A spindle (or colloquially, a spike) is an upright spike used to hold papers waiting for processing. "Spindling" or "spiking" was the act of spearing a paper document onto the spike. Early Hollerith cards bore the inscription, "do not bend, fold, spindle or mutilate," with spindling in particular being almost sure to lead to the Hollerith card's being misread. The punch card (or Hollerith card) is a recording medium for holding information for use by automated data processing machines. ...

Spindling served the twin purposes of accumulating paperwork in a way that would not permit it to be blown about by the summer breeze common prior to the advent of air conditioning, along with the hole made by the spindle being indicative of some sort of processing when the paperwork is viewed subsequently. Note: in the broadest sense, air conditioning can refer to any form of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning. ...

OSHA-compliant safety spindles, with the last 1/2 inch or so bent at a 90° angle to reduce the likelihood of injury, have been available for some time. Many early spindles have bases that are quite decorative.

The spindle also makes an appearance in a short at the beginning of the film Monty Python's The Meaning of Life where a room full of chartered accountants are transformed into pirates. Short subject is an American film industry term that historically has referred to any film in the format of two reels, or approximately 20 minutes running time, or less. ... The Meaning of Life was a Monty Python comedy film made in 1983. ...

Another colloquialism arising from the use of this device was "spiking," which meant a de facto killing of a controversial newspaper article.