Wiktionary

wreathe

English

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WOTD – 25 July 2024

Etymology

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From Middle English wrethen (“to twist”),[1] partly:[2]

Pronunciation

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Verb

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wreathe (third-person singular simple present wreathes, present participle wreathing, simple past and past participle wreathed)

  1. (also figurative) Senses relating to intertwining or twisting.
    1. (transitive)
      1. To coil, curl, or twist (something); to shape (something) into circles or coils.
        Antonyms: uncoil, uncurl, untwist, unwreathe
        • 1594, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, [verse 147], signature Fiij, recto, lines [878–880]:
          [S]he ſtarts like one that ſpies an adder, / VVreath'd vp in fatall folds iuſt in his vvay, / The feare vvhereof doth make him ſhake, & ſhudder, […]
        • 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, Bartholinus [i.e., Thomas Bartholin], “Of the Guts in General”, in Nicholas Culpeper, Abdiah Cole, transl., Bartholinus Anatomy; […] (The Physitian’s Library), London: […] Peter Cole […], →OCLC, 1st book (Of the Lower Belly), page 22, column 1:
          The Guts are oblong, round, hollovv bodies variouſly vvreathed about, joyning vvith the Pylorus and reaching to the Fundament; ſerving to receive the Chylus and the Excrements of the firſt Concoction.
        • 1738, James Thomson, Agamemnon. A Tragedy. […], London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene vii, page 13:
          [W]e ſpread our Sails, / And left that Bay, […] vvhile Troy, / Or vvhat vvas Troy, yet vvreathing Smoak to Heaven, / And Ida’s vvoody Top, receding, ſunk / Beneath the trembling Main: […]
        • 1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], published 1753, →OCLC, page 35:
          There at the foot of yonder nodding beech / That vvreathes its old fantaſtic roots ſo high, / His liſtleſs length at noontide vvou'd he ſtretch, / And pore upon the brook that babbles by.
      2. To adorn (someone or something) with a garland or wreath.
      3. Of flowers, leaves, etc.: to form the shape of a wreath around (something).
        Synonyms: enwreathe, inwreathe
        • 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, “Effusion XXXVI. Written in Early Youth, the Time, an Autumnal Evening.”, in Poems on Various Subjects, London: […] G[eorge] G[eorge] and J[ohn] Robinsons, and J[oseph] Cottle, […], →OCLC, page 102:
          O'er Diſappointment's vvintry deſart fling / Each flovver, that vvreath'd the devvy locks of Spring, / VVhen bluſhing, like a bride, from Hope's trim bovver / She leapt, avvaken'd by the pattering ſhovver.
        • 1942, Emily Carr, “The Orange Lily”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC; republished as The Book of Small (eBook; 0400201.txt), [Australia]: Project Gutenberg Australia, February 2004:
          "Come see my everlasting flowers, Small—my flowers that never die." […] The flowers crackled at Anne's touch. "Enough to wreathe the winter's dead," she said with a happy little sigh and, taking a pink bud from the pile, twined it in the lace of her black cap.
      4. (chiefly passive voice) Often followed by in and the thing encircling: to coil or spiral around, or encircle, (someone or something); (by extension) to cover or envelop (someone or something).
        (encircle): Synonyms: enwreathe, inwreathe
        (cover): Synonyms: enshroud, surround
        Antonym: unwreathe
        wreathed in mystery
        At the funeral, a circle of comrades wreathed the grave of the honoured deceased.
      5. (also reflexive, chiefly passive voice) Followed by about, around, or round: to coil, twist, or wind (oneself or something) around a person or thing; (by extension) to cause (oneself or something) to cover or encircle a person or thing.
        Synonyms: enwreathe, inwreathe
        Antonym: unwreathe
        • 1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “The Table of Verbes”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […] [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, 3rd boke, folio ccccxi, recto, column 2; reprinted Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, October 1972, →OCLC:
          He had a kercher wreathed aboute his heed: […]
        • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 203, column 1:
          [A]bout his necke / A greene and guilded ſnake had vvreath'd it ſelfe, […]
        • 1603 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, Seianus His Fall, London: […] G[eorge] Elld, for Thomas Thorpe, published 1605, →OCLC, Act V, signature [K4], verso:
          Minutius tells vs here, my Lord, / That, a nevv Head being ſet vpon your Statue. / A Rope is ſince found vvreath'd about it; […]
        • 1820, A[laric] A[lexander] Watts, “Lines Written on a Blank Leaf of ‘Aonian Hours’”, in J[eremiah] H[olmes] Wiffen, Aonian Hours; and Other Poems, 2nd edition, London: S[amuel] Manning, […] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; and for John Warren, […], →OCLC, stanza I, page viii:
          And brighter blooms than those thou wreathest / Round thy wild chords, some lyres have crowned; / But none may boast, 'mid the tuneful throng, / A lovelier garland, or purer song!
        • 1834, John G. Ryan, “The Angel of Death”, in Nugæ Poeticæ. Original Poems, Huddersfield, Yorkshire: T[homas] G[reen] Lancashire, […]; London: Simpkin and Co., →OCLC, page 82:
