| 释义 |
▪ I. thread, n.|θrɛd|
Forms: 1–3 þrǽd (1 ðréd), 2 þread, 3–5 þred, 4–5 þreed, 4–7 (9 dial.) threed, (5 tredde), 5–6 threde, 5–8 thred, 6 threade, thredde, thride, 6–7 threede, Sc. threid, 6–8 thrid, 7 thrydd, 5– thread.
[OE. þrǽd = OLG. *þrâd (MDu. draet, Du. draad), OHG., MHG. drât (G. draht), ON. þráðr (Da. traad, Sw. tråd):—OTeut. *þræ̂-ðuz, pre-Teut. *trētús; f. *þræ̂- to twist (see throw v.1) + dental suffix. Cf. bread, seed.]
I.
1. a. A fine cord composed of the fibres or filaments of flax, cotton, wool, silk, etc. spun to a considerable length; spec. such a cord composed of two or more yarns, esp. of flax, twisted together; applied also to a similar product from glass, asbestos, a ductile metal, etc.
c725Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.) 876 Filum, ðred. c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxix. §1 Hwæt ðæt bið ᵹesæliᵹ mon þe him ealne weᵹ ne hangað nacod sweord ofer ðæm heafde be smale þræde. c1000Sax. Leechd. I. 218 Cnyte mid anum ðræde on anum clænan linenan. c1205Lay. 14220 Nes þe þwong..buten swulc a twines þræd [c 1275 twined þred]. c1400Sowdone Bab. 1999 He teyde a tredde on a pole. c1425tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula 9 It hath..an yȝe like a nedel by whiche þredes ow to be drawen agayn by middez of þe fistule. 1508Dunbar Gold. Targe 62 Thair brycht hairis..wyppit wyth goldyn thredis. 1535Coverdale 1 Kings vii. 23 A threde of thirtie cubites longe. 1641W. Gascoigne in Nat. Philos. III. Hist. Astron. xiii. (1834) 66/2 (Usef. Knowl. Soc.), I am fitting my sextant for all manner of observations, by two perspicills with threads. 1720Welton Suffer. Son of God II. xxii. 594 From these little Threads..such strong Cables are form'd. 1828J. M. Spearman Brit. Gunner (ed. 2) 150 Hawsers (Machine made)... Of 4 Inches, or 108 Threads..Of 10 Inches, or 648 Threads. 1832G. R. Porter Porcelain & Glass ix. 231 Glass may be spun into very long and minute threads.
b. The sacred thread with which Brahmins and Parsees are invested at initiation: see quots.
1582N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. xvi. 42 b, Vpon their left sholders they had certaine number of thrids, which came vnder their right shoulders. 1860J. Bateman Life Bp. D. Wilson I. xii. 341 Several Brahmins being manifested by their ‘thread’. 1874J. H. Blunt Dict. Sects, etc. 405/2 (Parsees) The investiture at initiation with the sacred thread. 1903Times 5 Mar. 3/5 Mrs. Ruttonjee Tata..was..invested with the sacred thread and sudra of the Parsees.
†c. spec. A fishing-line. (In quot. 1622 fig.) Obs.
1602Carew Cornwall 31 b, For catching of Whiting and Basse, they vse a thred, so named because it consisteth of a long small lyne with a hooke at the end. 1622Bacon Hen. VII 137 Thinking, that the King (what with his Baits, and what with his Nets) would draw them all vnto him,..diuers came away by the Thred, sometimes one, and sometimes another.
2. a. Each of the lengths of yarn which form the warp and woof of a woven fabric; hence, any one of these as an ultimate constituent of such a fabric, and thus of one's clothing; the least part of one's dress; esp. in the phrase not a (one) dry thread on one. Also fig.
c1200Vices & Virt. 39 Ðar behoued to maniȝe þreades ær hit bie full wroht. c1374Chaucer Boeth. i. pr. i. 2 (Camb. MS.) Hyr clothes weeren maked of riht delye thredes. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 316 Ilche þreed of siche cloþis þat ben tuo wast & too costliche. 1382― Gen. xiv. 23 Fro a threed of the weeft vnto a garter of an hoos I shal not take of alle thingis that ben thin. 1470–85Malory Arthur xv. ii. 699 It shalle not lye in your power nor to perysshe me as moche as a threde. a1500Flower & Leaf 370 The ladies ne the knightes nade o threed Drie on them. 1550Veron Godly Sayings (1846) 141 Howe can you..come to this roial feast and banket not having one thrid of this wedding rayment..upon you? 1600Hakluyt Voy. III. 83 Hee that had fiue or sixe shifts of apparell had scarce one drie threed to his backe. 1610Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 3. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. iii. ii, Your threescore minutes Were at the last thred. 1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. III. 13/2, I take a veil made of the finest threds..: this I divide into..squares..by some bigger threds parallel to each other. 1815Scott Guy M. xl, There will no be a dry thread amang us or we get the cargo out. 1844G. Dodd Textile M. vi. 201 Plain silks, as well as most woven fabrics, consist of threads crossing each other at right angles. 1879Jefferies Wild Life in S.C. 133 The costume is true to a thread. 1908in Westm. Gaz. 1 Apr. 12/1 Till April's dead, change not a thread.
b. bare or worn to the thread, etc. = threadbare.
1483–4Act. 1 Rich. III, c. 8 Preamble, Suche course Clothes, beyng bare of threde. 1615Chapman Odyss. xvii. 254 His garments to a thred All bare, and burn'd. 1882Stevenson New Arab. Nts. i. 23 The furniture was scanty, and the coverings worn to the thread.
c. thread and thrum, each length of the warp-yarn, and the tuft where it is fastened to the loom; hence fig. the whole of anything; good and bad together. Also, threads and thrums, ends of warp threads, miscellaneous scraps or waste fragments.
