WHORL

noun Etymology: Middle English wharle, ~e, probably alteration of whirle, from whirlen to whirl Date: 15th century a drum-shaped section on the lower part of a spindle in spinning or weaving machinery serving as a pulley for the tape drive that rotates the spindle, an arrangement of similar anatomical parts (as leaves) in a circle around a point on an axis, something that whirls, coils, or spirals or whose form suggests such movement ; swirl , one of the turns of a univalve shell, a fingerprint in which the central papillary ridges turn through at least one complete circle