The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bobbin \Bob"bin\, n. [F. bobine; of uncertain origin; cf. L. bombus a humming, from the noise it makes, or Ir. & Gael. baban tassel, or E. bob.]
A small pin, or cylinder, formerly of bone, now most commonly of wood, used in the making of pillow lace. Each thread is wound on a separate bobbin which hangs down holding the thread at a slight tension.
A spool or reel of various material and construction, with a head at one or both ends, and sometimes with a hole bored through its length by which it may be placed on a spindle or pivot. It is used to hold yarn or thread, as in spinning or warping machines, looms, sewing machines, etc.
The little rounded piece of wood, at the end of a latch string, which is pulled to raise the latch.
(Haberdashery) A fine cord or narrow braid.
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(Elec.) A cylindrical or spool-shaped coil or insulated wire, usually containing a core of soft iron which becomes magnetic when the wire is traversed by an electrical current.
Bobbin and fly frame, a roving machine.
Bobbin lace, lace made on a pillow with bobbins; pillow lace.
Wiktionary
n. A form of hand-made lace in which the thread is wound around bobbins on a padded cushion; pillow lace
WordNet
n. lace made by winding thread around bobbins on a padded cushion [syn: pillow lace]
Wikipedia
Bobbin lace is a lace textile made by braiding and twisting lengths of thread, which are wound on bobbins to manage them. As the work progresses, the weaving is held in place with pins set in a lace pillow, the placement of the pins usually determined by a pattern or pricking pinned on the pillow.
Bobbin lace is also known as pillow lace, because it was worked on a pillow, and bone lace, because early bobbins were made of bone or ivory.
Bobbin lace is one of the two major categories of handmade laces, the other being needlelace, derived from earlier cutwork and reticella.
Usage examples of "bobbin lace".
They dropped in an unbroken line from her cameoed throat, over her striking bosom, down to her tiny waist and all the way to the hem of her dress, where three spaced bands of white bobbin lace completed the decoration.
He wore a long white cotton nightgown embroidered with unicorns, and a black cap with bobbin lace was tied under his chin.
She was dressed for a meeting of the Needleworkers' Guild, in her fine, russet-brown lambswool gown trimmed with intricate bobbin lace of her own making and design, the sash of her office as Guild Representative of five counties so covered with embroidery that there was not a single thread of the original fabric showing.