1590Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 291 O Fates! come, come: Cut thred and thrum. 1648Herrick Hesper., Upon some Women, Learne of me what woman is. Something made of thred and thrumme; A meere botch of all and some. 1654Gataker Disc. Apol. 93 By those thrums and threds that he hath pickt and puld out of it.., the Reader may judge of the whole. 1833Carlyle Diderot in Misc. Ess. (1872) V. 2 The confused and ravelled mass of threads and thrums, ycleped Memoirs.
d. A lineal measure of yarn: the length of a coil of the reel, varying in amount according to the material, and also with the locality (see quots.).
1662Act 14 Chas. II, c. 5 §6 Every Reel staff shall containe fourteen Leas and every Lea fourty threads. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. vi. 288/2 A knot is a Hundred Threds round the Reel. 1696Phillips (ed. 5) s.v. Lea, Every Lea of Yarn at Kidderminster shall contain 200 Threds reel'd on a Reel four yards about. a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Lea, forty threads of hemp-yarn. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Thread,..a yarn-measure, containing in cotton-yarn 54 inches; in linen-yarn 90 inches; in worsted yarn 35 inches. On the Continent 85½ Ermland inches make one thread. 1875Temple & Sheldon Hist. Northfield, Mass. 161 A run of yarn consisted of twenty knots, a knot was composed of forty threads, and a thread was seventy-four inches in length, or once round the reel.
e. fig. A single element interwoven with others in any composite fabric, mental, moral, social, political, or the like.
1836J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. vii. (1852) 190 In this, as in almost all theories..there is indeed a thread of truth. 1851Helps Comp. Solit. xiii. (1874) 248 The threads of our poor human affairs..might yet be interwoven harmoniously with the great cords of love and duty. 1859Kingsley Misc. (1860) II. ii. 29 The only threads of light in the dark web of his history are clerical and theurgic. 1879Stainer Music of Bible 168 The pleasure which accrues to a trained musician when he grasps in his mind many threads of delicious melody, and traces the composer's genius in interlacing them.
f. pl. Clothes. slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
1926Maines & Grant Wise-Crack Dict. 11/2 New set of threads, new suit of clothes. 1959R. Bloch Blood Runs Cold (1963) 163 Mitch got into some decent threads—he had this one blue suit and he wore a white shirt and a tie too. 1972M. J. Bosse Incident at Naha ii. 64 My friends, who grooved the way I did... I mean, love beads, wild threads, granny glasses..and a bit of grass. 1978J. Gardner Dancing Dodo xxiii. 175 Load it and get in on under that set of executive threads.
3. a. Without a, as name of the substance of which the above-mentioned things are composed, or of these things taken in the mass; woollen, silk, linen, cotton, or other fibre, or fine-drawn metal, spun into material for weaving, knitting, sewing, or fastening: often with distinctive word, as gold thread or silk thread; sometimes spec. flaxen or linen thread as distinct from silk or cotton; in pl., kinds of thread.
c1386Chaucer Monk's T. 485 Nettes of gold threed hadde he greet plentee. c1400Rom. Rose 7369 A large coverechief of threde She wrapped alle aboute hir hede. c1400Laud Troy Bk. 6775 Of his hors fel that kynge, As it were a clewe of thred. c1400Lybeaus Disc. (Kaluza) 940 As selke þrede. 1529More Dyaloge ii. x. Wks. 195/1 He thankinge the monke for the thrid, desired him to teach him how he should knit it. 1545Rates of Customs c vij b, Threde called wotenall threde. 1552–3Inv. Ch. Goods, Staffs. in Ann. Lichfield (1863) IV. 48, ij vestements, one of grene chamblet, another of threde. 1576in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 264 For a quartern of black threede. 1584Ibid. 370 For iii li. of thrid of all cullers. 1588Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 320 They take out of this plant..a kinde of thride or yarne. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. i. (S.T.S.) I. 94 Wt threid of silke..al the partes of the sarke..thay sewit. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 184 They have also thread from another tree called Langir. 1806Gazetteer Scotl. (ed. 2) 555/2 The principal manufacture is that of linen yarn, thread, and brown linens. 1887Daily News 19 Oct. 2/8 Linens and threads maintain the improvement lately reported.
†b. fig. The material or ‘fibre’ of which anything is composed; ‘texture’, quality, nature. Obs.
1632Sanderson Serm. 268 Hypocrisie is spunne of a fine threed, and is not easily discerneable. 1635A. Stafford Fem. Glory (1869) 134 Of the same pure thred with the rest of her life. 1659O. Walker Instruct. Oratory 19 That the Oration may seem Continuous and all of one thread. 1718Ockley Saracens (1848) II. Introd. 24 The language must be all of the same thread. 1746Francis tr. Hor., Sat. ii. iv. 14 The Matter nice, and wrought of subtle Thread.
4. a. Something having the slenderness or fineness of a thread: e.g. a fine ligament, an animal or vegetable fibre, a hair, a filament of a cobweb or of the byssus of a shell-fish.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xi. (Bodl. MS.), Þe spiþer..drawiþ and bringeþ ofte aȝen his þrede þwarte ouer fro pointe to pointe. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 263 Þer is a þreed vndir sum mannes tunge þat he mai not put out his tunge as he schulde, & also it lettiþ him to speke. 1541R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 A iij b, A spyder threde. 1686Goad Celest. Bodies i. ii. 2 A Fog which sometimes casts it self into Threds or Ropes, and..furls up into Gossamere. 1693Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. II. 57 Producing the least Thread of a capilar Root. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VII. 45 These threads, which are usually called the beard of the muscle. 1776Withering Brit. Plants (1796) I. 365 The Seeds, with the elastic threads to which they are attached. Ibid. IV. 129 Threads when dry uniting into stiff sharp points. Conferva amphibia.
b. A ‘string’ of any viscid substance; a thin continuous stream of liquid, sand, etc.; a narrow strip of space; a fine line or streak of colour or light; a ‘thin’ continuity of sound; spec. in glassmaking: see quot. 1832.
