thread

plural threads · alternative obsolete thred · alternative obsolete thrid · alternative obsolete threed

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. businessA 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

   1 more example

   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.

   1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days

4. A slender stream of water.

   a thread of water

5. The line midway between the banks of a stream.
6. engineeringA 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.
   1. A line of reasoning, sequence of ideas, or train of thought.

      I’ve lost the thread of what you’re saying.

      2 more examples

      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

   2. A continuing theme that modifies the whole discourse.

      All of these essays have a common thread.

      Synonyms: topic

9. computingA unit of execution, lighter in weight than a process, usually sharing memory and other resources with other threads executing concurrently.
10. InternetA 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

13. figurativelyobsoleteThe degree of fineness; quality; nature.

    A neat courtier, / Of a most elegant thread.

    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, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

present singular third person threads · participle present threading · past threaded · archaic past thrid · participle past threaded · archaic participle past thrid · archaic participle past thridden · alternative obsolete thred · alternative obsolete thrid · alternative obsolete threed

1. transitiveTo pass a thread through the eye of a needle.
2. transitiveTo fix (beads, pearls, etc.) upon a thread that is passed through; to string.
3. figurativelytransitiveTo make one's way through or between (a constriction or obstacles).

   to thread through narrow passages

   3 more examples

   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, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 266

   Picking the ball up in his own half, Januzaj threaded a 40-yard pass into the path of Rooney to slice Southampton open in the blink of an eye.

   2013 October 19, Ben Smith, “Manchester United 1-1 Southampton”, in BBC Sport

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

      He threaded his way through legal entanglements.

4. figurativelytransitiveTo pass through; to pierce through; to penetrate.

   Tom out here will have leave to thrid you with bullets.

   1896 May 12, The Pall Mall Magazine, page 12

   3 more examples

   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. […], page 2

   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, in Lady of Darkness, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, page 122

   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.

   1961 February, D. Bertram, “The lines to Wetherby and their traffic”, in Trains Illustrated, page 101

5. transitiveTo interweave as if with thread; to intersperse.

   [...] dark hair threaded with early silver.

   2023 May 2, Lucy Clarke, One of the Girls, Penguin, →ISBN, page 6

   3 more examples

   [...] 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 Daughter’s Story of a Family Farm, U of Minnesota Press, →ISBN, page 177

   [...] 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, Carina Press, →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[…]

   2021 November 4, Steven Mithen, Land of the Ilich: Journey's into Islay's Past, Birlinn Ltd, →ISBN

6. transitiveTo form a screw thread on or in (a bolt, hole, etc.).

   to thread a bolt

   1 more example

   Coordinate term: tap

7. ambitransitiveTo remove (facial hair) by way of a looped thread that is tightly wound in the middle.

   to thread your eyebrows and trim them

8. ambitransitiveTo feed (a sewing machine or otherwise a projecting or exposing mechanism, such as a projector, a camera, etc.) with film.
9. transitiveTo pass (a film or tape) through a projector, recorder, etc. so as to correct its path.
10. intransitiveOf boiling syrup: To form a threadlike stream when poured from a spoon.