needle

A needle is a thin steel spike with a hole at one end for the thread. You hold it up to the light, get the thread through on the third try, and sew the button back on.

The word travels a long way from sewing: knitting needles have no hole and come in pairs, a doctor's needle is hollow and goes into your arm, a record needle sits in the groove, a compass needle swings to north, and the needle on a dial shows the speed. Pine trees carry needles instead of leaves, and they cover the ground beneath them. As a verb, to needle someone is to keep poking at them with small remarks until they lose their temper. Two set phrases are worth having: a needle in a haystack for something impossible to find, and pins and needles for the prickling in a foot that has gone to sleep. Needlework is sewing and embroidery done by hand.

Phrases it lives in

• a needle in a haystack — something almost impossible to find
• pins and needles — the prickling feeling in a limb that has gone numb