1593Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 126 Why breake not thunder bolts through the Clowdes in steade of thrids of raine? 1626Bacon Sylva §24 Stillicides of Water..will Draw themselues into a small thred. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 121 What a long thread of sand passes the neck-hole of an hour⁓glass in that same time. 1710J. Clarke Rohault's Nat. Phil. (1729) I. 22 If it be a fat Liquor, it will go on in a long Thread, whose Parts are uninterrupted. 1830Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Northumb., etc. I. 186 Sandstone roofs [in coal-mines] are subject to fissures of various sizes and extent, called threads and gullets by the colliers. 1832G. R. Porter Porcelain & Gl. 248 The name of threads is usually given to fibrous appearances in the body of the glass, which result from the vitrification of clay. 1837P. Keith Bot. Lex. 56 The infusions were absorbed by the roots, and carried up to the very summit of the stem, leaving..traces of their ascent in the form of longitudinal streaks or threads. 1868Gladstone Juv. Mundi xi. (1869) 432 The Trojan elders, whose volubility, and their shrill thread of voice, Homer compares to the chirp of grasshoppers. 1884J.H. Hollowell in Congregationalist June 498 The pale Aare..winds its white thread through the valley. 1899Westm. Gaz. 6 Apr. 2/1 Using her pleasant thread of voice agreeably. 1904Daily Chron. 17 Oct. 8/1 The amazing thing is that so much good work should be done in such a mere thread of space. 1907Outlook 16 Nov. 661/1 A little thread of unfrozen water which tinkles feebly over the rocks.
c. Applied to the apparent action of a feeble pulse: see quot., and cf. thread-like b. thready 4.
1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 49 A mere tightened thread being felt under the finger.
d. A degree of stickiness reached in boiling clarified syrup for confectionery: see quot.
1862J. Thomas How to mix Drinks 104 There are nine essential points, or degrees, in boiling sugar. They are called Small Thread, Large Thread, Little Pearl, Large Pearl [etc.]. Ibid., The sugar forms a fine thread which will break at a short distance... This is termed the ‘Small Thread’. Ibid., A somewhat longer string will be drawn. This is termed the ‘Large Thread’. 1883R. Haldane Workshop Receipts Ser. ii. 152/1.
5. transf. The spiral ridge winding round the shank of a screw; also, each complete turn of this; a similar ridge round the inside of a cylindrical hole, as in a nut or a screwhole.
1674Petty Disc. Dupl. Proportion 116 The Force must be increased at every Turn or Thred of a Screw-Press. 1677[see tap n.1 4]. 1733Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. xxiv. 402 Taper Screws made with Iron, having very deep Threads, whereby they hold fast when screw'd into Wood. 1829Nat. Philos I. Mechanics ii. xi. 48 (U.K.S.) Hunter's screw..gives an indefinitely slow motion, without requiring a very exquisitely fine thread. 1875[see tap n.1 4]. 1902Marshall Metal Tools 63 For pipes and tubes a special thread termed a gas thread is employed. 1938[see self-tapping ppl. a.]. 1972How Things Work III. 168 For the majority of screwed work a tap is used for internal threading (Fig. 3, showing the thread being cut in a nut) and a die head is used for external threading. 1977Reader's Digest Bk. Do-It-Yourself Skills & Techniques vi. 175/2 As soon as the tap starts to cut, stop pressing down, and let the tap screw itself into the hole, cutting a thread as it goes.
II.
6. fig. Something figured as being spun or continuously drawn out like a thread. a. The continued course of life, represented in classical mythology as a thread which is spun and cut off by the Fates.
1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 8 Wil..Attropos..My fatal threed a sundyr smyte. Ibid. 43 Or than deth the threed untwyne Of oure fatal web. 1563Mirr. Mag., Induct. xliii, His vitall threde. 1596Spenser F.Q. iv. ii. 48 Sad Clotho held the rocke, the whiles the thrid By griesly Lachesis was spun with paine, That cruell Atropos eftsoones undid, With cursed knife cutting the twist in twaine. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §42 For my owne part, I would not..beginne againe the thred of my dayes. 1696Tate & Br. Ps. xc. 10 So soon the slender Thread is cut. 1704Swift Batt. Bks. ⁋25 Her Son..to whom the Fates had assign'd a very short Thred. 1829Scott Anne of G. xvii, Why I should spare my own almost exhausted thread of life. 1846H. G. Robinson Odes of Horace ii. iii, While..the three Sisters' sable thread Allows you still the power. 1907Dillon in Contemp. Rev. Nov. 705 So long as three such Parcae have the threads of Macedonia in their hands.
b. In various other applications: see quots.
c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxxxv. ii, Wilt thou of thy wrathfull rage Draw the threed from age to age? 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. i. 19 He draweth out the thred of his verbositie finer then the staple of his argument. 1608D. T[uvil] Ess. Pol. & Mor. 88 b, I will stretch the thred of my subiect to a further length. 1645City Alarum 19 Consider first what a thred of time the German wars have spun out. 1670Eachard Cont. Clergy 32 Fearing he should break the thread of your patience, he concludes. 1719De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. vii. 159, I cut the thread of all his comforts, and shortened his days. 1736Butler Anal. ii. vii. 362 To make up a continued thread of history of the length of between three and four thousand years. a1774Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 664 Drawing out the threads of argumentation, preventing them from entangling.
7. A thread in various mythological or legendary tales (esp. that of Theseus in the Cretan Labyrinth) is mentioned as the means of finding the way through a labyrinth or maze: hence in many figurative applications: That which guides through a maze, perplexity, difficulty, or intricate investigation: cf. clew n.1 3, clue n. 2.
