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. prǽd = OLG. *prâd (MDu. draet, Du. draad), OHG., MHG. drât (G. draht), ON. þraðr (Da. traad, Sw. tråd):—OTeut. *þræ-ðuz, pre-Teut. *trētús; f. *þræ to twist (see THROW v.1) + dental sufix. Cf. bread, seed.]
1. A fine cord composed of the fibers 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.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.), 876. Filum, ðred.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxix. § 1. Hwat ðæt bið ʓesæliʓ mon þe him ealne weʓ ne hangað nacod sweord ofer ðæm heafde be smale þræde.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 218. Cnyte mid anum ðræde on anum clænan linenan.
c. 1205. Lay., 14220. Nes þe þwong … buten swulc a twines þræd [c. 1275 twined þred].
c. 1400. Sowdone Bab., 1999. He teyde a tredde on a pole.
c. 1425. trans. 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.
1508. Dunbar, Gold. Targe, 62. Thair brycht hairis … wyppit wyth goldyn thredis.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Kings vii. 23. A threde of thirtie cubites longe.
1641. W. 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.
1720. Welton, Suffer. Son of God, II. xxii. 594. From these little Threads … such strong Cables are form’d.
1828. J. M. Spearman, Brit. Gunner (ed. 2), 150. Hawsers (Machine made)…. Of 4 Inches, or 108 Threads … of 10 Inches, or 648 Threads.
1832. G. 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.
1582. N. Lichefield, trans. 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.
1860. J. Bateman, Life Bp. D. Wilson, I xii. 341. Several Brahmins being manifested by their ‘thread.’
1874. J. H. Blunt, Dict. Sects, etc. 405/2 (Parsees). The investiture at initiation with the sacred thread.
1903. Times, 5 March, 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.
1602. Carew, 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.
1622. Bacon, 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. Each of the lengths of yarn that 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.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 39. Ðar behoued to maniȝe þreades ær hit bie full wroht.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. pr. i. 2 (Camb. MS.). Hyr clothes weeren maked of riht delye thredes.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 316. Ilche þreed of siche cloþis þat ben tuo wast & too costliche. Ibid. (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.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XV. ii. 699. It shalle not lye in your power nor to perysshe me as moche as a threde.
a. 1500. Flower & Leaf, 370. The ladies ne the knightes nade o threed Drie on them.
1550. Veron, Godly Sayings (1846), 141. Howe can you … come to this roial feast and banket not having one thrid of this wedding rayment … upon you?
1600. Hakluyt, Voy., III. 83. Hee that had fiue or sixe shifts of apparell had scarce one drie threed to his backe.
1610. Shaks., Temp., IV. i. 3. I Haue given you here, a third of mine owne life.
1610. B. Jonson, Alch., III. ii. Your threescore minutes Were at the last thred.
1726. Leoni, 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.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xl. There will no be a dry thread amang us or we get the cargo out.
1844. G. Dodd, Textile M., vi. 201. Plain silks, as well as most woven fabrics, consist of threads crossing each other at right angles.
1879. Jefferies, Wild Life in S. C., 133. The costume is true to a thread.
1908. in Westm. Gaz., 1 April, 12/1. Till April’s dead, change not a thread.
b. Bare or worn to the thread, etc. = THREADBARE.
1483–4. Act 1 Rich. III., c. 8 Preamble. Suche course Clothes, beyng bare of threde.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., XVII. 254. His garments to a thred All bare, and burn’d.
1882. Stevenson, 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.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., V. i. 291. O Fates! come, come: Cut thred and thrum.
1648. Herrick, Hesper., Upon some Women. Learne of me what woman is. Something made of thred and thrumme; A meere botch of all and some.
1654. Gataker, Disc. Apol., 93. By those thrums and threds that he hath pickt and puld out of it…, the Reader may judge of the whole.
1833. Carlyle, 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.).
1662. Act 14 Chas. II., c. 5 § 6. Every Reel staff shall containe fourteen Leas and every Lea fourty threads.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. vi. 288/2. A knot is a Hundred Threds round the Reel.
