Woof sb.¹

Forms: α. 1 owef, 3 of, 4–5 oof, 4, 6 ofe, 5 offe, 6 owfe, 7 oufe. β. 6–7 woofe, wouf(e, 6 wolfe, wowfe, 7 pl. woovis), 7–8 wooff, (8 wooft, whoof), 7– woof. [OE. ówef (later áwef), f. ó- + wefan to WEAVE. (Cf. the later parallel formation óweb, áweb ABB.) ME. *owf, oof became woof partly by association with WARP sb. in warp and (w)oof, or with WEFT.]

  1.  The threads that cross from side to side of a web, at right angles to the warp: = WEFT sb.¹ 1.

  α.  c. 725.  Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), C 467. Cladica, wefl uel owef.

c. 1050.  Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 364/23. Cladica, wefl, oððe owef, oððe claudica.

c. 1200.  MS. Bodl. 730, lf. 145/1. Subtemen, of.

1382.  Wyclif, Lev. xiii. 47. A wullun clooth, or lynnen, that hath a lepre in the oof, or in the werpe.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xi. (1495), aa iv b/1. The spynner … begynnyth fro the mydyll poynt & gooth rounde abawte the ofe.

14[?].  Metr. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 628/1. Subtegmen, [gloss warpe], sic quoque stamen, [gloss offe].

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 362/1. Oof, threde for webbynge, trama.

1556.  Withals, Dict. (1562), 35 b/2. The warpe, stamen. The ofe, subtegmen.

1599.  Minsheu, Sp. Dict., s.v. Lizos, The owfe or thread of linnen.

1603.  Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 337. To spoole, winde quils, lay his warpe, shoot oufe.

  β.  1530.  Tindale, Lev. xiii. 48. Whether it be in the warpe or wolfe of the lynen or of the wollen.

1570.  Levins, Manip., 157/25. Y^e Woofe of a web, subtegmen.

1626.  Bacon, Sylva, § 846. As it is in the Warpe, and the Woofe, of Textiles.

1657.  Trapp, Comm. Ps. xv. 2. Such, as through whose whole lives godliness runneth, as the Woof doth through the Warp.

1714.  Fr. Bk. Rates, 188. The Workmen shall not make Use, neither in the Warp or the Woof,… of any Yarn of a different Quality.

1780.  A. Young, Tour Irel., I. 324. Threads thrown across by the shuttle are called the wooft.

1802.  Joanna Baillie, 1st Pt. Ethwald, III. iv. But tell them, British matrons cross the woof With coarser hands than theirs.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 76. In a web the warp is stronger than the woof.

  b.  fig. and in fig. context, often in collocation with warp.

1583.  Melbancke, Philotimus, I j. To … wrappe vp his life-warpes woofe with so euill a liste.

1596.  Nashe, Saffron Walden, M 2. The proces of that Oration, was of the same woofe and thrid with the beginning.

1627.  W. Hawkins, Apollo Shroving, I. i. 8. Where euery English thread is ouercast with a thicke woollen woofe of strange wordes.

1757.  Gray, Bard, II. i. Weave the warp, and weave the woof, The winding sheet of Edward’s race.

1849.  [see WARP sb.¹ 1 b].

1863.  Geo. Eliot, Romola, xix. That commerce of feigned and preposterous admiration which … made the woof of all learned intercourse.

1882.  Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, II. 19. The woof of self-interest is so cunningly interwoven with the warp of righteous feeling that very few of us can tell where the threads cross.

  2.  Thread used to make the woof; also in vague poetical use.

1540.  Hyrde, trans. Vives’ Instr. Chr. Wom., I. iii. (1541), 3 b. To warpe, or els wynd spindels in a case, for to throw wofe of.

1598.  R. Bernard, trans. Terence, Heautontim., II. iii. The old wife shee spun the woufe.

1634.  Milton, Comus, 83. First I must put off These my skie robes spun out of Iris Wooff.

1638.  Burgh Rec. Glasgow (1876), 388. Thair suld be no woovis wovin of townis folkis thairin.

1667.  Milton, P. L., XI. 244. Iris had dipt the wooff.

1892.  Rider Haggard, Nada, xi. Did I weave these visions from the woof of my madness?

  3.  A woven fabric, esp. as being of a particular texture: = WEFT sb.¹ 3; also, the texture of a fabric. Often transf. or fig.

1674.  N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 74. That woof and plight that the whole ticklish frame of worldly beings are wheel’d into at such a tide of day [viz. dawn]. Ibid., 74. That we can sometimes force bodies to close with the woof or tenor of the whole.

1725.  Pope, Odyss., IV. 164. To spread the pall beneath the regal chair Of softest woof.

1757.  Dyer, Fleece, III. 40. Curious woofs of beauteous hue.

1790.  Cowper, Odyss., XIX. 173. A robe … of subtlest woof.

1811.  Scott, Don Roderick, II. xxiv. Flames dart their glare o’er midnight’s sable woof.

1820.  Keats, Lamia, II. 232. There was an awful rainbow once in heaven: We know her woof, her texture.

1826.  Joanna Baillie, Martyr, II. ii. The very spider through his circled cage Of wiry woof,… Scarce seems a lothly thing.

1838.  Lytton, Alice, V. v. That girl’s thread of life has been the dark line in my woof. Ibid. (1846), Lucretia, II. xviii. The Parcæ closed the abrupt woof, and lifted the impending shears. Ibid. (1866), Lost Tales Miletus, Secret Way, 4. The woofs of Phrygian looms.

1871.  Bryant, Odyss., V. 416. Receive this veil, and bind its heavenly woof Beneath thy breast.

  † 4.  The action of weaving. Obs. rare.

1700.  Dryden, Ceyx & Alcyone, 237. Alcyone … hastens in the Woof the Robes he was to wear.