She spun on him.

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Teleostomi

#237626 Mon, 19 Jun 06 09:49 AM

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What does "She spun on him" mean? I checked several dictionaries only to find nothing that seems to fit.

Teleostomi

Joined on Sat, Jun 10 2006

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Mike in Japan

#237685 Mon, 19 Jun 06 12:04 PM

Spin is to turn rapidly, so we could guess that she turned quickly to face him.

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Mike in Japan

Joined on Tue, Aug 19 2003

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Marius Hancu

#237693 Mon, 19 Jun 06 12:15 PM

He pushed over the hurt in his voice with a scrape of anger. "She's not coming back, you know."

She spun on him. "I don't know that." Then closed her eyes tightly. "It's me. I have to get myself right with God. Then"

Perhaps, it's she continued/re-interpreted his "you know" by her own "I don't know that."

But Mike's assumption (turn, twist, twirl in his hands) is also quite possible.
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spin

EXTEND, PROLONG, PROTRACT -- usually used with out <possessed the ability to spin a saga out of their escapades -- Benjamin De Casseres> <spins a short-story plot into over 90,000 words of torpid action -- Anthony Boucher> <spins out the small talk of a chance meeting -- Current Biography> b : to evolve, express, or fabricate by processes of mind or imagination <the most persistent risk that has always attended all spinning of yarns -- C.E.Montague> <no more can the imagination spin its fantastic tales of adventure -- W.P.Webb> <spun a ritual full of cryptic references -- C.W.Ferguson> <the theorists spun their theories -- Time> c : to make last : stretch out the duration of : extend in time or space -- used with out <spinning out his glass of port as long as possible -- Elizabeth Goudge>

5 : to cause to turn round rapidly : TWIRL, WHIRL <boys spun their tops on the sidewalks>

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Marius Hancu

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