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thread
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English
Alternative forms
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 Saterland Frisian Träid (“thread, wire”), West Frisian tried, Dutch draad, German Draht, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish tråd, and Icelandic þráður. Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian dredh (“twist, turn”). More at throw.
Pronunciation
Noun
thread (plural threads)
- A cord formed by spinning or twisting together textile fibers or filaments into one or more continuous strands, typically used in needlework.
- Synonym: string
- (weaving) A piece of yarn, especially said of warps and wefts in a woven fabric.
- Any of various natural (as spiderweb, etc.) or manufactured filaments (as glass, plastic, metal, etc.).
- the threads of a spiderweb
- 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
- He walked. To the corner of Hamilton Place and Picadilly, and there stayed for a while, for it is a romantic station by night. The vague and careless rain looked like threads of gossamer silver passing across the light of the arc-lamps.
- A slender stream of water.
- a thread of water
- The line midway between the banks of a stream.
- (engineering) A screw thread.
- The continuing course of life; thread of life.
- 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.
- 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIII:
- I was pondering these things, when an incident, and a somewhat unexpected one, broke the thread of my musings.
- 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Chapter 21:
- ‘Let him go on. Do not interrupt him. He cannot go back, and maybe could not proceed at all if once he lost the thread of his thought.’
- A continuing theme that modifies the whole discourse.
- Synonym: topic
- All of these essays have a common thread.
- A line of reasoning, sequence of ideas, or train of thought.
- (computing) A unit of execution, lighter in weight than a process, usually sharing memory and other resources with other threads executing concurrently.
- (Internet) 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.
- A sequence of connections.
- A precarious condition; something that which offers no real or otherwise perceived security.
- a life hanging by a thread
- (figurative, obsolete) The degree of fineness; quality; nature.
- 1632 (first performance), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “The Magnetick Lady: Or, Humors Reconcil’d. A Comedy […]”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: […] Richard Meighen, published 1640, →OCLC:
- A neat courtier, / Of a most elegant thread.
Hyponyms
Derived terms
- Abalakov thread
- brahminical thread
- cross-thread
- golden thread
- green thread
- hang by a thread
- hyperthreaded
- life thread
- lose the thread
- needle-and-thread grass
- nun's thread
- Pagenstecher thread
- pick up the threads
- pick up the threads of
- sister's thread
- threadbare
- thread bug
- thread count
- threader
- thread lace
- thread-legged bug
- thread-locking fluid
- thread mode
- thread necromancy
- thread needle
- thread of life
- thread of thought
- thread-paper
- thread pool
- threadsafe
- thread-safe
- thread snake
- thready
Translations
long, thin and flexible form of material
|
a theme or idea — see also common thread
|
a screw thread — see screw thread
a sequence of connection
the line midway between the banks of a stream
(computing) a unit of execution
|
(Internet) a series of messages
|
Verb
thread (third-person singular simple present threads, present participle threading, simple past threaded or (archaic) thrid, past participle threaded or (archaic) thridden)
- (transitive) To pass a thread through the eye of a needle.
- (transitive) To fix (beads, pearls, etc.) upon a thread that is passed through; to string.
- (transitive, figurative) To make one's way through or between (a constriction or obstacles).
- to thread through narrow passages
- I think I can thread my way through here, but it’s going to be tight.
- 1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 266:
- The line to Uganda goes up the side of a slope in a series of S-bends, and as the telegraph wires follow the line, from below they look like a forest as they thread backwards and forwards about six times.
- To cautiously make (one's way) through a precarious place or situation.
- He threaded his way through legal entanglements.
- (transitive, figurative) To pass through; to pierce through; to penetrate.
- 1670, John Pettus, Fodinæ Regales […], London: Printed by H. L. and R. B. […], page 2:
- 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 […]
- 1896 May 12, The Pall Mall Magazine, page 12:
- Tom out here will have leave to thrid you with bullets.
- 1961 February, D. Bertram, “The lines to Wetherby and their traffic”, in Trains Illustrated, page 101:
- On the descent the line is often in cuttings; some are high, such as at Scarcroft, where a cut through firestone and fireclay was necessary, and near Bardsey, where the line threads a deep tree-lined gorge.
- (transitive) To interweave as if with thread; to intersperse.
- 2010 April 1, Gayla Marty, Memory of Trees: A Daughter’s Story of a Family Farm, U of Minnesota Press, →ISBN, page 177:
- [...] 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.
- 2014 June 30, G.B. Lindsey, Diana Copland, Libby Drew, Secrets of Neverwood: An Anthology, Carina Press, →ISBN:
- [...] dark hair threaded with gray pulled back from a face still beautiful in spite of clear evidence of the passage of time.
- 2021 November 4, Steven Mithen, Land of the Ilich: Journey's into Islay's Past, Birlinn Ltd, →ISBN:
- [...] landscape threaded with rivers, roads, tracks, pathways and an airport runway; one peppered with villages, farms, crofts and distilleries. Visitors to Islay, especially those coming from densely populated urban areas, often mistakenly […]
- 2023 May 2, Lucy Clarke, One of the Girls, Penguin, →ISBN, page 6:
- [...] dark hair threaded with early silver.
- (transitive) To form a screw thread on or in (a bolt, hole, etc.).
- Coordinate term: tap
- to thread a bolt
- (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
- (ambitransitive) To feed (a sewing machine or otherwise a projecting or exposing mechanism, such as a projector, a camera, etc.) with film. [(usually) with up]
- (transitive) To pass (a film or tape) through a projector, recorder, etc. so as to correct its path.
- (intransitive) Of boiling syrup: To form a threadlike stream when poured from a spoon.
Derived terms
- cross-thread
- threaded (adjective)
- multithreaded
- thread the needle
Translations
pass a thread through the eye of a needle
|
make one's way through or between
|
screw on
See also
sewing needle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
References
- “thread, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
- “thread, v.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
- “twine, n.1”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000: “Thread or string composed of two or more yarns or strands twisted together […]”
- Philip Babcock Gove et al., editors (1961), “thread n”, in Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged [...], volume III: S to Z, Merriam-Webster Inc., →ISBN, page 2381; republished Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1993, →ISBN
- Philip Babcock Gove et al., editors (1961), “thread v”, in Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged [...], volume III: S to Z, Merriam-Webster Inc., →ISBN, page 2381; republished Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1993, →ISBN
- “thread, v.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present: “to form a thread on or in (a bolt, hole, etc.)”
- “thread, v.”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN: “To remove (body hair) by using a looped thread that has been wound tightly in the middle.”
Anagrams
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French
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
thread m (plural threads)
Synonyms
- (computing) fil d'exécution, processus léger
- (Internet) fil de discussion, fil d'intérêt
Italian
Etymology
Noun
thread m (invariable)
Portuguese
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English thread.
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɛdʒi, -ɛdi
Noun
thread f (plural threads)
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