(Homonym: real).
1. A revolving spool with a handle; attached to a fishing rod.
2. A roll of photographic film holding a series of frames to be projected by a movie projector.
3. A lively dance of Scottish highlanders; marked by circular moves and gliding steps; SYN. Scottish reel.
4. Music composed for dancing a reel.
Lively dance of the Scottish Highlands.
In cinema, a plastic or metal spool used for winding and storing film. As the size of reels became standardized it came to refer to the running time of the film: a standard 35-mm reel holds 313 m/900 ft of film, which runs for ten minutes when projected at 24 frames per second; hence a “two-reeler” was a film lasting 20 minutes. Today’s projectors, however, hold bigger reels.

ETYM Cf. Swed. ragla. Related to Reel.
(Homonym: real).
To wind onto or off a reel.