thread

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   pass through or into

   thread tape

2. 2
   verb

   remove facial hair by tying a fine string around it and pulling at the string

   Can you tell I had my eyebrows threaded yesterday?

3. 3
   verb

   pass a thread through

   thread a needle

4. 4
   noun

   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.

5. 5
   noun

   Any of various natural (as spiderweb, etc.) or manufactured filaments (as glass, plastic, metal, etc.).

   the threads of a spiderweb

6. 6
   noun

   A slender stream of water.

   a thread of water

7. 7
   noun

   An ordered course, that which connects the successive points in a discourse.

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

8. 8
   noun

   A precarious condition; something that which offers no real or otherwise perceived security.

   a life hanging by a thread

Etymology

From Middle English thred, þred, threed, from Old English þrǣd, from Proto-Germanic *þrēduz, from Proto-Indo-European *treh₁-tu-s, from *terh₁- (“rub, twist”). Cognates Cognate with Yola dreade (“thread”), Saterland Frisian Träid (“thread, wire”), Cimbrian draat (“string, thread”), Dutch draad (“thread, wire”), German Draht (“thread, wire”), Luxembourgish Drot (“wire”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish tråd (“thread, wire”), Faroese tráður (“thread”), Icelandic þráður (“thread”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian dredh (“twist, turn”). More at throw.