Clue in chapter title - Spinner's End

[Rebecca Scalf]

No: HPFGUIDX 145314

I'm new and have been reading every post for the last couple of weeks. Thanks everyone 
for the endless entertainment and food for thought...

I wonder about the word "Spinner" in Spinner's End. Is there a clue for us? Of course it is 
the name of the street where we find Snape's house. But JKR, as we know, chooses her 
proper nouns with care...

According to my Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary there are seven 
definitions listed under "spinner:"
a) a person who spins yarn;
b) a shiny fish lure that spins like a propeller when drawn through the water;
c) a domelike cap that fits over the hub of an airplane propeller;
d) a football play in which the ball carrier whirls around to prevent the opposing team 
from knowing in which direction he will run;
e) a garden spider or spinning spider;
f) (rare) a spinnaret;
g) a goatsucker.

Next I looked up "goatsucker," and it means any various species of nocturnal birds of the 
genus "Caprimulgus" that feed on insects such as moths, gnats, beetles, etc.
 
What surprised me is there is NO listing for one who "spins a yarn" meaning a "storyteller," 
with the added connotation that the stories are fantastical, far-fetched or unreliable. This 
is the definition I like to think JKR is playing with.

If Snape is the spinner, and the events which unfold there signal the end of his spinning, 
there is certainly an implication  of lying, but to whom has Snape been lying to? Which 
side? We still don't know.

Definition d) may be Spinner JKR's little joke on us - she gave us just enough clues to keep 
us guessing which direction Snape will run.


- Rebecca, spinning your thoughts into my own sorting hat.