crewel

Pluralcrewels

Formscrewels

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   Loosely twisted worsted yarn used for embroidery.

   He stitched the leaves in green crewel, building up layers of color.

   The antique cushion was worked entirely in fine crewel.

   Note

   An old word with no known parent: its origin is unknown, and earlier spellings ran crule, crewle and croole. The yarn was never confined to needlework. Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler (1653) dresses a May-fly's body in greenish crewel. It works as a mass noun (a cushion worked in crewel) and as a count noun for the yarns themselves (a box of crewels).

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To create embroidery by stitching with loosely twisted worsted yarn.

   Artisans crewel these wall hangings with intricate floral scenes.

   She creweled the entire bedspread over several winters.

   Similarembroider

   Note

   A verb made straight from the embroidery yarn, so the material itself names the craft. Its spelling divides by country: American English keeps a single l (creweling, creweled), while British English doubles it (crewelling, crewelled), the same split seen in traveling and traveled. It takes a direct object, the piece being worked, so one crewels a cushion cover or a bedspread.

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