Spool

1. Short for Simultaneous Peripheral Operations On-Line, Spool is often used to describe a task such as a print job. See our print spool definition for additional information.
2. Spool was also a large reel of 1/2-inch-wide magnetic tape used with old mainframe computers.
3. Also known as a mail spool the spool is a temporary location or the name of the directory some e-mail service use to store e-mail until the client logs in to retrieve it.
4. Also known as a news spool the spool is a temporary location to store Usenet articles.
5. See our spooling dictionary definition for additional related terms.

Also see: Print spooler, Spool folder, Spooler, Spooling