thread

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Fine cord of a fibrous material, such as cotton or flax, made of two or more filaments twisted together and used in needlework and the weaving of cloth.
2. n. A piece of such cord.
3. n. A thin strand, cord, or filament of natural or manufactured material.
4. n. Something that suggests the fineness or thinness of such a strand, cord, or filament: a thread of smoke.
5. n. Something that suggests the continuousness of such a strand, cord, or filament: lost the thread of his argument.
6. n. A helical or spiral ridge on a screw, nut, or bolt.
7. n. Computer Science A portion of a program that can run independently of and concurrently with other portions of the program.
8. n. Computer Science A set of posts on a newsgroup, composed of an initial post about a topic and all responses to it.
9. n. Slang Clothes.
10. v. To pass one end of a thread through the eye of (a needle, for example).
11. v. To pass (something) through in the manner of a thread: thread the wire through the opening.
12. v. To pass a tape or film into or through (a device): thread a film projector.
13. v. To pass (a tape or film) into or through a device.
14. v. To connect by running a thread through; string: thread beads.
15. v. To make one's way cautiously through: threading dark alleys.
16. v. To make (one's way) cautiously through something.
17. v. To occur here and there throughout; pervade: "More than 90 geologic faults thread the Los Angeles area” ( Science News).
18. v. To machine a thread on (a screw, nut, or bolt).
19. v. To make one's way cautiously: threaded through the shoals and sandbars.
20. v. To proceed by a winding course.
21. v. To form a thread when dropped from a spoon, as boiling sugar syrup.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. plural A defect in glass articles: same as string, 15.
2. In electricity, to pass through and link with, as the lines of force of the magnetic S.—85 field of a D' Arsonval galvanometer pass through the suspended coil of the instrument.
3. n. A twisted filament of a fibrous substance, as cotton, flax, silk, or wool, spun out to considerable length. In a specific sense, thread is a compound cord consisting of two or more yarns firmly united together by twisting. The twisting together of the different strands or yarns to form a thread is effected by a thread-frame, or doubling-and-twisting mill, which accomplishes the purpose by the action of bobbins and fliers. Thread is used in some species of weaving, but its principal use is for sewing. The word is used especially for linen, as distinguished from sewing-silk and sewing-cotton, and as seen in the phrases thread lace and thread glove; but this distinction is not original, and is not always maintained. Compare cuts under spinning-wheel and spinning jenny.
4. n. A fine filament or thread-like body of any kind: as, a thread of spun glass; a thread of com-silk.
5. n. The prominent spiral part of a screw. See cuts under screw and screw-thread.
6. n. In mining, a thin seam, vein, or fissure filled with ore.
7. n. A very slender line applied on a surface: thus, in decorative art, thin and minute lines are so called to distinguish them from bands of color, which, though narrow, have a more appreciable width.
8. n. plural In conchology, the byssus.
9. n. A yarn-measure, the circumference of a reel, containing 1½, 2, 2½, or 3 yards.
10. n. That which runs through the whole course of something and connects its successive parts; hence, proper course or sequence; the main idea, thought, or purpose which runs through something: as, the thread of a discourse or story.
11. n. A clue.
12. n. Distinguishing property; quality; degree of fineness.
13. n. The thread of life. See phrase below.
14. n. A thin strip of gilded paper often used in Oriental brocaded stuffs.
15. n. Erroneously, gold wire.
16. n. See goldthread.
17. To pass a thread through the eye or aperture of, as a needle.
18. To string on a thread.
19. To pass through with the carefulness and precision of one who is threading a needle, implying narrowness or intricacy in that which is passed through.
20. To form a spiral projection on or a spiral groove in; furnish with a thread, as a screw: as, to thread a bolt.

Wiktionary

1. n. A long, thin and flexible form of material, generally with a round cross-section, used in sewing, weaving or in the construction of string.
2. n. A theme or idea.
3. n. A screw thread.
4. n. A sequence of connections.
5. n. The line midway between the banks of a stream.
6. n. computing A unit of execution, lighter in weight than a process, generally expected to share memory and other resources with other threads executing concurrently.
7. n. Internet A series of messages, generally grouped by subject, all but the first replies to previous messages in the thread.
8. v. transitive To put thread through.
9. v. transitive To pass (through a narrow constriction or around a series of obstacles).

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A very small twist of flax, wool, cotton, silk, or other fibrous substance, drawn out to considerable length; a compound cord consisting of two or more single yarns doubled, or joined together, and twisted; also, one fiber of a cord composed of multiple fibers.
2. n. A filament of any substance, as of glass, gold or silver; a filamentous part of an object, such as a flower; a component fiber of any or of any fibrous substance, as of bark.
3. n. The prominent part of the spiral of a screw or nut; the rib. See Screw, n., 1.
4. n. Something continued in a long course or tenor; a recurrent theme or related sequence of events in a larger story.
5. n. obsolete Fig.: Composition; quality; fineness.
6. n. (Computers) A related sequence of instructions or actions within a program that runs at least in part independent of other actions within the program; -- such threads are capable of being executed only in oprating systems permittnig multitasking.
7. n. (Computers) A sequence of messages posted to an on-line newsgroup or discussion group, dealing with the same topic; -- messages in such a thread typically refer to a previous posting, thus allowing their identification as part of the thread. Some news-reading programs allow a user to follow a single such thread independent of the other postings to that newsgroup.
8. v. To pass a thread through the eye of.
9. v. To pass or pierce through as a narrow way; also, to effect or make, as one's way, through or between obstacles; to thrid.
10. v. To form a thread, or spiral rib, on or in.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the raised helical rib going around a screw
2. v. pass through or into
3. v. remove facial hair by tying a fine string around it and pulling at the string
4. n. any long object resembling a thin line
5. n. a fine cord of twisted fibers (of cotton or silk or wool or nylon etc.) used in sewing and weaving
6. v. pass a thread through
7. v. thread on or as if on a string
8. v. to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course
9. n. the connections that link the various parts of an event or argument together