Forms: 4–6 threde, 6 threede, 6–7 thred, 7 threed, 7– thread; also 6– thrid. Pa. t. and pple. threaded; also 9 (arch.) thrid (pa. pple. thridden). [f. THREAD sb.: independently in various senses.
The spelling thrid is still quite common in some of the transf. and fig. uses]
1. trans. To pass one end of a thread through the eye of (a needle) in order to use it in sewing; to furnish (a needle) with a thread; also, to treat (any perforated object) in the same way (as in quot. 1607).
a. 1366[?]. Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 99. A sylvre nedle forth I droughe,… And gan this nedle threde anon.
1530. Palsgr., 755/2. I threde a nedell to sowe with, je enfile.
1570. Levins, Manip., 52/29. To Threede, acum filo inducere.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 307. Thread all the other rings with the loose end of the rope.
1676. C. Hatton, in H. Corr. (Camden), 124. Good for nothing but to sit in ladyes chambers and thred their needles.
1709–10. Steele, Tatler, No. 141, ¶ 2. The Girl can scarce thread a Needle.
1840. Haliburton, Letter Bag, i. 14. He threaded my needle for me.
b. transf. To cause (something) to pass through something else, as a thread through the eye of a needle.
1851. Mantell, Petrifact., iii. § 7. 341. The graphic simile … that the Plesiosaurus might be compared to a serpent threaded through the shell of a turtle.
1894. H. Gardener, Unoff. Patriot, 27. Nature built these mountains, and threaded that little river over the stones.
1901. Waterhouse, Conduit Wiring, 3. Size of Conductors which can be threaded through Simplex Conduits.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 28 April, 5/2. The [foot-]ball was … threaded in and out among the Southampton players.
c. fig. To pass through, make a hole through, penetrate, pierce.
1670. Pettus, Fodinæ Reg., 2. When the Miners by these Shafts or Adits do strike or threed a Vein of any Metal.
1896. Pall Mall Mag., May, 12. Tom out here will have leave to thrid you with bullets.
1899. B. Capes, Lady of Darkness, xvi. Thridding Ned’s brain as they passed with a receding sound like that made by pebbles hopping over ice.
2. To fix (anything) upon a string or wire that passes through it; esp. to connect (a number of things) by passing a thread through each, to string together on or as on a thread. Also fig.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Sunday, v. The Sundaies of mans life, Thredded together on times string.
1650. Earl Monm., trans. Senault’s Man bec. Guilty, Ep. Ded. If you will adde Charity enough … to pardon the faults escaped in the Presse, I shall thread it to the rest of my Obligations.
a. 1668. Davenant, Song, Wks. (1673), 321. Thy Teares to Thrid instead of Pearle, On Bracelets of thy Hair.
1705. F. Hauksbee, in Phil. Trans., XXIV. 2166. Amber … beads, about the bigness of small Nutmegs, and Threaded.
1809. Scott, Lett., 14 Sept. The sight of our beautiful mountains and lakes … [has] set me to threading verses together.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, vii. (1887), 268. Threading the bait upon the hook.
1874. Spurgeon, Treas. David, Ps. ciii. 3. He selects a few of the choicest pearls…, threads them on the string of memory.
Mod. The girl was threading beads on a string of catgut.
b. To make or embellish with or as with things strung on or fastened together by a thread.
1796. Mrs. M. Robinson, Angelina, I. 230. No blithesome groups, thridding the roseate wreath, Or tripping in fantastic measures by.
1877. S. Lanier, Tampa Robins, 11. I Will … thrid the heavenly orange-tree With orbits bright of minstrelsy.
3. fig. To run or pass like a continuous thread through the whole length or course of; to pervade.
1830. Examiner, 485/2. The melody which threads the first duct.
1858. Eclectic Rev., Ser. VI. III. 413. The burr of which [consonants] … thridding the open music of the vowel-sounds.
1871. Earle, Philol. Eng. Tongue, 259. One spirit and purpose threads the whole, and gives a sort of unity.
1905. Westm. Gaz., 13 Oct., 1/3. A haunting mystical vision that always threaded my slumbers.
b. intr. for refl. To connect itself as by a thread.
a. 1848. R. W. Hamilton, Rew. & Punishm., ii. (1853), 78. It has been seen how thought can thrid with thought, and feeling flow into feeling.
