When one is using Macintosh OS X, and the computer crashes by turning the cursor into a pinwheel and not letting you do anything. SImilar to the Blue Screen of death from the old Windows NT days, but, like many Apple products, cuter and more friendly looking.
"Whoops! I tried to open two programs at once on this iMac with the stock 256mb of RAM. Now the keyboard and mouse button aren't working."
"Yup. Looks like you got the old pinwheel of death."
"Yup. Looks like you got the old pinwheel of death."
by cosmo October 22, 2005
The symbol that appears when your browser freezes up on the Mac. Its counterpart is the hourglass symbol on Windows.
Person #1. I bloody hate that loading hourglass.
Person #2. I have the rainbow pinwheel of death to deal with.
Person #2. I have the rainbow pinwheel of death to deal with.
by oubliette October 2, 2009