1696. Phillips (ed. 5), s.v. Lea, Every Lea of Yarn at Kidderminster shall contain 200 Threds reel’d on a Reel four yards about.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Lea, forty threads of hemp-yarn.
1858. Simmonds, 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 851/2 Ermland inches make one thread.
1875. Temple & 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.
1836. J. Gilbert, Chr. Atonem., vii. (1852), 190. In this, as in almost all theories,… there is indeed a thread of truth.
1851. Helps, 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.
1859. Kingsley, Misc. (1860), II. ii. 29. The only threads of light in the dark web of his history are clerical and theurgic.
1879. Stainer, 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.
3. 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 fiber, or fine-drawn metal, spun into material for weaving, knitting, sewing, or fastening: often with distinctive word, as gold or silk thread; sometimes spec. flaxen or linen thread as distinct from silk or cotton; in pl., kinds of thread.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Monk’s T, 485. Nettes of gold threed hadde he greet plentee.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 7369. A large coverechief of threde She wrapped alle aboute hir hede.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 6775. Of his hors fel that kynge, As it were a clewe of thred.
c. 1400. Lybeaus Disc. (Kaluza), 940. As selke þrede.
1529. More, Dyaloge, II. x. Wks. 195/1. He thankinge the monke for the thrid, desired him to teach him how he should knit it.
1545. Rates of Customs, c vij b. Threde called wotenall threde.
1552–3. Inv. Ch. Good’s, Staffs., in Ann. Lichfield (1863), IV. 48. ij vestements, one of grene chamblet, another of threde.
1576. in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 264. For a quartern of black threede. Ibid. (1584), 370. For iii li. of thrid of all cullers.
1588. Parke, trans. Mendoza’s Hist. China, 320. They take out of this plant … a kinde of thride or yarne.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. (S.T.S.), I. 94. Wt threid of silke … al the partes of the sarke … thay sewit.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 184. They have also thread from another tree called Langir.
1806. Gazetteer Scotl. (ed. 2), 555/2. The principal manufacture is that of linen yarn, thread, and brown linens.
1887. Daily News, 19 Oct., 2/8. Linens and threads maintain the improvement lately reported.
† b. fig. The material or ‘fiber’ of which anything is composed; ‘texture,’ quality, nature. Obs.
1632. Sanderson, Serm., 268. Hypocrisie is spunne of a fine threed, and is not easily discerneable.
1635. A. Stafford, Fem. Glory (1869), 134. Of the same pure thred with the rest of her life.
1659. O. Walker, Instruct. Oratory, 19. That the Oration may seem Continuous and all of one thread.
1718. Ockley, Saracens (1848), II. Introd. 24. The language must be all of the same thread.
1746. Francis, trans. Hor., Sat., II. iv. 14. The Matter nice, and wrought of subtle Thread.
4. Something having the slenderness or fineness of a thread: e.g., a fine ligament, an animal or vegetable fiber, a hair, a filament of a cobweb or of the byssus of a shell-fish.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xi. (Bodl. MS.). Þe spiþer … drawiþ and bringeþ ofte aȝen his þrede þwarte ouer fro pointe to pointe.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’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.
1541. R. Copland, Galyen’s Terap., 2 A iij b. A spyder threde.
1686. Goad, Celest. Bodies, I. ii. 2. A Fog which sometimes casts it self into Threds or Ropes, and … furls up into Gossamere.
1693. Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., II. 57. Producing the least Thread of a capilar Root.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VII. 45. These threads, which are usually called the beard of the muscle.
1776. Withering, 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 color or light; a ‘thin’ continuity of sound; spec. in glass-making: see quot. 1832.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s T. (1613), 126. Why breake not thunder bolts through the Clowdes in steade of thrids of raine?
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 24. Stillicides of Water … will Draw themselues into a small thred.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 121. What a long thread of sand passes the neck-hole of an hourglass in that same time.