1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 312 Neither Ariadnes thrid, nor Sibillas bough, nor Medeas seede, may remedy thy griefe. 1582T. Watson Centurie of Loue lv, My guiding thrid by Reason spunne. 1589Pasquil's Return A iij, Hauing gotten this thred by the end, I neuer left winding til I came to the paper that made the bottom. c1614Sir W. Mure Dido & æneas i. 6 Path'd wayes I trace, as Theseus in his neid, Conducted by a loyal virgin's threid. 1672Sterry Freed. Will (1675) C iij, What a golden-thread of Harmony guides us through the nature of things! 1711W. King tr. Naude's Ref. Politics i. 11 Having in my hand that thread of knowledge, which might extricate me thence.
8. That which connects the successive points in anything, esp. a narrative, train of thought, or the like; the sequence of events or ideas continuing through the whole course of anything; train. Esp. in phr. to pick (or take) up the thread(s) (of), to continue (with) after an interruption or separation; spec. to resume an interrupted friendship; to lose the thread, to cease to follow the sense of what is being said.
1642Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 23 If one read skippingly and by snatches, and not take the threed of the story along, it must needs puzzle and distract the memory. 1687Dryden Hind & P. iii. 278 The matron..then Resumed the thrid of her discourse again. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. Introd. 64 After a Pause, the grave Companion resumes his Thread,..‘Well, but to go on with my Story’. 1782F. Burney Diary Dec., We laughed so violently..that he could not recover the thread of his harangue. 1844Thirlwall Greece VIII. lxii. 201 We resume the thread of Grecian history. 1881R. L. Stevenson Virginibus Puerisque 137 We shall..take up again the thread of our enjoyment in the same spirit as we let it fall. 1907G. B. Shaw John Bull's Other Island iv. 95 Eighteen years is a devilish long time, Nora. Now if it had been eighteen minutes, or even eighteen months, we should be able to pick up the interrupted thread, and chatter like two magpies. 1924A. Christie Poirot Investigates v. 125 Philip Ridgeway narrated the circumstances leading to the disappearance of the bonds... When he had finished, Poirot took up the thread with a question. 1929H. J. Laski in Holmes-Laski Lett. (1953) II. 1169, I don't, I suppose, see him more than once in two years; but I always find that we can take up the threads and plunge in medias res without any difficulty. 1944E. S. Gardner D.A. calls Turn (1947) xi. 101 If it were true, he'd make some sort of a financial adjustment, but could hardly be expected to pick up the thread of a life where it had been broken ten years ago. 1956A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Attitudes ii. i. 215 He stopped and, for a moment, he appeared to have lost the thread of his remarks. 1980D. Lodge How Far can you Go? vi. 226 Dennis and Angela picked up the threads of their lives together,..a little chastened, but both hugely relieved. 1981A. Schlee Rhine Journey xi. 143 He chose..to appear to have lost the thread of the discussion and looked from one to another with a kind of cautious bewilderment.
9. Some continuous or persistent feature which runs through the pattern of anything, or combines with other features to form a pattern or texture.
1685Mrs. Evelyn Let. in E.'s Diary (1827) IV. 440 A thred of piety accompanyed all her actions. 1823Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Some Sonn. of Sydney, An historical thread runs through [Sydney's Sonnets]. 1875Jowett Plato, Introd. Phaedrus (ed. 2) II. 86 The continuous thread which appears and reappears throughout his rhetoric. 1892Symonds Michel Angelo (1899) I. vii. vii. 343 A pleasant thread runs through Michel Angelo's correspondence.
†10. A (fine) dividing line or boundary line. to cut (to) a thread (between), to strike the exact line of division, to ‘draw the line’. Obs.
13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1771 Þat prynce of pris depresed hym so þikke, Nurned hym so neȝe þe þred, þat nede hym bi-houed, Oþer lach þer hir luf, oþir lodly re-fuse. 1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 28 To twine vp this threde of deuision [the division of plants into kinds] vpon some bottome. c1591W. Davies in Pollen Acts Eng. Mart. (1891) 131 It was come to that now, that a thread divided my life and death. 1598J. Manwood Lawes Forest xx. §11 (1615) 180 Within the lists or bounds of the Forest, or within the threed (as they call it) of the Forest. 1647Ward Simp. Cobler (1843) 52 To cut an exquisite thred between Kings Prerogatives, and Subjects Liberties. 1650B. Discolliminium 19, I know no harder task..than..to cut a just thread between Gods Providence, and Mans Improvidence. 1692R. L'Estrange Fables ccccxvi. 393 The Art of Pleasing is..the Skill of Cutting to a Thrid, betwixt Flattery and Ill Manners.
11. The central line of the current of a stream, esp. as a boundary line. [Rendering med.L. filum aquæ: cf. F. fil de l'eau.]
1691Blount's Law Dict., Filum Aquæ is the Thread or Middle of the Stream, where a River parts Two Lordships. [17..tr. Commission to ordain Ways to Hull, The Jurors say that from the thread of the Water of Hull [1302 de filo aque de Hull] there is a certain way ordained next Alexander Cook's Mill. 17..tr. Charter 25 Hen. VI (1447) All lands between the said ditch as far as the middle thread of the water of Humbre [usque medium fili acque de Humber]. ]1815J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 110 One part of a river is generally observed to flow with much greater velocity than any other part, and is therefore called the thread or channel of the river, which is very rarely in the middle, or at any regular distance from the banks. 1848Wharton Law Dict. 255. 1886 H. Austin Farm Law 135 (Cent. Dict.).
12. That by which something is suspended, or upon which things hang. to hang by (on, upon) a thread, to be in a precarious condition. Often with reference to the legend of Damocles.
[c888: see sense 1.] 1538Starkey England i. iv. 121 But thys hangyth only apon the wyl of the prynce—a veray weke thred in such a case. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 63 b, There hangeth assuredly a wounderfull daunger ouer you, as a sworde dependynge ouer your neckes by a twhyne threde. 1607H. Raymond Ode in Farr S.P. Jas. I (1848) 360 Life, ioy, and euery pleasant weede, Scarce hangeth by a slender threede. 1804Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 19 My evening prospects now hang on the slender thread of a single life. 1869J. Martineau Ess. II. 94 Hair-bridges, suspending you by a thread of logic.