          Yes, when in Eden's bowers our parents [Adam and Eve] fell, / Thou [Azrael] wreathedst round their hearts thy dead'ning spell, / Bidding the seeds of death luxuriate there, / To mar those forms, once beautiful and fair!
        • 1850, Herman Melville, “Selvagee Contrasted with Mad-Jack”, in White Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 48:
          The article used is called a selvagee. […] It is a slender, tapering, unstranded piece of rope; prepared with much solicitude; peculiarly flexible; and wreathes and serpentines round the cable and messenger like an elegantly-modeled garter-snake round the twisted stalks of a vine.
        • 1877 April 1, Alfred Tennyson, “[Translations, etc.] Achilles over the Trench. Iliad, xviii. 202.”, in Ballads and Other Poems, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], published 1880, →OCLC, page 179:
          [R]ound / The warrior's puissant shoulders Pallas flung / Her fringed ægis, and around his head / The glorious goddess wreath'd a golden cloud, / And from it lighted an all-shining flame.
      6. (chiefly passive voice) Often followed by together: to entwine or twist (two or more people or things) together; to intertwine, to interweave.
        Synonym: interwreathe
      7. (archaic) To form (a crown, garland, wreath, etc.) by entwining or twisting flowers, leaves, etc., together; also, to entwine or twist (flowers, leaves, etc.) together to form a crown, garland, wreath, etc.
        • 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature [Hh3], verso, lines 888–893:
          On th' other ſide, Adam, ſoon as he heard / The fatal Treſpaſs don by Eve, amaz'd, / Aſtonied ſtood and Blank, vvhile horror chill / Ran through his veins, and all his joynts relax'd; / From his ſlack hand the Garland vvreath'd for Eve / Dovvn drop'd, and all the faded Roſes ſhed: […]
        • 1794, Robert Southey, Wat Tyler. A Dramatic Poem. In Three Acts, London: J[ohn] M‘Creery, […] for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, […], published 1817, →OCLC, Act I, page 8:
          [Y]our friend Piers / Wreath'd me this cowslip garland for my head— […]
        • 1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, pages 3–4, lines 6-11:
          Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing / A flowery band to bind us to the earth, / Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth / Of noble natures, of the gloomy days, / Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways / Made for our searching: […]
        • 1849, John Ruskin, “The Lamp of Beauty”, in The Seven Lamps of Architecture, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, section II, page 95:
          [M]an's invention could not reach without frank imitation. His next step was to gather the flowers themselves, and wreathe them in his capitals [of columns].
        • 1892, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Akbar’s Dream”, in The Death of Œnone, Akbar’s Dream, and Other Poems, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., […], →OCLC, page 27:
          I seem no longer like a lonely man / In the king's garden, gathering here and there / From each fair plant the blossom choicest-grown / To wreathe a crown not only for the king / But in due time for every Mussulmân, / Brahmin, and Buddhist, Christian, and Parsee, / Thro' all the warring world of Hindustan.
      8. (Southeast England) To strengthen (an earthen embankment) with hurdles of wattle.
      9. (obsolete) To form (something) by entwining or twisting two or more things together; also, to entwine or twist (something) with another thing.
        • a. 1548 (date written), “[Translations from the Bible.] Ecclesiastes 4.”, in Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, transl., edited by Frederick Morgan Padelford, The Poems of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (University of Washington Publications, Language and Literature; I), Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington Press, published October 1920, →OCLC, page 88, lines 32–34:
          Yf ther be twaine, one may defend the tother ouer throwne. / The single twyned cordes may no suche stresse indure / As cables brayded thre fould may, together wrethed swer [i.e., sure].
        • 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.
        • 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?
        • a. 1772 (date written), [Thomas] Gray, “Ode XI. The Death of Hoel. From the Welch.”, in The Poems of Mr. Gray. […], York, Yorkshire: […] A[nn] Ward; and sold by J[ames] Dodsley, […]; and J[ohn] Todd, […], published 1775, →OCLC, stanza 3, page 59:
          Every VVarrior's manly neck / Chains of regal honour deck, / VVreath'd in many a golden link: […]
        • a. 1801 (date written), William Cowper, “[Miscellaneous Poems.] Gratitude. Addressed to Lady Hesketh.”, in The Poetical Works of William Cowper. […], volume II, Edinburgh: James Nichol, […]; London: James Nisbet and Co. […], published 1854, →OCLC, page 141, line stanza 1:
          This cap to my cousin I owe; / She gave it, and gave me beside, / Wreath'd into an elegant bow, / The ribbon with which it is tied.
        • a. 1850 (date written), Henry [Hope] Reed, quoting Hartley Coleridge, “Essay II. Poems of Hartley Coleridge.”, in Lectures on the British Poets, London: John Farquhar Shaw, […], published 1857, →OCLC, page 392:
          Thou [poesy] wreathedst my first hours in a rosy chain, / Rocking the cradle of my infancy.
      11. (obsolete, Scotland, figurative) Followed by on: to place (a yoke, symbolizing a burden) on someone's neck.
        • 1759, William Robertson, “Book V”, in The History of Scotland, during the Reigns of Queen Mary and of King James VI, till His Accession to the Crown of England. […], volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar […], →OCLC, page 154:
