weave

Formsweaves, weaving, wove, woven

Pluralweaves

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To form cloth or other objects by passing strands of material over and under one another.

   Skilled artisans weave silk into elaborate tapestries.

   She wove a blanket from hand-dyed wool over the winter.

   Note

   The oldest sense and the root of the cloth family: Old English wefan, from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to weave, braid". Its past forms are wove and woven, as in a loom wove the yarn or a woven blanket. The verb of swerving and winding looks identical but comes from a different word entirely.

2. 2
   verbintransitive

   To move in a winding course, turning and twisting from side to side.

   Skiers weave between the gates as they race downhill.

   The exhausted man weaved unsteadily down the sidewalk.

   Similarzigzag, snake, wind, swerve

   Note

   Here a second, unrelated verb takes over. It comes from Middle English weven, "to wander", probably from Old Norse veifa, "move around, wave", a cousin of Latin vibrare. It readily takes weaved rather than wove: a drunk weaved into another bar, and a footballer weaved past three challenges. It pairs naturally with swerving, and past or through names what is being dodged.

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To create a path or route by winding in and out or from side to side.

   Delivery riders weave shortcuts through the maze of back alleys.

   The taxi wove a route through quiet streets to avoid the traffic.

   Similarthread, wind

   Note

   The object is a route, most familiarly its way: an ambulance weaved its way through heavy traffic. Coleridge stretches it in Kubla Khan (1797) with "Weave a circle round him thrice". There the circle is traced around a person, half dance and half spell. It is the same Norse-derived verb as the swerving sense, with the path now made explicit.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To unite separate elements by close connection or intermixture.

   Skilled novelists weave several plot lines into a single narrative.

   The composer wove folk melodies into the body of the symphony.

   Similarblend, integrate, combine, fuse

   Note

   The figurative sense the poets reach for, usually built with into. Byron's Childe Harold (1816) has words "woven into song", and in King Lear Shakespeare has a matter that "weaves itself, perforce, into my business". That reflexive weave itself into suits things that enter a situation without being invited. The past participle stays woven here, just as it does at the loom.

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To compose something creatively and intricately; to invent or fabricate.

   Skilled liars weave excuses that sound completely believable.

   The poet wove a complex allegory about loss and renewal.

   Similarspin, concoct, invent, fabricate

6. 6
   nouncountable

   The particular pattern or method by which cloth is woven.

   The jacket's dense weave makes it nearly waterproof.

   Loose weaves let more air pass through the fabric.

   Similartexture

   Note

   A textile word for structure rather than material: it describes how the threads cross, so it takes adjectives like tight, loose, simple or complex. In Kax Wilson's A History of Textiles (1979), a complex weave marks a fabric as an import, while simple ones could have been made on either side of the Atlantic. Note the idiom of complex weave, with no article.

7. 7
   nouncountable

   Human or artificial hair worn to supplement or cover one's natural hair and alter one's appearance.

   The stylist sewed in a long weave that matched her natural color.

   Synthetic weaves cost far less than those made from human hair.

   Note

   A styling word with a clinical life as well. In Li and Maibach's Ethnic Skin and Hair (2021), weaves sit beside braids, twists, cornrows and dreadlocks as hairstyles a physician should ask about. The hair may be human or synthetic, attached to the scalp or to braided foundations. Unlike the textile noun, it names an object you wear, not a pattern of threads.

8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To form a web or cocoon by spinning silken threads.

   Garden spiders weave intricate webs across the hedge overnight.

   The silkworm wove a tight cocoon of fine thread.

   Similarspin

9. 9
   verbintransitive

   To swing the head from side to side over and over in a fixed, repetitive way, typically as a sign of stress.

   Horses confined for long periods may weave from boredom and stress.

   The stallion weaved at the stall door throughout the storm.

   Note

   A stable word, used of animals and horses above all. The head and forequarters rock from side to side in the same fixed rhythm, over and over. Keepers read it as a sign of confinement or frustration, so a horse weaving at the stall door is saying something about how it is kept. It is not used of people.

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