13. In reference to other functions of a thread; esp. as a means of connecting or holding together.
Sometimes with mixture of sense 6 or 7.
1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxvii, She kept in her hands the thread of many a political intrigue. 1844A. W. Welby Poems (1867) 58 She was the golden thread that bound us In one bright chain together here. 1849Robertson Serm. Ser. i. xv. (1866) 260 A thread runs through all true acts stringing them together. 1861Tulloch Eng. Purit. i. 84 So was snapped the last feeble thread of negotiation. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 123 Many threads join together in one the love and dialectic of the Phædrus. 1904Jessie Weston in Romania XXXIII. 334 note, A thread uniting all the different parts of our legend.
14. attrib. and Comb.
a. General. (a) Simple attrib., ‘of thread’, as threadball, thread-end, thread-mill, thread-spool, etc. (b) in sense ‘made of linen or cotton thread’ = threaden, as thread bodice, thread girdle, thread glove, thread net, thread point, thread ribbon, thread shoe, thread stocking, etc. (often hyphened). (c) Objective and obj. genitive, as thread-maker, thread-manufacturer, thread-spinner, thread-twister, thread-winder, etc.; thread-cutting, thread-forming, thread-making, thread-spinning, thread-twisting, thread-winding, etc. ns. and adjs.; thread-wise adv.; similative, parasynthetic, etc., as thread-line; thread-lettered, thread-shaped adjs.
1896G. B. Shaw Our Theatres in Nineties (1932) II. 252 Peer's wild run through the night over the charred heath, stumbling over the *threadballs and broken straws. 1918G. Frankau One of Them xvi. 123 How the three crones must laugh as they entwine Cat's-cradle-wise our mortal threadball's tangle.
c1665in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 275 A black *thread bodice.
1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Thread-cutting machine..for cutting threads in bolts, etc.
1900W. H. Hudson Nat. Downland 53 Slender dry bents standing out like pale yellow *thread-ends.
1927T. Woodhouse Artif. Silk 34 The tanks which supply the solution to the *thread-forming apparatus.
a1604Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1633) 80 A linnen or *threed Girdle.
1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 201 Fast cotton dyeing for Lisle *thread gloves. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Lisle-gloves, fine thread gloves.
1873Routledge's Yug. Gentl. Mag. Jan. 83/2 The specific name filigrammaria, or *thread-lettered.
1890J. P. Ballard Among Moths & Butterfl. 122 The quickness of the parting and closing of this narrow *thread-line.
1695J. Edwards Perfect. Script. 237 Where had they thread, when the *thread-makers trade was not invented?
1878J. Watson (title) Art of Spinning and *Thread-Making.
1895Zangwill Master i. vii, A *thread-net confined her hair.
1635Voy. Foxe & James (Hakl. Soc.) I. 42 He gave every one of them a *Threed point [= needle].
c1645Howell Lett. (1650) II. 34 Calicoes, *threed-ribbands, and such polldavy ware.
1713Lond. Gaz. No. 5173/4 A *Thread-Sattin Night-Gown, striped red and white.
1760Lee Bot. (1778) 56 An amentaceous aggregate Flower has a Filiform, *Thread-shaped Receptacle.
1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 184 Strings which they pull out to make..*thread shooes after the Spanish manner.
1892‘Mark Twain’ Amer. Claimant x. 102 Today, the work of..the 2,000,000 *thread-spinners [women] is done by 1,000 girls.
1870Emerson Soc. & Solit. Wks. (Bohn) III. 42 Out of blocks, *thread-spools, cards, and checkers, he [the child] will build his pyramid.
c1665in Verney Mem. II. 275 Stirrup *thredd stockins. 1697tr. C'tess D'Aunoy's Trav. (1706) 3 They..presented me with Gloves, and Thread-Stockings, most delicately knit. 1711–12Swift Jrnl. to Stella 9 Jan., I hide my purse in my thread stocking between the bed's head and the wainscot.
1725Lond. Gaz. No. 6384/7 Gabriel Beale,..*Thread-Twister.
1877Knight Dict. Mech. 2560 *Thread-winding Guide..Thread-winding Machine.
1918Mrs. Belloc Lowndes Out of the War? xx. 255 The narrow, winding road which ran *thread-wise on the cliffs.
