wreath

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English

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WOTD – 24 December 2015

Etymology 1

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A wreath.
A wreath, or torse, in argent (silver) and gules (red) lies between the top of the helmet, under the eagle.

From Middle English wreth, wrethe (“coiled or rounded shape; decorative garland, wreath; chaplet, crown; ring”, noun),[1] from Old English wrǣd, wrǣð, wriþa (“bandage”), from from Proto-West Germanic *wrīþan (“to twist; to weave”), from Proto-Germanic *wrīþaną (“to twist; to weave”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to twist”).[2] Doublet of wreathe and writhe.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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wreath (plural wreaths)

  1. Something twisted, intertwined, or curled.
    a wreath of smoke    a wreath of clouds
    • 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid: A Tale of Adventures, being the Strange Experiences of Roy LeFevre in the Desert during the Year 1884, London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dublin: Blackie and Son, →OCLC:
      The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. Whirling wreaths and columns of burning wind, rushed around and over them.
  2. An ornamental circular band made, for example, of plaited flowers and leaves, and used as decoration; a garland or chaplet, especially one given to a victor.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. 'Twas a dismal sort of place, with hair wreaths, and wax fruit, and tin lambrekins, and land knows what all.
  3. A defect in glass.
  4. (heraldry) An appendage to the shield, placed above it, and supporting the crest; an orle, a torse. It generally represents a twist of two cords of silk, one tinctured like the principal metal, the other like the principal color in the coat of arms.[3]
    Synonyms: orle, torse
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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See wreathe.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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wreath (third-person singular simple present wreaths, present participle wreathing, simple past and past participle wreathed)

  1. Alternative spelling of wreathe
    • 1579, E. K., “[December. Ægloga Duodecima.] Glosse.”, in Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 51, verso:
      Sale) or Salovv a kind of vvoodde like VVyllovv, fit to vvreath and bynde in leapes to catch fiſh vvithall.
      The extensive commentaries and glosses included with the work are ascribed to an “E. K.”, who is sometimes assumed to be an alias of Spenser himself.
    • 1580, Iohn Lyly [i.e., John Lyly], Euphues and His England. […], London: […] [Thomas East] for Gabriell Cawood, […], →OCLC, folio 63, recto:
      [T]o wreſt the will of man, or to wreath his hearte to our humours, it is not in the compaſſe of Arte, but in the power of the moſt higheſt.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 56, page 203:
      [F]or griefe his hart did grate, / And from ſo heauie ſight his head did vvreath, / Accuſing fortune, and too cruell fate, / VVhich plonged had faire Lady in ſo vvretched ſtate.
    • c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 23, column 2:
      [Y]ou haue learn'd (like Sir Protheus) to vvreath your Armes like a Male-content: […]
    • 1607, Edward Topsell, “Of the Lyon. [The Medicines of the Lyon.]”, in The Historie of Fovre-footed Beastes. […], London: […] William Iaggard, →OCLC, page 487:
      The bitings of lyons and ſuch like beaſtes are ſo dangerous, in regard of their ſtrength and fierceneſſe, for they doe not onely bite, but alſo vvreath and teare the vvounds vvhich they make vvith their teeth, or nailes: […]
    • 1659 December 30 (date written), Robert Boyle, “A Digression Containing Some Doubts Touching Respiration”, in New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects, (Made, for the Most Part, in a New Pneumatical Engine) […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] H[enry] Hall, printer to the University, for Tho[mas] Robinson, published 1660, →OCLC, page 379:
      [T]he Beards of vvilde Oates, and thoſe of divers other vvilde Plants; […] almoſt continually vvreath and unvvreath themſelves according to, even, the light variations of the temperature of the ambient Air.
    • 1662 May 24 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar), J[ohn] Evelyn, “Of the Other Necessaries, Instruments and Appurtenances Belonging to the Press; and Touched onely in the Precedent Chapter”, in C[harles] F[rancis] Bell, editor, Evelyn’s Sculptura with the Unpublished Second Part, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press [by Horace Hart […]], published 1906, →OCLC, book II (The Construction of the Rowling Press, and Manner how to Worke off the Plates), page 15:
      And forasmuch as by their frequent passing under the Roller, they [blankets for printing] are squezed together and become stubburne, and churlish: you shall doe well to spread and extend them at night; and the morning (ere you employ them) to wreath, rub, slap and smooth them till you have rendred them very soft and gentle: […]
    • 1677 (first performance), John Dryden, All for Love: Or, The World Well Lost. A Tragedy, […], [London]: […] Tho[mas] Newcomb, for Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC, Act I, page 5:
      [W]ith Laurels vvreath your poſts, / And ſtrovv vvith Flovv'rs the Pavement; […]
    • a. 1679 (date written), Andrew Marvell, “[Poems on Several Occasions.] The Fair Singer.”, in The Works of Andrew Marvell, Esq.: Poetical, Controversial, and Political, […], volume III, London: […] Henry Baldwin, and sold by [James] Dodsley, […], published 1776, →OCLC, stanza II, page 246:
      But hovv ſhould I avoid to be her ſlave, / VVhoſe ſubtle art inviſibly can vvreath / My fetters of the very air I breathe?
    • 1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, book II (Pleasure), page 436:
      Death's Harbingers, lye latent in the Draught: / And in the Flovv'rs that vvreath the ſparkling Bovvl, / Fell Adders hiſs, and poys'nous Serpents roll.
    • 1796, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Lines to a Beautiful Spring in a Village”, in Poems on Various Subjects, London: […] G[eorge] G[eorge] and J[ohn] Robinsons, and J[oseph] Cottle, […], →OCLC, page 28:
      Eſcap'd the flaſhing of the noontide hours / VVith one freſh garland of Pierian flovvers / (Ere from thy zephyr-haunted brink I turn) / My languid hand ſhall vvreath thy moſſy urn.
    • 1816, Lord Byron, “Stanzas for Music”, in Poems, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; by W[illiam] Bulmer and Co. […], →OCLC, stanza 4, page 18:
      Tho' wit may flash from fluent lips, and mirth distract the breast, / Through midnight hours that yield no more their former hope of rest; / 'Tis but as ivy-leaves around the ruin'd turret wreath, / All green and wildly fresh without, but worn and grey beneath.
Derived terms
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References

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  1. ^ “wrēth(e, n.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ Compare “wreath, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2024; “wreath, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “wreath”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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