thread

A cord formed by spinning or twisting together textile fibers or filaments into one or more continuous strands, typically used in needlework.

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. - 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 234:

    Synonyms: string

  2. A piece of yarn, especially said of warps and wefts in a woven fabric.
  3. Any of various natural (as spiderweb, etc.) or manufactured filaments (as glass, plastic, metal, etc.).
    • the threads of a spiderweb
    • 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...
  4. A slender stream of water.
    • a thread of water
  5. The line midway between the banks of a stream.
  6. A screw thread.
  7. The continuing course of life; the thread of life.
  8. An ordered course, that which connects the successive points in a discourse.
    • I’ve lost the thread of what you’re saying.
    • I was pondering these things, when an incident, and a somewhat unexpected one, broke the thread of my musings. - 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIII:
    • ‘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.’ - 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Chapter 21:

    1. A line of reasoning, sequence of ideas, or train of thought.

    2. A continuing theme that modifies the whole discourse.

      • All of these essays have a common thread.

      Synonyms: topic

  9. A unit of execution, lighter in weight than a process, usually sharing memory and other resources with other threads executing concurrently.
  10. 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.
  11. A sequence of connections.
  12. A precarious condition; something that which offers no real or otherwise perceived security.
    • a life hanging by a thread

Origin

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.

Forms

threads thred thrid threed

Hyponyms

quadruple thread screw thread

Derived

Abalakov thread brahminical thread cross-thread downthread golden thread gold thread goldthread green thread hang by a thread hang on by a thread hyperthreaded interthread life thread lifethread lose the thread megathread microthread misthread multithread nanothread needle-and-thread grass nun's thread packthread Pagenstecher thread

Verb

  1. To pass a thread through the eye of a needle.
  2. To fix (beads, pearls, etc.) upon a thread that is passed through; to string.
  3. 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.
    • 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. - 1950 April,...

    1. To cautiously make (one's way) through a precarious place or situation.

      • He threaded his way through legal entanglements.
  4. To pass through; to pierce through; to penetrate.
    • 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 […] - 1670, John Pettus, Fodinæ Regales […], London: Printed by H. L. and R. B....
    • Tom out here will have leave to thrid you with bullets. - 1896 May 12, The Pall Mall Magazine, page 12:
    • Only the swifts were alert and busy, flashing, poising, diving under the eaves; thridding Ned's brain as they passed with a receding sound like that made by pebbles hopping over ice. - 1899, Bernard Capes, chapter 16,...
  5. To interweave as if with thread; to intersperse.
    • [...] 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. - 2010 April 1, Gayla Marty, Memory of Trees: A...
    • [...] dark hair threaded with gray pulled back from a face still beautiful in spite of clear evidence of the passage of time. - 2014 June 30, G.B. Lindsey, Diana Copland, Libby Drew, Secrets of Neverwood: An Anthology,...
    • [...] 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...
  6. To form a screw thread on or in (a bolt, hole, etc.).
    • Coordinate term: tap
    • to thread a bolt
  7. To remove (facial hair) by way of a looped thread that is tightly wound in the middle.
    • to thread your eyebrows and trim them
  8. To feed (a sewing machine or otherwise a projecting or exposing mechanism, such as a projector, a camera, etc.) with film. [(usually) with up]
  9. To pass (a film or tape) through a projector, recorder, etc. so as to correct its path.
  10. Of boiling syrup: To form a threadlike stream when poured from a spoon.

Forms

threads threading threaded thrid thridden thred threed

Derived

cross-thread multithreaded rethread threadability threadable threaded thread the needle