b. Special Combs.: thread-animalcule, a vibrionine animalcule; thread bag Jamaica, a small cloth bag, tied or drawn closed with a thread or string; thread belay Mountaineering, a belay in which the rope or sling is passed through a hole in the rock before being secured again to the climber; thread-board, in a ringframe, a board placed over the spindles to hold the thread-guides; thread-carrier, a guide through which the yarn passes in the knitting-machine (Knight Dict. Mech. 1877); thread-cell, (a) a stinging cell in cœlenterates; a nematocyst; (b) a spermatozoon (Cent. Dict.); thread clips (see quot. 1964); also attrib. in sing.; thread-counter, a magnifying-glass used in counting the threads within a given space in a texture; thread-cutter, (a) a small blade attached to a sewing-machine or the like for severing a sewing-thread; (b) a tool or machine for cutting screw-threads; thread-drawing, the process of ornamenting a textile fabric by drawing out some of the threads so as to form a pattern; cf. drawn-work; thread-feather: see quot; thread-fin = thread-fish, (a); thread-finisher, a machine by which a smooth glossy surface is given to thread (Knight, 1877); thread-fish, (a) a polynemoid fish; (b) the West Indian cobbler-fish, Blepharis crinitus; (c) the cutlass-fish or silvery hair-tail, Trichiurus lepturus; thread-flower, (a) a name for plants of the genus Poinciana, N.O. Leguminosæ, section Cæsalpinieæ, so called from their long thread-like stamens; (b) a plant of the S. American genus Nematanthus, N.O. Gesneraceæ, of climbing shrubs, bearing crimson flowers pendent on long stalks; thread-foot, a name of the herb Podostemon ceratophyllus, in reference to its finely-divided linear leaves; thread-frame, a machine in which linen or cotton yarn is doubled and twisted into thread; thread-gauge, a gauge for ascertaining the number of turns to the inch in, or the accuracy of, a screw-thread (Knight, 1877); thread-guide, a device in a sewing- or spinning-machine for directing the thread (ibid.); thread-herring, popular name of (a) Dorosoma cepedianum, also called the mud-shad or gizzard-shad (local, U.S.); (b) a clupeoid fish, Opisthonema thrissa, of the Atlantic coast of N. America, in which the last ray of the dorsal fin is thread-like; thread-indicator, a device for the accurate measurement of plant-growth, in which a thread attached to the plant passes over a pulley and actuates a registering apparatus; thread-leaved a., having narrow filiform leaves; threadman, a maker or seller of thread; thread-mark, a distinguishing mark consisting of a highly coloured thread, incorporated in bank-note paper to prevent counterfeiting by photography; thread-mill, a factory actuated by water or steam power in which thread is made; thread-moss, a moss of the genus Bryum or one of its allies; thread-oiler, an oil vessel through which the thread was conducted in some sewing machines (Knight, 1877); thread-petalled a., having filiform petals; thread-plant, any plant from which fibre for thread-making is obtained (Ogilvie, 1882); thread rush, Juncus filiformis; thread-sister [sister 7 d], the stool on which the thread-lace pillow is placed; thread-tangle, the seaweed Chorda filum, having long cylindrical fronds; sea-laces; thread-waxer: see quot.; thread-wire, a wire thread-guide in a spinning-machine; thread-woman: see threadman; thread-work, (a) a fabric consisting of or resembling threads; ornamental work formed of threads, lace-work; drawn thread work: see drawn-work; (b) pl. a thread-making establishment; thread-worn a., worn to the thread, threadbare; also, of a screw, having a worn thread. See also threadbare, -lace, etc.
1924M. W. Beckwith Jamaica Anansi Stories 35 An' Goat cut her up an' put her in his *tread-bag. 1953R. Mais Hills were Joyful Together ii. xii. 226 Her money gone! Somebody had robbed her while she was asleep. She carried it in a threadbag tied with a string around her neck.
1935Jrnl. Fell & Rock Climbing Club X. 236 (caption) *Thread belay. 1941C. F. Kirkus Let's go Climbing iv. 54 Here you use a thread belay, passing a loop of your rope through a muddy hole behind a chockstone..and tying it round the stone or on to your waist line. 1965A. Blackshaw Mountaineering viii. 225 Because a thread belay with the main climbing rope is usually very awkward and complicated..slings are normally used.
1892J. Nasmith Cotton Spinning ix. 328 The yarn is taken through the wire eyes fixed in hinged boards known as ‘*thread boards’.
1859Huxley Oceanic Hydrozoa 82 The distal division remains short, and acquires only small *thread-cells. 1871Allman Monogr. Gymnoblastic Hydroids I. p. xiv, Thread-cells, peculiar bodies consisting of a containing capsule and contained filament destined for urtication.
1958Times 27 Dec. 4/1 *Threadclip scissors..are employed in the weaving trade for snipping loose ends during the weaving process. 1964McCall's Sewing v. 62/2 Thread clips, a real time-saving little clipper that can be used effectively for snipping threads and making the small clips needed for marking or for curved seams. It has one ring which fits over the little finger, and is operated by squeezing with the palm of the hand.
1911*Thread-counter [see texture-counter s.v. texture n. 7].
1877Knight Dict. Mech., *Thread-cutter, a small blade attached to a thimble, to a thread-stand, or to a sewing-machine, to cut off a sewing-thread.
1872Coues N. Amer. Birds 4 Filoplumes (filoplumæ), or *thread⁓feathers..have an extremely slender, almost invisible, stem.
1896Jordan & Evermann Check-List Fishes 335 Polynemidæ. The *Threadfins. 1933Bulletin (Sydney) 5 Apr. 27/3 Thread⁓fins..rarely extend southward to the coast of N.S. Wales. 1979Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. c–5/1 He was credited with introducing threadfin shad as a forage fish for bass.
1885W. T. Hornaday 2 Yrs. in Jungle xxxii. 386 All but three were *thread fishes, a stange species of Polynemus..distinguished by the..thread-like filaments..attached to the pectoral fins.
1884Miller Plant-n., Crimson *Thread-flower, Poinciana (Cæsalpinia) Gilliesii.
Ibid., *Thread-foot, Podostemon ceratophyllus.
1839Ure Dict. Arts, etc. 1239 The doubling and twisting of cotton or linen yarn into a compact thread..is performed by..the *thread-frame.
1924Ld. Ronaldshay India xiii. 159 The supply from abroad of such things as bobbins, plane tree-rollers..and porcelain *thread-guides was cut off. 1964McCall's Sewing v. 69/2 On most machines, the last thread guide will indicate the direction in which the thread must enter the needle.
1888Goode Amer. Fishes 409 In the Chesapeake region it is known as the ‘Mud-Shad’,..in North Carolina as the ‘Hairy-back’ or the ‘*Thread Herring’.
1875Bennett & Dyer Sachs' Bot. 747 The *Thread-indicator..in which..a horizontal needle..moves freely over a graduated scale as the end of the thread which is fixed to the plant rises with its growth.
1884Miller Plant-n., Drosera filiformis, *Thread-leaved Sun-dew.
1663Canterbury Marriage Licences (MS.), Stephen Ward of Maidstone, *thredman. 1711Lond. Gaz. No. 4932/4 Benjamin Cutlove, of London, Threadman.
1799Hull Advertiser 23 Feb. 3/2 A..fire broke out..which entirely consumed nine *thread-mills. 1907Daily Chron. 2 Oct. 6/6 Exciting scenes..in connection with the Paisley thread mill strike.
