Wreath

Pl. wreaths. Forms: 1 wriða, wriþa, 4–5 wreþe, 4–6 wrethe, 5 Sc. wreth, 6 wreith, wrayth, 6–7, 9 wreathe, 6– wreath (9 north. dial. wreeath). [OE. wriða, wriþa, f. the weak grade of the stem of wriþan WRITHE v.¹ Cf. WRITH sb.

  The alleged OE. wrǽð as a variant of wrǽd rests only on a transcript by Junius.

  Walker (1791), gives the pronunciations (rīþ) and (rīð), preferring the former on grounds of analogy, though he thinks it ‘the least usual mode.’ Occasional rhymes of that period (e.g., Roscoe, Shelley) attest the currency of the latter pronunciation.]

  I.  1. Something wound, wreathed or coiled into a circular shape or form; a twisted or wreathed band, fillet, or the like.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xxiii. 608. Hi … becnytton anne wriþan eall onbutan his swuran.

a. 1050.  Liber Scint. (1889), 200. Mid wriþan treowenum [L. loramento ligneo] ʓewriþen grundweall … na byþ toslopen.

13[?].  Gosp. Nicod., 65. A wonden wrethe þat his heued hyd Spred he all furth on brede.

c. 1410.  Master of Game (MS. Digby 182), xxiii. For sometyme þei croiteth in wrethes and sometyme flatte.

1495.  Trevisa’s Barth. De P. R., XVII. clii. The sowles & stakes be pyghte in the grounde, & there abowte ben wrethes wouen & wounden of thornes & roddes.

1530.  Palsgr., 290/2. Wrethe of olde cordes dypped in grece and pytche,… tourbiginaulx.

1552.  in Feuillerat, Revels Edw. VI. (1914), 120. White taffata for wreathes abowte their hattes.

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 187. A low Tulipant (or wreath of silke and gold).

1642.  Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., V. xv. 420. Where one gaineth a garland of bayes, hundreds have had a wreath of hemp.

1656.  J. Smith, Pract. Physick, 162. Let them be thicker, by wispes or wreathes of small sticks—wrapt up in linnen.

1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), s.v. Rigging, A circular wreath or rope, called the grommet, or collar.

c. 1850.  Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 722. Grommets,… wreaths of rope which confine the oars.

1868.  Atkinson, Cleveland Gloss., Garlands, wreaths of ribbon enclosing a white glove.

1883.  Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 295. Wreaths, four short pieces of hemp rope placed round the legs of a horse.

  b.  A ring, band or circlet of (usu. precious) metal, etc., esp. for wearing as an ornament; a torque.

a. 1000.  Riddles, lix. [lx.] 5. Friþospede bæd God nerʓende gæste sinum se þe wende wriþan.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., I. 568. Ic ʓeslea ænne wriðan on his nosu, and ænne bridel on his weleras.

13[?].  K. Alis., 5723 (Laud MS.). A griselich best…; Teeþ he had so wreþen wriþen.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xlvii. (Euphemia), 196. To quham þe Iug … gef a kirtil & of fyne gold a wrethe þar-til.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1287. A wrethe of gold … Vpon his heed, set ful of stones brighte.

1456.  Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 46. [He] tuke … a grete wreth of golde … and put it about his hals.

1443.  in Rep. MSS. Ld. Middleton (1911), 111. The scheriffez of Coventre hath … a salt seller, the wrethis gilt.

1521.  Test. Ebor. (Surtees), V. 203. Cum uno flore argenti in fundo, cum uno wreith deaurato circa florem.

c. 1530.  Hickscorner, 587. They be yemen of the wrethe that be shakled in gyues.

[1855.  Thorpe, trans. Beowulf, 4041. Oft she a ringed wreath [OE. beah-wriðan] to the warrior gave.]

  c.  Her. A representation of a ring or circlet used as a bearing; spec. the circular fillet or twisted band by which the crest is joined to the helmet; = ORLE 1 c. Also fig. (quot. 1622).

1478, etc.  [see TIMBRE sb.²]

1513.  in Glover’s Hist. Derby (1829), I. App. 61. Robert Darley bayryth … 3 barrs upon his nek, sabul unde or wave, issant owl of a wrayth goulls and sylver.

1572.  Bossewell, Armorie, 105. He beareth on a wreathe ‘Topaze’ and ‘Saphiere’ an Alcian.

1622.  Bacon, Hen. VII. (1876), 15. The wreath of three, was made a wreath of five; for to the three first titles of the two houses … were added two more.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, II. 393/2. A Sarazens Face … environed about the Temples with a Wreath or Torce.

