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Thread

//θɹɛd// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun

1
A cord formed by spinning or twisting together textile fibers or filaments into one or more continuous strands, typically used in needlework.
"Woolen threads were an occult means, according to the Roman poet Horace, of depriving a person of virility."
2
the raised helical rib going around a screw wordnet
3
A piece of yarn, especially said of warps and wefts in a woven fabric.
4
a fine cord of twisted fibers (of cotton or silk or wool or nylon etc.) used in sewing and weaving wordnet
5
Any of various natural (as spiderweb, etc.) or manufactured filaments (as glass, plastic, metal, etc.).
"the threads of a spiderweb"

Show 13 more definitions

6
the connections that link the various parts of an event or argument together wordnet
7
A slender stream of water.
"a thread of water"
8
any long object resembling a thin line wordnet
9
The line midway between the banks of a stream.
10
A screw thread.
11
The continuing course of life; thread of life.
12
An ordered course, that which connects the successive points in a discourse.; A line of reasoning, sequence of ideas, or train of thought.
"I’ve lost the thread of what you’re saying."
13
An ordered course, that which connects the successive points in a discourse.; A continuing theme that modifies the whole discourse.
"All of these essays have a common thread."
14
A unit of execution, lighter in weight than a process, usually sharing memory and other resources with other threads executing concurrently.
15
A series of posts or messages, consisting of an initial post and responses to it, generally relating to the same subject, on a newsgroup, Internet forum, or social media platform. Internet
16
A sequence of connections.
17
A precarious condition; something that which offers no real or otherwise perceived security.
"a life hanging by a thread"
18
The degree of fineness; quality; nature. figuratively, obsolete
"A neat courtier, / Of a most elegant thread."

Verb

1
To pass a thread through the eye of a needle. transitive
2
thread on or as if on a string wordnet
3
To fix (beads, pearls, etc.) upon a thread that is passed through; to string. transitive
4
pass through or into wordnet
5
To make one's way through or between (a constriction or obstacles). figuratively, transitive
"to thread through narrow passages"

Show 11 more definitions

6
remove facial hair by tying a fine string around it and pulling at the string wordnet
7
To make one's way through or between (a constriction or obstacles).; To cautiously make (one's way) through a precarious place or situation. figuratively, transitive
"He threaded his way through legal entanglements."
8
pass a thread through wordnet
9
To pass through; to pierce through; to penetrate. figuratively, transitive
"And when the Miners by theſe Shafts or Adits do ſtrike or threed a Vein of any Metal […] then the Metal which is digged […] is called Oar […]"
10
to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course wordnet
11
To interweave as if with thread; to intersperse. transitive
"[...] the urban landscape threaded with parks and trees to the horizon. The enormous sky over that flat line dazzled clear blue or filled with towers of cumulus clouds."
12
To form a screw thread on or in (a bolt, hole, etc.). transitive
"Coordinate term: tap"
13
To remove (facial hair) by way of a looped thread that is tightly wound in the middle. ambitransitive
"to thread your eyebrows and trim them"
14
To feed (a sewing machine or otherwise a projecting or exposing mechanism, such as a projector, a camera, etc.) with film. ambitransitive
15
To pass (a film or tape) through a projector, recorder, etc. so as to correct its path. transitive
16
Of boiling syrup: To form a threadlike stream when poured from a spoon. intransitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

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”). Cognates 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.

Etymology 2

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