noun

• (informal) A sensor for playing phonograph records, a phonograph stylus.
  "Ziggy bought some diamond needles for his hi-fi phonograph."
• (informal, usually preceded by the) The death penalty carried out by lethal injection.
• (programming) A text string that is searched for within another string. (see: needle in a haystack)
  "Both of these functions will look through the haystack for the specified needle and, if they find it, will return the portion of the string from the beginning of the needle to the end of the haystack."
• (entomology) Any of various species of damselfly of the genus Synlestes, endemic to Australia.

verb

• (transitive) To tease in order to provoke; to poke fun at.
  "Billy needled his sister incessantly about her pimples."
• (ambitransitive) To form, or be formed, in the shape of a needle.
  "to needle crystals"