1780.  Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2), V. 3608. The Wreath is a kind of roll … which ancient knights wore as a head-dress when equipped for tournaments.

1864.  Boutell, Her. Hist. & Pop., xvii. 265. The Crest was worn supported by a Chapeau or Wreath.

1869.  Cussans, Her., 172. A Coronet, or a Wreath,… was composed of two strands of twisted silk, on which the Crest appeared to be supported. Ibid. The Wreath, Bandeau, or Torse (sometimes, though improperly, styled a Chaplet).

  † d.  A metal ring forming a holder for a spindle.

1733.  Tull, Horse-hoeing Husb., xxii. 335. The Spindle is kept from moving end-ways, by Wreaths, in the same Manner as the Axis of a Wheel-Barrow is. Ibid., xxiii. 377. The Hopper and Spindle are … kept in their Place … by two Wreaths screw’d on to the Spindle.

  2.  Something resembling or comparable to a twisted or circular band; esp. a coil of a spiral column of smoke, steam, or the like.

  Before c. 1790 rare; freq. from c. 1820: cf. next.

1667.  Milton, P. L., VI. 58. So spake the Sovran voice, and Clouds began To darken all the Hill, and smoak to rowl In duskie wreathes.

1836.  [Hooton], Bilberry Thurland, I. ix. 181. Having lit her pipe, to add a few more wreathes to the general volume.

1866.  All Year Round, XV. 189/1. Certain misty wreaths—the skirts … of an adjacent sea-fog—kept sweeping up the valley.

1899.  Gunter, M. S. Bradford, xvi. 210. As he puffs the wreaths out of his complacent lips.

  b.  Freq. const. of (smoke, etc.).

1789.  Wordsw., Evening Walk, 112. As the sun declines … The shepherd, all involved in wreaths of fire,… shows a shadowy speck. Ibid. (1794), Guilt & Sorrow, lviii. Where wreaths of vapour tracked a winding brook.

1797.  Scott, Erl-King, ii. It is but a dark wreath of the cloud.

1859.  Dickens, T. Two Cities, II. v. Wreaths of dust were spinning round … before the morning blast.

1875.  Buckland, Log-bk., 365. Wreaths of sea came rolling in.

1894.  Hall Caine, Manxman, V. iii. 288. The homes of the fishermen were putting out curling wreaths of smoke.

  c.  A bank or drift of snow; a snow-wreath, snowdrift. Freq. wreath of snow. Orig. (and chiefly) Sc.

1725.  Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., I. ii. The thick blawn Wreaths of Snaw … May smoor your Wathers.

1744.  Thomson, Winter, 828. Scarce his Head Rais’d o’er the heapy Wreath, the branching Elk Lies slumbering sullen in the white Abyss.

c. 1790.  in Burns, Wks. (1800), IV. 177. Weeping at the eve o’ life, I wander through a wreath o’ snaw.

1806.  J. Grahame, Birds of Scot., 13. While yet in mountain cleughs Lingers the frozen wreath.

1843.  Prescott, Mexico, V. ii. (1864), 284. [He] lived to see his empire melt away like the winter’s wreath.

1855.  Kingsley, Glaucus, 26. Those wild gardens amid the wreaths of the untrodden snow.

  d.  transf. A bank of sand.

1892.  Stevenson, Across the Plains, 207. Endless links and sand wreaths.

  3.  Each of the turns, convolutions or coils of a ringed or spiral structure, spiral shell, etc.; a whirl, whorl.

1641.  Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 61. There is in most hives 17 or 18 wreathes. Ibid. 4 wreathes from the bottome.

1650.  Fuller, Pisgah, V. vii. 155. The four first wreaths of my scrue are undoubtedly … true.

1669.  Phil. Trans., IV. 1012. The open of the shell is pretty sound, the second turn or wreath is very large for the proportion.

1712.  J. Morton, Nat. Hist. Northampt., 416. A small Brown Buccinum…, with a roundish Mouth of six Wreaths.

1753.  Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Scalare, A peculiar species of … screw shell, the several wreaths of which [etc.].

1778.  [W. Marshall], Minutes Agric., Observ., 58. Let the wreaths (or twists) of the [sheaf] bands be turned upward, toward the ears.

1818.  Gleaner’s Port-folio, Sept., 68. The wreaths being ornamented with transverse undulating costæ.

  b.  Conch., The genus Turbo (TURBO 2); a turbinated or wreathed shell; a turbinate.

1777.  Pennant, Brit. Zool. (ed. 4), IV. 128. Turbo. Wreath…. Its animal [is] a Slug.

1797.  Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVIII. 595/2. The clathrus, or barbed wreath, has a taper shell of eight spires.

