll.
                                                  --Prior.
   2. To move round rapidly; to whirl; to revolve, as a top or a
      spindle, about its axis.
            Round about him spun the landscape, Sky and forest
            reeled together.                      --Longfellow.
            With a whirligig of jubilant mosquitoes spinning
            about each head.                      --G. W. Cable.
   3. To stream or issue in a thread or a small current or jet;
      as, blood spinsfrom a vein. --Shak.
   4. To move swifty; as, to spin along the road in a carriage,
      on a bicycle, etc. [Colloq.]
   

3. \Spin\, n.
   1. The act of spinning; as, the spin of a top; a spin a
      bicycle. [Colloq.]
   2. (Kinematics) Velocity of rotation about some specified
      axis.
   

Equivalent to buzz. More common among C and Unix programmers.

[Jargon File]