1710. J. 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.
1830. Trans. 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.
1832. G. 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.
1837. P. 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.
1868. Gladstone, Juv. Mundi, xi. (1869), 432. The Trojan elders, whose volubility, and their shrill thread of voice, Homer compares to the chirp of grasshoppers.
1884. J. H. Hollowell, in Congregationalist, June, 498. The pale Aare … winds its white thread through the valley.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 6 April, 2/1. Using her pleasant thread of voice agreeably.
1904. Daily Chron., 17 Oct., 8/1. The amazing thing is that so much good work should be done in such a mere thread of space.
1907. Outlook, 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.
1899. Allbutt’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.
1862. J. 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.’
1883. R. 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.
1674. Petty, Disc. Dupl. Proportion, 116. The Force must be increased at every Turn or Thred of a Screw-Press.
1733. Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., xxiv. 402. Taper Screws made with Iron, having very deep Threads, whereby they hold fast when screw’d into Wood.
1829. Nat. Philos., I. Mechanics, II. xi. 48 (U. K. S.). Hunter’s screw … gives an indefinitely slow motion, without requiring a very exquisitely fine thread.
1902. Marshall, Metal Tools, 63. For pipes and tubes a special thread termed a gas thread is employed.
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 that is spun and cut off by the Fates.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 8. Wil … Attropos … My fatal threed a sundyr smyte. Ibid., 43. Or than deth the threed untwyne Of oure fatal web.
1563. Mirr, Mag., Induct., xliii. His vitall threde.
1596. Spenser, 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.
1643. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., I. § 42. For my owne part, I would not … beginne againe the thred of my dayes.
1696. Tate & Brady, Ps. xc. 10. So soon the slender Thread is cut.
1704. Swift, Batt. Bks., ¶ 25. Her Son … to whom the Fates had assign’d a very short Thred.
1829. Scott, Anne of G., xvii. Why I should spare my own almost exhausted thread of life.
1846. H. G. Robinson, Odes of Horace, II. iii. While … the three Sisters’ sable thread Allows you still the power.
1907. Dillon, 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.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. LXXXV. ii. Wilt thou of thy wrathfull rage Draw the threed from age to age?
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. i. 19. He draweth out the thred of his verbositie finer then the staple of his argument.
1608. D. T[uvil], Ess. Pol. & Mor., 88 b. I will stretch the thred of my subiect to a further length.
1645. City Alarum, 19. Consider first what a thred of time the German wars have spun out.
1670. Eachard, Cont. Clergy, 32. Fearing he should break the thread of your patience, he concludes.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (1840), II. vii. 159. I cut the thread of all his comforts, and shortened his days.
1736. Butler, Anal., II. vii. 362. To make up a continued thread of history of the length of between three and four thousand years.
a. 1774. Tucker, 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 sb.1 3, CLUE 2.
1580. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 312. Neither Ariadnes thrid, nor Sibillas bough, nor Medeas seede, may remedy thy griefe.
1582. T. Watson, Centurie of Loue, lv. My guiding thrid by Reason spunne.
1589. Pasquil’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.
c. 1614. Sir W. Mure, Dido & Æneas, I. 6. Path’d wayes I trace, as Theseus in his neid, Conducted by a loyal virgin’s threid.
1672. Sterry, Freed. Will (1675), C iij. What a golden-thread of Harmony guides us through the nature of things!
1711. W. King, trans. 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.
1642. Howell, 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.
1687. Dryden, Hind & P., III. 278. The matron … then Resumed the thrid of her discourse again.
1738. Swift, Pol. Conversat., Introd. 64. After a Pause, the grave Companion resumes his Thread,… ‘Well, but to go on with my Story.’
1782. Mme. D’Arblay, Diary, Dec. We laughed so violently … that he could not recover the thread of his harangue.
1844. Thirlwall, Greece, VIII. lxii. 201. We resume the thread of Grecian history.
9. Some continuous or persistent feature that runs through the pattern of anything, or combines with other features to form a pattern or texture.