1815.  Burrow, Elem. Conchol., 203. Turbo, Whorl or Wreath.

  † c.  Bot. = COROLLA 2. Obs.

1760.  J. Lee, Introd. Bot., I. iii. (1765), 7. The Petal … encloses and protects it [sc. the flower] in the manner of a Corolla, or Wreath.

  4.  A fold, crease or wrinkle.

a. 1400[?].  Morte Arth., 1093. Alle falterde þe flesche in his foule lyppys, Ilke wrethe as a wolfe-heuede, it wraythe owtt at ones!

1600.  Surflet, Countrie Farme, III. xxvii. 484. As it [sc. the fig] is verie fat the iuice doth constraine the skin to fall into wreathes.

1610.  Markham, Masterp., II. v. 225. If he haue a short chub neck, with a thicke skin, and many wreathes, or rolles, about the setting on of his chaps.

1677.  N. Cox, Gentl. Recreat., I. 126. The Wild-Goat is as big as a Hart…. They have Wreaths and Wrinkles on their Horns.

1737.  Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1740), II. 71. You will know whether it [sc. the horny part of the hoof] be smooth and even, or, otherwise, in Wreathes or Wrinkles.

  b.  A raised band or string-course. rare^–1.

1677.  Miége, Fr. Dict., I. Cordon de muraille, an outstanding wreath or edge of stone on the out-side of a building, commonly distinguishing the several Stories.

  c.  north. dial. (See quot.)

1828.  Carr, Craven Gloss., 271. Wreath, the mark and swelling on the skin occasioned by a blow.

  5.  a. = ROLL sb.¹ 8 c. Now dial.

1556.  Withals, Dict. (1562), 43 b/1. A wase or wreath to be layed vnder the vessell, that is borne vpon the head.

1570.  Levins, Manip., 213. A Wreath, cirrus, cesticillus.

1687.  Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., I. Tortillon,… a Wreath of Cloth which Women lay upon their heads when they carry a Pail or Basket.

1706.  Phillips (ed. Kersey).

1855–76.  in Yorks. glossaries.

1876.  Whitby Gloss., 172. The skeel … is carried on a ‘wreath’ or pad.

  † b.  A roll of bread. (Cf. TORTE.) Obs.

1600.  Hakluyt, Voy., III. 220. They beat their corne to powder: then they make paste of it, and of the paste, cakes or wreathes.

1615.  R. Cocks, Diary (Hakl. Soc.), I. 47. A present of … 10 wreathes of bread, and a basket of grapes.

  † c.  (See quot.) Obs. rare.

1611.  Cotgr., Penide, a Pennet; the little wreath of sugar taken in a cold.

  6.  a. A twist, coil or winding (of some material thing or natural growth); a sinuosity; a winding motion.

1589.  ? Lyly, Pappe w. Hatchet, D iv. The Cedar … knitteth it selfe with such wreaths into the earth, that it cannot be remooued.

a. 1600.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., VII. xviii. (1662), 53. The second wreath of that Cable.

1617.  Moryson, Itin., I. 242. The very tailes of them [sc. large sheep] hanging in many wreathes to the ground.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 517. Of his tortuous Traine [the serpent] Curld many a wanton wreath in sight of Eve.

1702.  Pope, Sappho, 149. Round your neck in wanton wreaths I twine.

1762.  Falconer, Shipwr., II. 213. A troop of porpoises … In curling wreaths … gambol on the tide.

1810.  Shelley, Posth. Fragm. M. Nicholson, Spectral Horseman, 50. Then does the dragon … twine his vast wreaths round the forms of the daemons. Ibid. (1815), Alastor, 338. Twilight … Entwined in duskier wreaths her braided locks O’er the fair front … of day.

1898.  Meredith, Odes Fr. Hist., 72. A lowly look on … twisted wreaths of the worm in dirt.

  † b.  Venery. The tail of a boar. Obs.

1576.  Turberv., Venerie, 241. The tayle of a Bore is to be termed his wreath.

1598.  Manwood, Lawes Forest, iv. 27 b. The tearmes of the Tayle.… Of a Boare, the wreath.

1616.  Bullokar, Eng. Expos. [Hence in some later Dicts.]

1627.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Navy Landships, D 2. A Deere, Bore, a Hare,… haue no more tayles then a Iack-an-Apes, for it is a Deeres Single, a Bores Wreath, a Hare or Connyes Scut.

[1817.  Puckle, Club, 90. [The flatterer’s] next discourse was of the tail or single of a deer, the wreath of a boar.]

