Thrĕad1, n.
n. [A-S. thread, Icel. thrādr, Sw. trād, Dan. traad, O. Fries. thread, N. Fries. tried, D. & L. Ger. draad, O. H. Ger. drāt, for drāhad, M. H. Ger. drāt, N. H. Ger. drāht, from A-S. thrāwan, O. H. Ger. drājan, drāhan, trāhan, N. H. Ger. drehen, to twist.]
Sense 1. A very small twist of flax, wool, cotton, silk, or other fibrous substance, drawn out to considerable length.
Sense 2. Hence, quality; fineness. [Obs. and rare.]
A neat courtier, Of a most elegant thread. B. Jonson.
Sense 3. A filament, as of a flower, or of any fibrous substance, as of bark; also, a line of gold or silver.
Sense 4. Something continued in a long course or tenor; as, the thread of a discourse. Burnet.
Sense 5. The prominent spiral part of a screw or nut.
Air-threads, the fine, white filaments which are seen floating in the air in summer, the production of spiders; gossamer.—Thread and thrum, the good and bad together. Halliwell.