Reel, n. [AS. kre�l: cf. Icel. kr�ll a weaver's reed or sley.] 1. A frame with radial arms, or a kind of spool, turning on an axis, on which yarn, threads, lines, or the like, are wound; as, a log reel, used by seamen; an angler's reel; a garden reel.
2. A machine on which yarn is wound and measured into lays and hanks, — for cotton or linen it is fifty-four inches in circuit; for worsted, thirty inches. McElrath.
3. (Agric.) A device consisting of radial arms with horizontal stats, connected with a harvesting machine, for holding the stalks of grain in position to be cut by the knives.
Reel oven, a baker's oven in which bread pans hang suspended from the arms of a kind of reel revolving on a horizontal axis. Knight.