thread
/ˈθɹɛd/ noun, verb
Forms threads threading threaded thrid thridden thred threed
- noun A cord formed by spinning or twisting together textile fibers or filaments into one or more continuous strands, typically used in needlework.
- noun (weaving) A piece of yarn, especially said of warps and wefts in a woven fabric.
- noun Any of various natural (as spiderweb, etc.) or manufactured filaments (as glass, plastic, metal, etc.). “the threads of a spiderweb”
- noun A slender stream of water. “a thread of water”
- noun The line midway between the banks of a stream.
- noun (engineering) A screw thread.
- noun The continuing course of life; the thread of life.
- noun A line of reasoning, sequence of ideas, or train of thought. “I’ve lost the thread of what you’re saying.”
- verb (transitive) To pass a thread through the eye of a needle.
- verb (transitive) To fix (beads, pearls, etc.) upon a thread that is passed through; to string.
- verb (transitive, figurative) To make one's way through or between (a constriction or obstacles). “to thread through narrow passages”
- verb To cautiously make (one's way) through a precarious place or situation. “He threaded his way through legal entanglements.”
- verb (transitive, figurative) To pass through; to pierce through; to penetrate.
- verb (transitive) To interweave as if with thread; to intersperse.
- verb (transitive) To form a screw thread on or in (a bolt, hole, etc.). “to thread a bolt”
- verb (ambitransitive) To remove (facial hair) by way of a looped thread that is tightly wound in the middle. “to thread your eyebrows and trim them”
Synonyms
string topic yarn ribbon train of thought screw thread weave wind meander wander draw
Etymology
From Middle English thred, þred, threed, from Old English þrǣd, from Proto-Germanic *þrēduz, from Proto-Indo-European *treh₁-tu-s, from *terh₁- (“rub, twist”).
Cognate with Yola dreade (“thread”), Saterland Frisian Träid (“thread, wire”), Cimbrian draat (“string, thread”), Dutch draad (“thread, wire”), German Draht (“thread, wire”), Luxembourgish Drot (“wire”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish tråd (“thread, wire”), Faroese tráður (“thread”), Icelandic þráður (“thread”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian dredh (“twist, turn”). More at throw.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A very small twist of flax, wool, cotton, silk, or other fibrous substance, drawn out to considerable length; a compound cord consisting of two or more single yarns doubled, or joined together, and twisted.
- noun A filament, as of a flower, or of any fibrous substance, as of bark; also, a line of gold or silver.
- verb To pass a thread through the eye of; as, to thread a needle.
- verb To pass or pierce through as a narrow way; also, to effect or make, as one's way, through or between obstacles; to thrid.
Etymology [OE. threed, , AS. ; akin to D. draad, G. draht wire, thread, OHG. drat, Icel. a thread, Sw. tråd, Dan. traad, and AS. to twist. See Throw, and cf. Third.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “thread”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details