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The Lexis of Cloth and Clothing Project
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thread

.
Searchable Lemmata: thræd (OE), threde (ME), threde (OScots), thread (MdE).
Alternate Forms: træd, thredde, threid, thride, tred, trede, tredde, therd, therde, þræd, þred, ðrade, bræde, þrædum, thredes, thredus, þreades, thrededis.

    Definitions and Defining Citations:

1a(n.) Raw Material; with regard to cloth and clothing: (a) continuous fibre or strand formed from spinning short fibres together [count or mass noun]; yarn; sometimes distinguished from silk. Any of the lengths of thread from which cloth is woven. [Appears in surnames from at least the early 13th century].(ante 1150 still in current use)
1. Nim þane þisse wyrt wyrtrume & 3ewyrþ to ane hefelbræde [OE hefelþræde] & ahoh to ðinum syran Medical. (length of thread) [MED Hrl.HApul. ((Hrl 6258B) 229/8) circa 1150]
2. Heo draweþ heore wede Mid seolkene þrede Ilaced and ibunde Poetic. [MED Sayings St.Bede ((Jes-O 29) 164-5) ante 1300]
3. [2030] ... Depeynted ... Saugh I ... the sharpe swerd ouer his heed Hangynge by a subtil twynes threed ... Som wol ben armed in an haubergeoun [vrr. habergeon, haberioun, habirioun, haburgeon, haburgoun], And in a brestplate and in a light gypoun [vrr. gypon, Iopoun, Iepon, gippoun, grippoun] Poetic, Romance. twynes threed = double stitched? [MED, s.v. 'thred(e), n.', 1a] [MED Chaucer CT.Kn. ((Manly-Rickert) A.2030-2120) circa 1385]
4. A peire of bedis eke she bere Upon a las, all of whit threde. Poetic, Romance, Vision. (work: a1400?) [MED RRose ((Htrn 409) 7370-) ante 1425]
5. [5.30a] ... Grete disceites ... hurtith the pouere Clothe makers, and the Clothe sellers ... [5.30b] ... mete clothe by yerde and ynche, nowe they woll mete by yerde and handfull, the whiche groweth to encrece of the byere, .ij. yerdes of every clothe of .xxiiij. yerdes, ... ; for whan a lord schall bye his lyvere, he schalle synde it in mesure or in the pris, and so they be oppressed with grete unresonable mesurynge of thaire clothe; for there as any merchaunt of this londe, excepte at London, will make a clothe in mesurynge .xxiiij. yerdes, they woll make therof .xxij. or lasse, seyinge that it is the mesure of London, by the whiche oppression there be the many men sore hurte. Please it to youre wise discretion to pray the kyng oure soverain lord to considre the premisses, ... to be on certeyne mesure there, as the kepere of aunage of clothe is, that he have a lyne made of silke or of threde of trewe mesure, in manere of streite cors, aselyd at bothe endys, aftere the avys of the barouns of the eschekere, and every kepere of the awnage to paie for his lyne, the whiche lyne conteynynge in lenght .xij. yerdes and .xij. ynches, and the said lyne markid at every yerde an ynche, and at the ende of the half yerde and half ynch, quartere of yerde quartere of ynche, to mete an hole clothe, or a dosenne brode or streite, mesurynge for the dosenne of wete clothe .xij. yerdes and .xij. ynches, and of secce clothe nought wete, .xiiij. yerdes and .xiiij. ynches, so mesurynge the lenght to the ende of the clothe aftere it is of lenght, in manere as is above rehersyd, whan the said kepere of aunage is required, takyng for his laboure, for every hole clothe of brood cloth, .i. d., and for every dosenne brode clothe, obole, and for every hole clothe of streite, obole, and for every desenne of streite clothe, quarte, and in the citee of London and othere citees, burghs, feires and markettes, where clothe ys moste used to be solde, that there be a kepere of the aunage or his depute, redy to doo trouth by twene marchaunt and marchaunt, if he be requered: provided, that if the marchaunt seller, have a lyne aselyd of the kynges seal of the eschekere in manere above rehersed aredy, than he hymself to mesure his clothe thereby in manere resonable, if they may not accorde to mete by the yerde, any fraunchise notwithstondyng, hole clothe, or a doseyn brode or streite ... Legal. Citations from MED compared against and extended with PROME: Anne Curry (ed.), 'Edward IV: Parliament of November 1439, Text and Translation', in The Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, ed. C. Given-Wilson et al., 5.30, columns a-b. Internet version, at http://www.sd-editions.com/PROME, accessed on 2 June 2010. Scholarly Digital Editions, Leicester: 2005. [MED RParl. (5.30a-b) 1439]
6. Ilche þreed of siche cloþis þat ben tuo wast & too costliche beriþ wiþ hym a wrong boþe to god & man ... 3if þise cloþis ben gurde and more large in widnesse, þei beren on hem more synne Ecclesiastic/Regula. (work: a1400; citations from individual page of text may not appear in original order) [MED Wycl.Pseudo-F. ((Dub 245) 316) circa 1475]
ME, MdE, OE, OScots; Primarily N/A.
Sex: N/A    Use: n/a    Status: n/a    Rank: n/a    Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.
1b(n.) Raw Material; threadlike material made from something other than textile.(ante 1400 ? still in current use)
1. [5.812] ... Hire heres clere ... with a thred of gold she wolde bynde ... [5.1043] ... She made hym were a pencel of hire sleve Heroic, Poetic, Romance. [MED Chaucer TC ((Benson-Robinson) 5.812-1043) ante 1425]
ME, MdE, OE, OScots; Primarily Poetic.
Sex: N/A    Use: n/a    Status: n/a    Rank: n/a    Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.

    Etymological Evidence:

Definite, OE thræd.
WF:
Etym Cog: þræd (OE), threde (ME).
References:
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