weave
/wiːv/ verb, noun
Forms weaves weaving wove weaved woven
- verb (transitive) To form something by passing lengths or strands of material over and under one another. “This loom weaves yarn into cloth.”
- verb (transitive) To spin a cocoon or a web. “Spiders weave beautiful but deadly webs.”
- verb (transitive) To unite by close connection or intermixture.
- verb (transitive) To compose creatively and intricately; to fabricate. “to weave the plot of a story”
- noun A type or way of weaving. “That rug has a very tight weave.”
- noun (cosmetics) Human or artificial hair worn to alter one's appearance, either to supplement or to cover the natural hair.
- verb (intransitive) To move by turning and twisting. “The drunk weaved into another bar.”
- verb (transitive) To make (a path or way) by winding in and out or from side to side. “The ambulance weaved its way through the heavy traffic.”
- verb (intransitive, of an animal) To move the head back and forth in a stereotyped pattern, typically as a symptom of stress.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English weven (“to weave”), from Old English wefan (“to weave”), from Proto-West Germanic *weban, from Proto-Germanic *webaną, from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to weave, braid”).
Cognate with North Frisian weev, weew, weewe (“to weave”), Saterland Frisian weeuwe (“to weave”), Dutch weven (“to weave”), German weben (“to weave”), Luxembourgish wiewen (“to weave”), Yiddish וועבן (vebn, “to weave”), Danish væve (“to weave”), Faroese veva (“to weave”), Icelandic vefa (“to weave”), Norwegian Bokmål veve (“to weave”), Norwegian Nynorsk veva, veve (“to weave”), Swedish väva (“to weave”).
From Middle English weven (“to wander”); probably from Old Norse veifa (“move around, wave”), related to Latin vibrare.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To unite, as threads of any kind, in such a manner as to form a texture; to entwine or interlace into a fabric; as, to weave wool, silk, etc.; hence, to unite by close connection or intermixture; to unite intimately.
- verb To form, as cloth, by interlacing threads; to compose, as a texture of any kind, by putting together textile materials; as, to weave broadcloth; to weave a carpet; hence, to form into a fabric; to compose; to fabricate; as, to weave the plot of a story.
- verb To practice weaving; to work with a loom.
- verb To become woven or interwoven.
Etymology [OE. weven, AS. wefan; akin to D. weven, G. weben, OHG. weban, Icel. vefa, Sw. väfva, Dan. væve, Gr. spider, lit., wool weaver. Cf. Waper, Waffle, Web, Weevil, Weft, Woof.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “weave”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details