1864M. G. Campbell in Intell. Observ. No. 33. 155 The *thread-mosses are an interesting and numerous tribe.
1899Daily News 7 Dec. 11/1 Spidery kinds [of chrysanthemums] include the *thread-petalled Mrs. Carter.
1861Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. V. 291 *Thread Rush, or Slender Rush..is remarkable for its thread-like stems.
1721C. King Brit. Merch. I. 285 *Thred Sisters.
1844Stephens Bk. Farm II. 416 The Chorda filum, or *thread-tangle.
1877Knight Dict. Mech., *Thread-waxer, a bowl of heated shoemaker's wax, through which the thread is conducted in sewing-machines for boots, shoes, and leather.
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 398 When either of the threads break, the *thread-wire through which it passes falls down.
1753World No. 4. ⁋5 ‘The happiest in the world, madam’, returned the *thread⁓woman.
1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) II. viii. ix. 97 The deftly-woven *threadwork of the tissues. 1861Lytton Str. Story (1862) II. 185 Pillows edged with the thread-work of Louvain. 1906Daily Chron. 10 May 9/4 Mill girls employed in the thread works joined this organisation.
1888Dublin Rev. July 69 The subject..is *threadworn.
▪ II. thread, v.|θrɛd|
Forms: 4–6 threde, 6 threede, 6–7 thred, 7 threed, 7– thread; also 6– thrid. Pa. tense and pple. threaded; also 9 (arch.) thrid (pa. pple. thridden).
[f. thread n.: independently in various senses.
The spelling thrid is still quite common in some of the transf. and fig. uses.]
1. a. trans. To pass one end of a thread through the eye of (a needle) in order to use it in sewing; to furnish (a needle) with a thread; also, to treat (any perforated object) in the same way (as in quot. 1607).
a1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 99 A sylvre nedle forth I droughe,..And gan this nedle threde anon. 1530Palsgr. 755/2, I threde a nedell to sowe with, je enfile. 1570Levins Manip. 52/29 To Threede, acum filo inducere. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 307 Thread all the other rings with the loose end of the rope. 1676C. Hatton in H. Corr. (Camden) 124 Good for nothing but to sit in ladyes chambers and thred their needles. 1709–10Steele Tatler No. 141 ⁋2 The Girl can scarce thread a Needle. 1840Haliburton Letter Bag i. 14 He threaded my needle for me.
b. transf. To cause (something) to pass through something else, as a thread through the eye of a needle.
1851Mantell Petrifact. iii. §7. 341 The graphic simile..that the Plesiosaurus might be compared to a serpent threaded through the shell of a turtle. 1894H. H. Gardener Unoff. Patriot 27 Nature built these mountains, and threaded that little river over the stones. 1901Waterhouse Conduit Wiring 3 Size of Conductors which can be threaded through Simplex Conduits. 1902Westm. Gaz. 28 Apr. 5/2 The [foot-]ball was..threaded in and out among the Southampton players.
c. fig. To pass through, make a hole through, penetrate, pierce.
1670Pettus Fodinæ Reg. 2 When the Miners by these Shafts or Adits do strike or threed a Vein of any Metal. 1896Pall Mall Mag. May 12 Tom out here will have leave to thrid you with bullets. 1899B. Capes Lady of Darkness xvi, Thridding Ned's brain as they passed with a receding sound like that made by pebbles hopping over ice.
d. Of a man: to have sexual intercourse with (a woman). slang.
[1903Farmer & Henley Slang VII. 109/1 To thread the needle, to possess a woman.] 1958B. Behan Borstal Boy i. 15 Sheila would be sorry she did not let me thread her, the night we walked the canal.
2. a. To fix (anything) upon a string or wire that passes through it; esp. to connect (a number of things) by passing a thread through each, to string together on or as on a thread. Also fig.
1633G. Herbert Temple, Sunday v, The Sundaies of mans life, Thredded together on times string. 1650Earl of Monmouth tr. Senault's Man bec. Guilty Ep. Ded., If you will adde Charity enough..to pardon the faults escaped in the Presse, I shall thread it to the rest of my Obligations. a1668Davenant Song Wks. (1673) 321 Thy Teares to Thrid instead of Pearle, On Bracelets of thy Hair. 1705F. Hauksbee in Phil. Trans. XXIV. 2166 Amber..beads, about the bigness of small Nutmegs, and Threaded. 1809Scott Let. 14 Sept., The sight of our beautiful mountains and lakes..[has] set me to threading verses together. 1867F. Francis Angling vii. (1880) 268 Threading the bait upon the hook. 1874Spurgeon Treas. David Ps. ciii. 3 He selects a few of the choicest pearls.., threads them on the string of memory. Mod. The girl was threading beads on a string of catgut.
b. To make or embellish with or as with things strung on or fastened together by a thread.
1796M. Robinson Angelina I. 230 No blithesome groups, thridding the roseate wreath, Or tripping in fantastic measures by. 1877S. Lanier Tampa Robins 11, I Will..thrid the heavenly orange-tree With orbits bright of minstrelsy.
3. fig. To run or pass like a continuous thread through the whole length or course of; to pervade.
1830Examiner 485/2 The melody which threads the first duet. 1858Eclectic Rev. Ser. vi. III. 413 The burr of which [consonants]..thridding the open music of the vowel-sounds. 1871Earle Philol. Eng. Tongue 259 One spirit and purpose threads the whole, and gives a sort of unity. 1905Westm. Gaz. 13 Oct. 1/3 A haunting mystical vision that always threaded my slumbers.
b. intr. for refl. To connect itself as by a thread.
a1848R. W. Hamilton Rew. & Punishm. ii. (1853) 78 It has been seen how thought can thrid with thought, and feeling flow into feeling.
4. a. trans. To make one's way through (a narrow place, a passage presenting difficulties or obstacles, a forest, a crowd, or the like); to pass skilfully through the intricacies or difficulties of. to thread out, to pick out and follow, to trace (a path).