4. trans. To make one’s way through (a narrow place, a passage presenting difficulties or obstacles, a forest, a crowd, or the like); to pass skilfully through the intricacies or difficulties of. To thread out, to pick out and follow, to trace (a path).
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., V. v. 17. It is as hard to come, as for a Camell To thred the posterne of a Needles eye. Ibid. (1607), Cor., III. i. 127. They would not thred the Gates.
a. 1619. Fletcher, Bonduca, IV. ii. See where he thrids the thickets.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Vanitie, i. The fleet Astronomer can bore, And thred the spheres with his quick-piercing Minde.
1751. Smollett, Per. Pic., xcvi. (1779), IV. 175. A captain of the guards, who … had threaded every station in their community.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, I. vi. ¶ 3. I threaded all the windings of this new labyrinth.
1832. Lytton, Eugene A., IV. x. Events thicken, and the maze is nearly thridden.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, i. A labyrinth of narrow streets … rarely threaded by the stranger.
1866. Dora Greenwell, Ess., 219. A land intersected and thridden by the channels of benevolence.
b. To thread one’s way, course, etc., in same sense.
1825. Coleridge, Aids Refl. (1848), I. 323. He … thrids his way through the odorous and flowering thickets into open spots of greenery.
1868. E. Edwards, Ralegh, I. x. 179. He … proceeded to thread his course amidst the tortuous … channels.
1887. Bowen, Æneid, II. 634. I … through foemen and flames, by the goddess’s grace Thrid my way.
c. intr. = b.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 5. The other [stream] … threds through the middle of the Town.
1872. Jenkinson, Guide Eng. Lakes (1879), 68. Bend to the left … and thread in an up-and-down course amongst the bare, rugged rocks.
1893. Stevenson, Catriona, xi. 119. I … threaded through the midst of it [the wood], and returned to the west selvage. Ibid., xxii. 260. We thrid all the way among shoals.
† d. trans. To thread the difference: to trace out or follow the narrow dividing line. Obs. rare.
1627. Wren, Serm. at Whitehall, 17 Feb., 15. The Epidemiall prophanation of our times, that will thrid you a difference now betwixt this feare and perfect worship.
5. intr. To move in a thread-like course or manner; to flow in a slender stream; to creep, twine, wind.
1611, 1626. [see THREADING vbl. sb.].
a. 1879. T. Ormond, in Mod. Sc. Poets, II. 356. Gracefully the ivy green Did round the craprods thread.
6. trans. To weave as a thread into the texture of something; to interweave.
1853. Rock, Ch. of Fathers, III. II. 25. These old ‘tropes’ … used to be twined and threaded into the words of the daily service.
b. passive. To be penetrated, permeated, or interspersed as with threads.
1861. Dora Greenwell, Poems, 215. The thrice refined gold Was thrid with baser clay. Ibid. (1875), Liber Human., 108. The elements which, mixed and threaded with whatever imaginable alloy, go to make up man’s moral nature.
1891. Zangwill, Bachelors’ Club, 21. His tawny hair, too, began to be threaded with silver.
17. To bring on or induce gradually, as by the gentle drawing of a thread or line; to lead on. Obs.
1709. Wodrow, Corr. (1842), I. 48. Our corruptions, and so our desolation for a season, are like to be threaded in gradually upon us. Ibid., 61. Provided we be not gradually threaded in to greater encroachments on the Church’s rights this way. Ibid. (1716), II. 202. We are like to be threaded out of the exercise of our power as to fasts and thanksgivings by the Assembly.
8. To stretch threads across or over; to intersperse with threads so stretched.
1884. Chr. Commw., 20 March, 536/2. The devil’s long lines of temptation, with which the stream of life is so thickly threaded.
1907. Westm. Gaz., 25 Feb., 2/3. Heavy spraying … and threading [fruit-trees] … he has found to be a failure.
Mod. I am obliged to thread my crocuses and polyanthuses every spring to protect them from destructive birds.
9. To form a screw-thread on; to furnish (a bolt or the like) with a screw-thread.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, s.v. Screw, Threading is effected by a saw which [etc.].
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2074/1. Screw-threading machine.
1888. Hasluck, Model Engin. Handybk. (1900), 46. The extreme end is threaded for a nut, as shown in the section of cylinder.
1893. Brit. Jrnl. Photogr., XL. 801. A hole is bored in the neck and threaded, and the valve is screwed … in.