1685. Mrs. Evelyn, Lett., in E.’s Diary (1827), IV. 440. A thred of piety accompanyed all her actions.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. Some Sonn. of Sydney. An historical thread runs through [Sydney’s Sonnets].
1875. Jowett, Plato, Introd. Phaedrus (ed. 2), II. 86. The continuous thread which appears and reappears throughout his rhetoric.
1892. Symonds, 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.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 28. To twine vp this threde of deuision [the division of plants into kinds] vpon some bottome.
c. 1591. W. Davies, in Pollen, Acts Eng. Mart. (1891), 131. It was come to that now, that a thread divided my life and death.
1598. 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.
1647. Ward, Simp. Cobler (1843), 52. To cut an exquisite thred between Kings Prerogatives, and Subjects Liberties.
1650. B., Discolliminium, 19. I know no harder task … than … to cut a just thread between Gods Providence, and Mans Improvidence.
1692. R. 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.]
1691. Blount’s Law Dict., Filum Aquæ is the Thread or Middle of the Stream, where a River parts Two Lordships.
[? 17[?]. trans. 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. Ibid., trans. 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].]
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & 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.
1848. Wharton, 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.
[c. 888: see sense 1.]
1538. Starkey, England, I. iv. 121. But thys hangyth only apon the wyl of the prynce—a veray weke thred in such a case.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 63 b. There hangeth assuredly a wounderfull daunger ouer you, as a sworde dependynge ouer your neckes by a twhyne threde.
1607. H. Raymond, Ode, in Farr, S. P. Jas. I. (1848), 360. Life, ioy, and euery pleasant weede, Scarce hangeth by a slender threede.
1804. T. Jefferson, Writ. (1830), IV. 19. My evening prospects now hang on the slender thread of a single life.
1869. J. 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.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxxvii. She kept in her hands the thread of many a political intrigue.
1844. A. W. Welby, Poems (1867), 58. She was the golden thread that bound us In one bright chain together here.
1849. Robertson, Serm., Ser. I. xv. (1866), 260. A thread runs through all true acts stringing them together.
1861. Tulloch, Eng. Purit., i. 84. So was snapped the last feeble thread of negotiation.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), IV. 123. Many threads join together in one the love and dialectic of the Phædrus.
1904. Jessie 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 thread-end, -mill, -spool, etc. (b) in sense ‘made of linen or cotton thread’ = THREADEN, as thread bodice, girdle, glove, net, point, ribbon, shoe, stocking, etc. (often hyphened). (c) Objective and obj. genitive, as thread-maker, -manufacturer, -twister, -winder, etc.; thread-cutting, -making, -spinning, -twisting, -winding, etc. sbs. and adjs.; similative, parasynthetic, etc., as thread-line; thread-lettered, -shaped adjs.
c. 1665. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 275. A black *thread bodice.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., *Thread-cutting machine … for cutting threads in bolts, etc.
1900. W. H. Hudson, Nat. Downland, 53. Slender dry bents standing out like pale yellow *thread-ends.
a. 1604. Hanmer, Chron. Irel. (1633), 80. A linnen or *threed Girdle.
1851. Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 201. Fast cotton dyeing for Lisle *thread gloves.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Lisle-gloves, fine thread gloves.
1873. Routledge’s Yng. Gentl. Mag., Jan., 83/2. The specific name filigrammaria, or *thread-lettered.
1890. Jul. P. Ballard, Among Moths & Butterfl., 122. The quickness of the parting and closing of this narrow *thread-line.
1695. J. Edwards, Perfect. Script., 237. Where had they thread, when the *thread-makers trade was not invented?
1878. J. Watson (title), Art of Spinning and *Thread-Making.
1895. Zangwill, Master, I. vii. A *thread-net confined her hair.
1635. Voy. Foxe & James (Hakl. Soc.), I. 42. He gave every one of them a *Threed point [= needle].
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1650), II. 34. Calicoes, *threed-ribbands, and such polldavy ware.
