SImilé

No, that is not French for 'smile' - it is a Figure of Speech! Often when we make comparisons between two things of a different nature, to describe something, perhaps a person, a situation or an object. 
For example, we could say, while describing a fight, " Henry fought like a tiger". 
Another  example would be  "P.T. Usha ran like a gazelle" 
These figures of speech are introduced in a sentence by the adverbs: like, so, as, as...as. These similés, aid the readers' imagination and every author of repute has used them at some time or the other. 

Spindles

Today, I came across a new meaning for the word 'spindle', in the latest National Geographic August 2018 edition. There was this article on 'Sleep- Inside the new Science of Slumber' and it described an activity of our brains, which takes place in the cerebral cortex. This is the part of the brain that we use for thinking, language and generally of consciousness. These are half-second bursts of electrical activity that signify that we have entered the second phase of sleep.
Traditionally, spindles are "a straight spike usually made from wood in order to spin textile fibre into thread. There are parts of machines also called spindles.