thread

[[t]θre̱d[/t]]

threads, threading, threaded

1) N-VAR Thread or a thread is a long very thin piece of a material such as cotton, nylon, or silk, especially one that is used in sewing.

This time I'll do it properly with a needle and thread.

...a tiny Nepalese hat embroidered with golden threads.

2) N-COUNT: usu with supp The thread of an argument, a story, or a situation is an aspect of it that connects all the different parts together.

The thread running through many of these proposals was the theme of individual power and opportunity...

All religions are united by the common threads of fighting evil and helping others...

The possible consequences so filled his mind that he lost the thread of Wan Da's narrative.

3) N-COUNT: usu N of n A thread of something such as liquid, light, or colour is a long thin line or piece of it.

A thin, glistening thread of moisture ran along the rough concrete sill.

...Venetian glass decorated with embedded threads of white.

...a corpulent man with threads of black hair plastered across his brow.

4) N-PLURAL You can refer to clothes as threads. [mainly AM, INFORMAL]

...a cheap place to pick up natty threads.

5) N-COUNT The thread on a screw, or on something such as a lid or a pipe, is the raised spiral line of metal or plastic around it which allows it to be fixed in place by twisting.

The screw threads will be able to get a good grip.

6) VERB If you thread your way through a group of people or things, or thread through it, you move through it carefully or slowly, changing direction frequently as you move.

[V way prep/adv] Slowly she threaded her way back through the moving mass of bodies.

[V way prep/adv] ...threading our way past little boats...

[V prep] We threaded through a network of back streets.

7) VERB If you thread a long thin object through something, you pass it through one or more holes or narrow spaces.

[V n through n] ...threading the laces through the eyelets of his shoes...

[V n through n] Air ducts and electrical cables were threaded through the complex structure...

[V n into n] Instruments developed at the hospital allow doctors to thread microscopic telescopes into the digestive tract.

8) VERB If you thread small objects such as beads onto a string or thread, you join them together by pushing the string through them.

[V n prep] Wipe the mushrooms clean and thread them on a string.

9) VERB When you thread a needle, you put a piece of thread through the hole in the top of the needle in order to sew with it.

[V n] I sit down, thread a needle, snip off an old button.

10) PHRASE: V inflects If you say that something is hanging by a thread, you mean that it is in a very uncertain state and is unlikely to survive or succeed.

The fragile peace was hanging by a thread as thousands of hardliners took to the streets.

11) PHRASE: V inflects If you pick up the threads of an activity, you start it again after an interruption. If you pick up the threads of your life, you become more active again after a period of failure or bad luck.

Many women have been able to pick up the threads of their former career.