1713. Lond. Gaz., No. 5173/4. A *Thread-Sattin Night-Gown, striped red and white.
1760. Lee, Bot. (1778), 56. An amentaceous aggregate Flower has a Filiform, *Thread-shaped Receptacle.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 184. Strings which they pull out to make … *thread shooes after the Spanish manner.
1870. Emerson, Soc. & Solit., Wks. (Bohn), III. 42. Out of blocks, *thread-spools, cards, and checkers, he [the child] will build his pyramid.
c. 1665. in Verney Mem., II. 275. Stirrup *thredd stockins.
1697. trans. C’tess. D’Aunoy’s Trav. (1706), 3. They … presented me with Gloves, and Thread-Stockings, most delicately knit.
1711–2. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 9 Jan. I hide my purse in my thread stocking between the bed’s head and the wainscot.
1725. Lond. Gaz., No. 6384/7. Gabriel Beale,… *Thread-Twister.
1872. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2560. *Thread-winding Guide … Thread-winding Machine.
b. Special Combs.: thread-animaloule, a vibrionine animalcule; thread-board, in a ring-frame, 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-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 colored 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-oilor, 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 fiber 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.
1892. Nasmith, Cotton Spinning, ix. 328. The yarn is taken through the wire eyes fixed in hinged boards known as *‘thread boards.’
1859. Huxley, Oceanic Hydrozoa, 82. The distal division remains short, and acquires only small *thread-cells.
1871. Allman, Monogr. Gymnoblastic Hydroids, I. p. xiv. Thread-cells, peculiar bodies consisting of a containing capsule and contained filament destined for urtication.
1911. *Thread-counter [see texture-counter s.v. TEXTURE sb. 7].
1877. Knight, 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.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 4. Filoplumes (filoplumæ), or *thread-feathers … have an extremely slender, almost invisible, stem.
1885. Hornaday, 2 Yrs. in Jungle, xxxii. 386. All but three were *thread fishes, a strange species of Polynemus … distinguished by the … thread-like filaments … attached to the pectoral fins.
1884. Miller, Plant-n., Crimson *Thread-flower, Poinciana (Cæssalpinia) Gilliesii. Ibid., *Thread-foot, Podostemon ceratophyllus.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, etc., 1239. The doubling and twisting of cotton or linen yarn into a compact thread … is performed by … the *thread-frame.
1888. Goode, 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.’
1875. Bennett & 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.
1884. Miller, Plant-n., Drosera filiformis, *Thread-leaved Sun-dew.
1663. Canterbury Marriage Licences (MS.). Stephen Ward of Maidstone, *thredman.
1711. Lond. Gaz., No. 4932/4. Benjamin Cutlove, of London, Threadman.
1799. Hull Advertiser, 23 Feb., 3/2. A … fire broke out … which entirely consumed nine *thread-mills.
1907. Daily Chron., 2 Oct., 6/6. Exciting scenes … in connection with the Paisley thread mill strike.
1864. M. G. Campbell, in Intell. Observ., No. 33. 155. The *thread-mosses are an interesting and numerous tribe.
1899. Daily News, 7 Dec., 11/1. Spidery kinds [of chrysanthemums] include the *thread-petalled Mrs. Carter.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., V. 291. *Thread Rush, or Slender Rush … is remarkable for its thread-like stems.
1721. C. King, Brit. Merch., I. 285. *Thred Sisters.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 416. The Chorda filum, or *thread-tangle.
1877. Knight, 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.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 398. When either of the threads break, the *thread-wire through which it passes falls down.
1753. World, 25 Jan., No. 4, ¶ 5. ‘Is he a married man, pray?’ The happiest in the world, madam, returned the *thread-woman.
1856. R. A. Vaughan, Mystics (1860), II. VIII. ix. 97. The deftly-woven *threadwork of the tissues.
1861. Lytton, Str. Story (1862), II. 185. Pillows edged with the thread-work of Louvain.
1906. Daily Chron., 10 May, 9/4. Mill girls employed in the thread works joined this organisation.
1888. Dublin Rev., July, 69. The subject … is *threadworn.
