sleave

English

Etymology

Compare Danish slöife, a loose knot, Swedish slejf (“a knot of ribbon”), German Schleife (“a loop”).

Verb

sleave (third-person singular simple present sleaves, present participle sleaving, simple past and past participle sleaved)

  1. (weaving) To separate, as threads; to divide, as a collection of threads.

Synonyms

Noun

sleave (plural sleaves)

  1. The knotted or entangled part of silk or thread.
  2. Silk not yet twisted; floss.
    • Shakespeare
      Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for sleave in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Anagrams
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