σπεῖρα

English (LSJ)

ἡ,

   A anything twisted or wound, ποιεῖν τι οἷον σπεῖραν twist it into a ball, Hp.Morb. 2.33.    2 pl., coils or spires of a serpent, S.Fr. 535 (anap.), Ar.Fr.500; πολύπλοκοι σ. E.Med.481, cf. Ion 1164: so in sg., Nic.Th.156, A.R.4.151, Arat.47,89, etc.    3 rope, cord, Nic.Fr. 74.21, f.l. in Hp.Steril.235; σπείραισι δικτυοκλώστοις with the net's meshy folds, S.Ant.346 (lyr.); ship's cable, Plu.2.507b; padded circle used by women carrying weights on their head, Aët. 12.55; so by Atlas, Apollod.2.5.11; as a lamp-stand, ἀρτεμισίας σ. ἐπὶ τὸν λύχνον PMag.Lond.121.601 (cf. σπειρίον 111); round cushion, IG5(1).1390.24 (Andania, i B.C.).    4 a mode of dressing the hair, Poll.2.31, 4.149.    5 σ. βόειαι thongs or straps of ox-hide to guard and arm a boxer's fist, Theoc.22.80.    6 knot or curl in wood, Thphr.HP5.2.3, Plin.HN16.198.    7 a kind of cheesecake (al. σπῖρα), Chrysipp. Tyan. ap. Ath.14.647d.    8 rounded moulding in the base of an Ionic or Corinthian column, torus, IG12.372.64, Sardis 7(1) No.181 (i A.D.), CIG2713-14 (Labranda), Poll.7.121, Vitr.3.5.3.    9 Geom., anchor-ring, tore, produced by revolution of a circle about a line in its plane but not passing through the centre, Hero *Deff.97, Procl. in Euc.p.119 F.    II Milit., tactical unit, in the Ptolemaic army, BGU1806.4 (i B.C.); used to translate the Roman manipulus, Plb.11.23.1, al., Str.12.3.18, Plu.Aem.17; κατὰ σπείρας,= Lat. manipulatim, Plb.3.115.12; later, cohort, Act.Ap.10.1, J.BJ3.4.2, IGRom.1.10 (Massilia), 1373 (Egypt), al., OGI208.2 (Nubia, ii A.D.), al. (gen. in this sense always σπείρης, Act.Ap. l.c., POxy.477.3 (ii A.D.), BGU73 (ii A.D.), OGIl.c., etc.).    2 = θίασος, religious college or guild, gen. σπείρης IG14.925 (Portus Trajani); dat. σπείρῃ ib.977 (Rome), Inscr.Perg.319,320; nom. σπεῖρα AEM 14.28 (Roumania); Lat. spira, CIL 6.261 (Rome), al. (cf. σπειράρχης).