  7.  Something formed by twisting; yarn of a specified texture.

1757.  Dyer, Fleece, III. 61. A diff’rent spinning ev’ry diffrent web Asks from your glowing fingers: some require The more compact, and some the looser wreath.

  8.  A curve in the handrail or string of a geometrical stair; that part of the handrail that bends round such curve.

1814.  P. Nicholson, in Trans. Soc. Arts, XXXII. 134. The Plank, out of which the Wreath is to be cut. Ibid. (1820), Staircases, etc. p. iii. Squaring the wreath upon geometrical principles.

1872.  R. Riddell, Carp. & Joiner, 68. In this case the wreath must be in two pieces.

1881.  Dict. Architecture, s.v., A wreath of a staircase handrail is continuous in a circular or elliptic staircase.

  9.  south. dial. (See quots.)

1813.  T. Davis, Agric. Wilts, 268. Wreaths, the long rods of hurdles used for sheep-folding.

1856.  Morton’s Cycl. Agric., II. 727. Wreathes, (Dorset.), withes to keep hurdles and sowels together.

  10.  techn. A defect in glass (esp. flint glass), consisting in almost imperceptible striæ producing certain optical aberrations. ? Obs.

1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 584. An uniform flint-glass, free from striæ, or wreath, is much in demand for the optician. Ibid. Glass allowed to cool slowly in mass in the pot is particularly full of wreath.

  II.  11. A chaplet or garland of flowers, leaves, or the like, esp. worn or awarded as a mark of distinction, honor, etc. Also rarely without article.

1563.  Shute, Archit., D iv b. The whiche Astragalus shalbe as it were certaine round beryes and the other Astragalus … shalbe wrothonne [sic] like a wreath.

1589.  Warner, Alb. Eng., I. iii. 7. Apollos sonne perceauing him with Garland on his head,… caused him to cast the wreath away.

1596.  Drayton, Legends, iii. (1605), Gg 8. Goddesse of Artes and Armes,… Be thou assisting to this Poet of mine, With funerall wreathes incompassing his browes.

1628, etc.  [see LAUREATE a. 1 b].

1694.  Prior, Hymn to Sun, ii. As His Infant Months bestow Springing Wreaths for William’s Brow.

1737.  Glover, Leonidas, I. 196. He the wreath Pontific bore amid the Spartan camp.

1784.  Cowper, Task, V. 712. But fairer wreaths are due … To those who, posted at the shrine of truth, Have fall’n in her defence.

1821.  Byron, Sardanap., I. ii. The shepherd kings of patriarchal times, Who knew no brighter gems than summer wreaths.

1839.  Dickens, Nickleby, xxiv. Mrs. Borum and the governess cast wreaths upon the stage.

1842.  Tennyson, Talking Oak, 288. She … shall wear Alternate leaf and acorn-ball In wreath about her hair.

1891.  Science-Gossip, XXVII. 29/2. He is ready to resign his victor’s wreath to Darwin.

  fig. and transf.  1593.  Marlowe, Edw. II., V. i. [May] this crowne,… like the snakie wreathe of Tisiphon, Engirt the temples of his hatefull head.

1618.  Drayton, Poly-olb., v. 61. Hee … gained The Stewards nobler name: and … attain’s The royal Scottish wreath, upholding it in state.

1613.  W. Browne, Brit. Past., I. iv. 73. Sow-thistle…, whose downy wreath If any one can blow off at a breath, We deeme her for a maide.

1784.  Cowper, Task, VI. 938. There he … obtains fresh triumphs o’er himself, And never with’ring wreaths.

1799.  Campbell, Pleas. Hope, I. 46. Auspicious Hope! in thy sweet garden grow Wreaths for each toil.

1817.  Shelley, Rev. Islam, VI. xvii. Twilight o’er the east wove her serenest wreath.

1835.  Wordsw., Death Jas. Hogg, 30. Our haughty life is crowned with darkness. Like London with its own black wreath.

  b.  Const. of.

c. 1450.  Mirk’s Festial, I. 113. I for þe on my hed suffyr a wreþe of stynkyng þornes.

1595.  Spenser, Epith., 256. Hymen also crowne with wreathes of vine.

1671.  Milton, P. R., II. 459. A Crown, Golden in shew, is but a wreath of thorns, Brings dangers.

1697.  Dryden, Æneis, V. 177. The common Crew, with Wreaths of Poplar Boughs, Their Temples crown.

1704.  Pope, Summer, 10. The Muse … adds this wreath of Ivy to thy Bays.

1800.  Wordsw., Ellen Irwin, 4. A Grecian maid Adorned with wreaths of myrtle.

  fig. and transf.  1605.  Shaks., Lear, II. ii. 113. The wreath of radient fire On flicking Phœbus front.

