loom

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To come into view as a massive, distorted, or indistinct image: "I faced the icons that loomed through the veil of incense” ( Fergus M. Bordewich). See Synonyms at appear.
2. v. To appear to the mind in a magnified and threatening form: "Stalin looms over the whole human tragedy of 1930-1933” ( Robert Conquest).
3. v. To seem imminent; impend: Revolution loomed but the aristocrats paid no heed.
4. n. A distorted, threatening appearance of something, as through fog or darkness.
5. n. An apparatus for making thread or yarn into cloth by weaving strands together at right angles.
6. v. To weave (a tapestry, for example) on a loom.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A utensil; a tool; a weapon; an article in general: now used only in composition, as in heir-loom, workloom, etc. See heirloom.
2. n. A machine for weaving any fabric from yarn or thread. The essential parts of a loom are: the frame, which supports the working parts; the yarn-beam, at the back part of the frame, upon which the warp-threads are wound; the cloth-beam, at the front part of the frame, upon which the cloth is wound as the weaving proceeds; the heddles and their mounting; the reed; and the batten (otherwise called lay and lathe), which carries the reed. The warp-threads extend in parallel relation from the yarn-beam to the cloth-beam, being also passed serially through the loops or eyes of the heddles, or harness, and through the interspaces of the reed. The operations of winding the warp-threads upon the yarn-beam, and passing them in due order through the loops or eyes of the heddles, and the interspaces of the reed, are collectively called “setting up the piece.” The function of the heddles is to form the shed for the passage of the shuttle. The warp-threads are separated systematically by the heddles into two or more series, each controlled and alternately drawn upward and downward by the vertical motion of the heddles, thus leaving an opening or shed between the ranks of warp-threads, through which the shuttle is thrown or shot by the hand, or by pickers operated by the hand of the weaver in the hand-loom, or by picker-staff mechanism in the power-loom. (See heddle and picker.) The reed is carried by the batten, which swings radially on its bearings through an arc small in proportion to the radius. The reed is composed of a series of thin slats or wires arranged in parallel relation between two parallel bars placed at such distance asunder that the threads of the warp passing through the interspaces between the slats or wires may be serially opened or separated by the heddles, in forming the shed, without impinging upon these bars. The function of the reed is to force the thread of weft, woof, or filling, as passed between the warp-threads by the shuttle, as near as desirable to that part of the weft-thread which has just previously been embraced by the warp-threads. For this purpose the batten is swung so that the slats or wires of the reed drive the weft-thread against the previously woven part of the texture with a sharp blow. (See reed and batten.) The weft-thread is wound upon a bobbin or quill which turns upon a wire in the shuttle, and permits the thread to unwind when the shuttle passes to and fro through the sheds as the latter are successively formed by the action of the heddles. The shuttle is made of a piece of hard wood pointed at each end, and having a recess in the body for the reception of the bobbin or quill. Frequently the pointed ends are finished with metal. (See shuttle.) Narrow-fabric looms generally use a thread-carrier or eye-pointed needle as a substitute for the shuttle. (See positive-motion loom, below.) The Jacquard attachment is a device for forming sheds or openings for the passage of the shuttle between the warp-threads, invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard of Lyons, used as a substitute for the heddle or heald mechanism previously employed in the loom, and, by its introduction, marking an epoch in the manufacture of figured woven fabrics. It consists essentially of a series of perforated paper or metal cards which, one after another, are laid fiat upon the faces of an intermittently revolving and perforated prism, in such manner that the perforations in the cards successively and exactly superimpose corresponding perforations in the prism. Wires, each separately controlling the engagement with a lifting-bar or griffe of a hooked wire connected with an individual warp-thread or set of warp-threads, are made by suitable mechanism to enter the holes of the cards when by the rotation of the prism each is successively brought to a special position, the wires so entering causing all the individual threads with which they are connected to be lifted above the common level of the warp-threads, thus forming a shed for the passage of the shuttle. Each card thus represents a different shed, and as there may be an indefinite number of cards joined together by flexible connections, which, like an endless chain, are carried upon the perforated revolving prism, and as there may be also a number of shuttles carrying woof-threads of different tints, there is no limit to variety of form and color in the figures that may be woven. The prism carrying the system of cards moves at each partial rotation through an arc the chord of which is equal to the width of one of the faces. The introduction of this method of weaving at once advanced the art of figure-weaving beyond the limit of mere geometrical patterns into the realm of fine-art industry, as even the finest tapestries may be successfully imitated by it. Looms are for the most part distinguished by the names of the material they weave, as ribbon-loom, figure-loom (figured-fabric loom), carpet-loom, etc., and also by the names of the inventors, as the Jacquard loom. They differ chiefly in the harness-system, or the manner in which the warp-threads are raised to form the shed and thus produce the figures in the finished fabric, and in the method of impelling the shuttle. There may be several shuttles in a loom, in order to introduce a variety of weft-threads, and thus produce more complicated patterns than can be formed by a single weft. Hand-looms are now almost wholly devoted to fine silks and carpets, nearly all other fabrics being woven on power-looms, either with or without the Jacquard attachment.
3. n. The part of an oar between the blade and the handle; the shaft.
4. n. A chimney.
5. To weave.
6. To shine.
7. Specifically To appear indistinctly; come dimly into view, as from below the horizon or through a mist; rise up before the vision so as to give the impression of indistinct bulk or largeness: stand out prominently in the prospect: often used figuratively.
8. n. A coming indistinctly or vaguely into view; also, the indistinct or unnaturally enlarged appearance of anything, as land, seen at a distance or through a fog. See looming.
9. n. The track of a fish.
10. n. A loon. See loon.
11. n. A guillemot.
12. To put into or adjust in a loom.

Wiktionary

1. v. to impend; to threaten or hang over
2. n. dated loon (bird of order Gaviformes)
3. n. A utensil; tool; a weapon; (usually in compound) an article in general.
4. n. A frame or machine of wood or other material, in which a weaver forms cloth out of thread; a machine for interweaving yarn or threads into a fabric, as in knitting or lace making
5. n. That part of an oar which is near the grip or handle and inboard from the rowlock

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) See loon, the bird.
2. n. A frame or machine of wood or other material, in which a weaver forms cloth out of thread; a machine for interweaving yarn or threads into a fabric, as in knitting or lace making.
3. n. (Naut.) That part of an oar which is near the grip or handle and inboard from the rowlock.
4. v. To appear above the surface either of sea or land, or to appear enlarged, or distorted and indistinct, as a distant object, a ship at sea, or a mountain, esp. from atmospheric influences
5. v. To rise and to be eminent; to be elevated or ennobled, in a moral sense.
6. v. To become imminent; to impend.
7. n. The state of looming; esp., an unnatural and indistinct appearance of elevation or enlargement of anything, as of land or of a ship, seen by one at sea.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. come into view indistinctly, often threateningly
2. v. weave on a loom
3. v. hang over, as of something threatening, dark, or menacing
4. n. a textile machine for weaving yarn into a textile
5. v. appear very large or occupy a commanding position