dining needle

A form of darning needle — Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: A needle used for darning.

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Meanings

noundining needle (plural dining needles)

plural dining needles

  1. alternativecolloquialrareAlternative form of darning needle; a dragonfly.

    A dining needle went by as he fluttered his many wings.

    2007, Harvey Rothenstein, The Big Picture and the Adventures of Life, →ISBN, page 47
    1 more example

    Words for dragonfly in the Eastern States include darning needle, mosquito hawk, spindle, snake feeder, snake doctor and snake waiter, but of these only darning needle is used in New York. From darning needle, however, New York has developed two new variants dining needle and diamond needle.

    2013, Janet Holmes, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, →ISBN

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
dragonfly

Origin

A misconstrual of darning needle (“dragonfly”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

dining needle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dining%20needle

MLA

“dining needle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dining%20needle. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dining needle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dining%20needle.

Source: dining needle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.