1593Shakes. Rich. II, v. v. 17 It is as hard to come, as for a Camell To thred the posterne of a Needles eye. 1607― Cor. iii. i. 127 They would not thred the Gates. a1619Fletcher Bonduca iv. ii, See where he thrids the thickets. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Vanitie i, The fleet Astronomer can bore, And thred the spheres with his quick-piercing Minde. 1751Smollett Per. Pic. xcvi. (1779) IV. 175 A captain of the guards, who..had threaded every station in their community. 1809Malkin Gil Blas i. vi. ⁋3, I threaded all the windings of this new labyrinth. 1832Lytton Eugene A. iv. x, Events thicken, and the maze is nearly thridden. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola i, A labyrinth of narrow streets..rarely threaded by the stranger. 1866D. Greenwell Ess. 219 A land intersected and thridden by the channels of benevolence.
b. to thread one's way, course, etc. in same sense.
1825Coleridge Aids Refl. (1848) I. 323 He..thrids his way through the odorous and flowering thickets into open spots of greenery. 1868E. Edwards Ralegh I. x. 179 He..proceeded to thread his course amidst the tortuous..channels. 1887Bowen æneid ii. 634, I..through foemen and flames, by the goddess's grace Thrid my way.
c. intr. = b.
1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 5 The other [stream]..threds through the middle of the Town. 1872Jenkinson Guide Eng. Lakes (1879) 68 Bend to the left..and thread in an up-and-down course amongst the bare, rugged rocks. 1893Stevenson Catriona xi. 119, I..threaded through the midst of it [the wood], and returned to the west selvage. Ibid. xxii. 260 We thrid all the way among shoals.
†d. trans. to thread the difference: to trace out or follow the narrow dividing line. Obs. rare.
1627Wren Serm. at Whitehall 17 Feb. 15 The Epidemiall prophanation of our times, that will thrid you a difference now betwixt this feare and perfect worship.
5. intr. To move in a thread-like course or manner; to flow in a slender stream; to creep, twine, wind.
1611,1626[see threading vbl. n.]. a1879T. Ormond in Mod. Sc. Poets II. 356 Gracefully the ivy green Did round the craprods thread.
6. a. trans. To weave as a thread into the texture of something; to interweave.
1853Rock Ch. of Fathers III. ii. 25 These old ‘tropes’..used to be twined and threaded into the words of the daily service.
b. pass. To be penetrated, permeated, or interspersed as with threads.
1861D. Greenwell Poems 215 The thrice refined gold Was thrid with baser clay. 1875― Liber Human. 108 The elements which, mixed and threaded with whatever imaginable alloy, go to make up man's moral nature. 1891Zangwill Bachelor's Club 21 His tawny hair, too, began to be threaded with silver.
†7. To bring on or induce gradually, as by the gentle drawing of a thread or line; to lead on. Obs.
1709Wodrow Corr. (1842) I. 48 Our corruptions, and so our desolation for a season, are like to be threaded in gradually upon us. Ibid. 61 Provided we be not gradually threaded in to greater encroachments on the Church's rights this way. 1716Ibid. II. 202 We are like to be threaded out of the exercise of our power as to fasts and thanksgivings by the Assembly.
8. To stretch threads across or over; to intersperse with threads so stretched.
1884Chr. Commw. 20 Mar. 536/2 The devil's long lines of temptation, with which the stream of life is so thickly threaded. 1907Westm. Gaz. 25 Feb. 2/3 Heavy spraying..and threading [fruit-trees]..he has found to be a failure. Mod. I am obliged to thread my crocuses and polyanthuses every spring to protect them from destructive birds.
9. To form a screw-thread on; to furnish (a bolt or the like) with a screw-thread.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade s.v. Screw, Threading is effected by a saw which [etc.]. 1877Knight Dict. Mech. 2074/1 Screw-threading machine. 1888Hasluck Model Engin. Handybk. (1900) 46 The extreme end is threaded for a nut, as shown in the section of cylinder. 1893Brit. Jrnl. Photogr. XL. 801 A hole is bored in the neck and threaded, and the valve is screwed..in.
10. a. To place the thread, film, or tape in its proper course in (a sewing machine, projector, etc.). Usu. with up. Also absol.
1873Young Englishwoman Mar. 150/1 Thread up the machine with the same coloured silk. 1913F. A. Talbot Pract. Cinematogr. vii. 85 In threading up the camera it is only necessary to make sure that the image on the negative comes squarely and truly before the window in the gate. 1923― Moving Pictures 81 Threading the camera, as it is called, completed, the door of the exposed magazine is closed. 1932Simpson & Weir Weaver's Craft x. 92 Threading the Loom.—It is still an advantage for two people to work together for this. 1962L. Deighton Ipcress File xxiv. 155 He threaded up the 16mm projector. 1964McCall's Sewing v. 69/1 Your machine simply won't work if it isn't threaded exactly according to plan. 1970A. Fowles Dupe Negative i. 8 It's [sc. the film's] just back from the lab. Take a couple of minutes to thread up.
b. To pass (film, etc.) through a projector, recorder, etc., so that it occupies the correct path; = lace v. 4 f.
1915J. B. Rathbun Motion Picture Making & Exhibiting ii. 33 The loading of a motion picture camera is usually no more difficult than threading the film through a projector. 1932Simpson & Weir Weaver's Craft xi. 115 Thread the new piece through the correct heddle and dent of the reed, then wrap the loose end round a pin in the woven fabric. 1959N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 168 Sam attempts to talk while he is threading the film. 1961N.Y. Times 10 Sept. x. 15/3 The user has to thread the tape through the machine before starting, and rewind the tape after playing or recording. 1972W. P. Blatty Exorcist (1974) iii. i. 279 The priest quickly set up the tape recorder; looked for an outlet; plugged it in; threaded tape. |