          [T]he French troops vvere to be employed as inſtruments for ſubduing the Scots, and vvreathing the yoke about their necks.
    2. (intransitive)
      1. Followed by about, around, or round: to coil, twist, or wind around a person or thing.
        Antonym: unwreathe
      2. Of mist, smoke, etc.: to move with a coiling, spiralling, or twisting motion.
      3. (obsolete, rare) Followed by with: to become intertwined with something.
      4. (obsolete, chiefly Scotland) Of snow: to form drifts.
  2. Senses relating to vigorous movement.
    1. (transitive)
      1. To arrange (one's expression, face, etc.) into a smile; also (reflexive), of the lips, mouth, etc.: to arrange (itself or themselves) into a smile.
      2. (reflexive) To bend or turn (oneself), often continuously; to twist and turn, to writhe.
      3. (reflexive, figurative, archaic) To artfully introduce (oneself) into a situation, a person's thoughts, etc.; to insinuate.
      4. (obsolete) To cause (the body, limbs, etc.) to twist violently; to contort, to writhe.
      5. (obsolete) To rip or tear (something); to rend.
        • 1599, Iohn Locke [i.e., John Lok], “The Voyage of M. Iohn Locke to Ierusalem”, in Richard Hakluyt, The Second Volume of the Principal Nauigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation, […], 2nd edition, London: […] George Bishop, Ralph Newbery, and Robert Barker, →OCLC, 1st part, page 106:
          The ſame day in the afternoone we ſawe in the element, a cloud with a long tayle, like vnto the tayle of a ſerpent, which cloud is called in Italian Cion, the tayle of this cloud did hang as it were into the ſea: […] The Marriners reported to vs that it had this propertie, that if it ſhould happen to haue lighted on any part of the ſhippe, that it would rent and wreth ſayles, maſt, ſhroudes and ſhippe and all in manner like a wyth: on the land, trees, houſes, or whatſoeuer elſe it lighteth on, it would rent and wreth.
        • 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: […]
      6. (obsolete) To turn (something) violently around or aside; to wrench, to wring.
        • 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.
        • 1614, Samuel Purchas, “[Asia.] Of the Diuers Sects, Opinions, and Alterations of Religion, amongst the Hebrewes.”, in Purchas His Pilgrimage. Or Relations of the World and the Religions Observed in All Ages and Places Discouered, from the Creation vnto this Present. […], 2nd edition, London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, book II (Of the Hebrewe Nation, and Religion from the Beginning thereof to Our Time), pages 136–137:
          They killed a man vvhich vvas a firſt-borne, vvreathing his head from his bodie, and embalming the ſame vvith ſalt and ſpices: & then vvrote vpon a plate of gold the name of an vncleane ſpirit, and putting the ſame vnder the head, ſet it vpon a vvall, & burned Candles before it and vvorſhipped the ſame.
        • 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: […]
        • 1674, Robert Hooke, Animadversions on the First Part of the Machina Coelestis of the Honourable, Learned, and Deservedly Famous Astronomer Johannes Hevelius […], London: […] T[homas] R[oycroft] for John Martyn, printer to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 52:
          This Plate […] muſt be vvrenched or vvreithed, ſo that the Plain thereof muſt ſtand parallel to the Plain of the Index-Frame, and by the vvreithing of it […], as aforeſaid, there is room left for the Screvv to lye obliquely, vvithout the Screvvs touching the aforeſaid Plate, or grating againſt it.
        • 1712 May, [Alexander Pope], “The Rape of the Locke. An Heroi-comical Poem.”, in Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, canto II, page 365:
          For this your Locks in Paper Durance bound, / For this vvith tort'ring Irons vvreath'd around?
      7. (obsolete) Followed by from: to take (something) by force; to wrest.
      8. (obsolete, rare) To make (a bow) by bending forward.
        • 1730, James Thomson, “Autumn. Inscribed to the Right Honourable Arthur Onslow, Esq; Speaker of the House of Commons.”, in The Seasons, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 185, lines 1196–1200:
          […] Thoſe of fairer front, / But equal inhumanity, in courts, / And ſlippery pomp delight, in dark cabals; / VVreathe the deep bovv, diffuſe the lying ſmile, / And tread the vveary labyrinth of ſtate.
      9. (obsolete, figurative) To give (spoken or written words) a false or strained meaning; to twist.
    2. (intransitive) To bend or turn, often continuously; to twist and turn, to writhe.

Conjugation

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Conjugation of wreathe
infinitive (to) wreathe
present tense past tense
1st-person singular wreathe wreathed, wreath'd†
2nd-person singular wreathe, wreathest† wreathed, wreathedst†, wreath'd†
3rd-person singular wreathes, wreatheth† wreathed, wreath'd†
plural wreathe
subjunctive wreathe wreathed, wreath'd†
imperative wreathe —
participles wreathing wreathed, wreath'd†

†Archaic or obsolete.

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “wrēthen, v.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “wreathe, v.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2023; “wreathe, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “wrīthen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. ^ “wrēth(e, n.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Anagrams

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