thread

From Middle English thred, þred, threed, from Old English þrǣd, from Proto-Germanic *þrēduz, from Proto-Indo-European *treh₁-tu-s, from *terh₁- (“rub, twist”). Cognates with Saterland Frisian Träid (“thread, wire”), West Frisian tried, Dutch draad, German Draht, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish tråd, and Icelandic þráður. Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian dredh (“twist, turn”). More at throw.

• IPA^(key): /θɹɛd/
  • (UK, US) IPA^(key): [θɾ̪̊ɛd]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛd
• Hyphenation: thread

thread (plural threads)

1. A long, thin and flexible form of material, generally with a round cross-section, used in sewing, weaving or in the construction of string.
   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

     He walked. To the corner of Hamilton Place and Picadilly, and there stayed for a while, for it is a romantic station by night. The vague and careless rain looked like threads of gossamer silver passing across the light of the arc-lamps.

2. A continued theme or idea.

   Synonym: topic

   All of these essays have a common thread.

   I’ve lost the thread of what you’re saying.

3. (engineering) A screw thread.
4. A sequence of connections.
   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIII:

     I was pondering these things, when an incident, and a somewhat unexpected one, broke the thread of my musings.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Chapter 21:

     ‘Let him go on. Do not interrupt him. He cannot go back, and maybe could not proceed at all if once he lost the thread of his thought.’

5. The line midway between the banks of a stream.
6. (computing) A unit of execution, lighter in weight than a process, usually sharing memory and other resources with other threads executing concurrently.
7. (Internet) A series of messages, generally grouped by subject, in which all messages except the first are replies to previous messages in the thread.
8. A filament, as of a flower, or of any fibrous substance, as of bark.
9. (figuratively) Composition; quality; fineness.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Ben Jonson

     A neat courtier, / Of a most elegant thread.

thread (third-person singular simple present threads, present participle threading, simple past threaded or (archaic) thrid, past participle threaded or (archaic) thridden)

1. (transitive) To put thread through.

   thread a needle

2. (transitive) To pass (through a narrow constriction or around a series of obstacles).

   I think I can thread my way through here, but it’s going to be tight.

   • 2013, Ben Smith, "", BBC Sport, 19 October 2013:

     Picking the ball up in his own half, Januzaj threaded a 40-yard pass into the path of Rooney to slice Southampton open in the blink of an eye.

3. To screw on, to fit the threads of a nut on a bolt

• threaded (as adjective)
• multithreaded

• sewing needle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• thread on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Dehart, dareth, dearth, hatred, hetdar

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /tʁɛd/
• (France) IPA^(key): /sʁɛd/

thread m (plural threads)

1. (anglicism, computing) Thread
2. (anglicism, Internet) Thread

• (computing) fil d'exécution, processus léger
• (Internet) fil de discussion, fil d'intérêt

From English thread

thread m (invariable)

1. (Internet) thread (series of messages)

thread m (plural threads)

1. (computing) thread (one of several units of execution running concurrently)