1812.  J. Wilson, Isle of Palms, II. 397. The glory … That plays like a wreath of halo-light Around his Mary’s head.

1841.  Emerson, Ess., Love, § 5. The remembrance of these visions … is a wreath of powers on the oldest brows.

1868.  Farrar, Silence & V., iii. (1875), 60. The power and splendour of her literature, conferred upon her [sc. Greece] a wreath of unfading admiration.

  c.  A trailing cluster of flowers, tendrils, etc.

1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit., 631. A poore Chappel … adorned onlie with wilde mosse, and wreathes of clasping Ivie.

1784.  Cowper, Task, V. 158. Long wavy wreaths Of flow’rs … Blush’d on the panels.

1798.  Wordsw., Lines in Early Spring, 10. Through primrose tufts … The periwinkle trailed its wreaths.

1881.  E. Waugh, Lancs. Songs (ed. 5), 84. Wreaths of fairy frost-work hung Where grew last summer’s leaves.

  d.  Purple wreath: (see PURPLE a. C 2 c).

1864.  Grisebach, Flora Brit. W. Ind., 789. Wreath. purple: Petrea volubilis.

1890.  Cent. Dict., Petrea volubilis, the purple wreath,… is a native of the West India islands and of the mainland from Vera Cruz southward.

  e.  As the title of a book comprising a collection of short literary pieces; = GARLAND sb. 4.

  In frequent use from c. 1825.

1753.  (title) The Wreath: a Curious Collection of New Songs.

1799.  E. Dubois (title), The Wreath; composed of Selections from Sappho [etc.] … accompanied by a prose Translation and Notes.

1843.  (title) The Ayrshire Wreath: a Collection of Original Pieces, in Prose and Verse.

1881.  ‘A. L. O. E’ (title), A Wreath of Indian Stories.

  f.  A representation of a wreath in decorative work, metal, stone, etc.

1847.  C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, iii. A certain brightly painted china plate, whose bird of paradise, nestling in a wreath of convolvuli and rosebuds, had [etc.].

1890.  Young, Ann. Barber-Surg. Lond., 506. Four … wrought silver garlands or wreaths for crowning the Master and Wardens on Election Day.

  † 12.  A twisted mass (of something). Obs.^–1

1648.  Hexham, II. Een Wrongel van Pieren ofte Wormen, a Wreath of Wormes for bobbing.

  III.  13. attrib. and Comb., as wreath hurdle, line, -offering, part, rail, work; wreath-drifted, maker, -wise; wreath animalcule (see quot. and cf. PERIDINIAL a.); wreath shell, = sense 3 b; wreath-wort, the early purple orchis, O. mascula.

1854.  A. Adams, etc., Man. Nat. Hist., 370. *Wreath-Animalcules (Peridiniidæ).

1832.  Motherwell, Poet. Wks., 76. More dazzlingly white Than the *wreath-drifted snows.

1818.  Sporting Mag., II. 181. The making of *wreath hurdles is a profitable business.

1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 597. Draw a line, which will give the *wreath line formed by the nosings of the winders.

1881.  Instr. Census Clerks, 55. Artificial Flower Maker:… Shell Flower Maker. *Wreath Maker.

a. 1835.  Mrs. Hemans, Korner & Sister, Poems (1875), 425. With his *wreath-offering silently to stand In the hush’d presence of the glorious dead.

1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 597. In preparing the string for the *wreath part, a cylinder should be made.

1820.  P. Nicholson, Staircases, etc., 17. Getting a *wreath rail out of the least quantity of stuff.

1825.  W. Hamilton, Hand-book, 423. Turbo, the *wreath shell.

1845.  J. C. Mangan, German Anthol., II. 105.

1686.  Plot, Staffordsh., 384. The same person … hath contrived an Engine to turne *wreath work.

1730.  W. George, in Mem. W. Stukeley (Surtees), III. 255. Another large partition, encompassed with plaited wreath-work.

1884.  W. Miller, Plant-n., 148. Purple *Wreath-wort.

  Hence Wreathage, wreaths collectively. rare.

1873.  Fortnum, Catal. Maiolica S. Kens. Mus., 212. Trophies of various arms and utensils in grisaille, bordered above and below with wreathage and bead moulding.

1883.  W. Allingham, in Athenæum, July, 79/1.

a. 1891.  H. Melville, Clarel (1924), 111.