# wreathe
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English wrethen (“to twist”), partly:
* from wrethen (“twisted, wreathed”) (whence modern English wreathen (“(obsolete) made into a wreath; twisted”, adjective)), the past participle of writhen, wrythen (“to twist into a braid, coil, or wreath; to twist out of position or shape, deform; to twist together, intertwine; to twist about, writhe; to bend; to swathe, wrap; etc.”), from Old English wrīþan (“to twist; to bind; to wrap”), from Proto-West Germanic *wrīþan (“to twist; to weave”), from Proto-Germanic *wrīþaną (“to twist; to weave”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to twist”); and
* from wreth, wrethe (“coiled or rounded shape; decorative garland, wreath; chaplet, crown; ring”, noun), from Old English wrǣd, wrǣð, wriþa (“bandage”), from Proto-West Germanic *wrīþan (“to twist; to weave”) (see further above).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) enPR: rēth, IPA: /ɹiːð/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /ɹið/
* Rhymes: -iːð

### Verb

wreathe (third-person singular simple present wreathes, present participle wreathing, simple past and past participle wreathed)
* (also figurative) Senses relating to intertwining or twisting.
** (transitive)
*** 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.
*** To adorn (someone or something) with a garland or wreath.
**** 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; […]
**** 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.
**** 1848, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter I, in Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings; […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, book I (The Norman Visitor, the Saxon King, and the Danish Prophetess), page 6:So, entering London about sunrise, doors and windows were duly wreathed with garlands; and every village in the suburbs had its May-pole, which stood in its place all the year.
**** 1968, Philip [i.e., Philippus of Thessalonica], “LXXVII: The Young Buried by the Old”, in A[ndrew] S[ydenham] F[arrar] Gow, D[enys] L[ionel] Page, editors, The Greek Anthology: The Garland of Philip and Some Contemporary Epigrams, volume I, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, →ISBN, page 349:Old Nico wreathed the tomb of maiden Melitê. Hades, was this your judgment righteous?
*** 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.
*** (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.
**** 1557 August 10 (Gregorian calendar), [Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey; Thomas Wyatt; et al.], “The Louer Compareth His State to a Ship in Perilous Storme Tossed on the Sea”, in Songes and Sonettes, London: […] Richard Tottel, →OCLC, folio 22, recto:A rayne of teares, a clowde of darke diſdaine / Haue done the weried coardes great hinderance, / Wrethed with errour, and with ignorance. / The ſtarres be hidde, that leade me to this payne.
**** 1579, Plutarke of Chæronea [i.e., Plutarch], “The Life of Lucius Lucullus”, in Thomas North, transl., The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romaines, […], London: […] Richard Field, →OCLC, page 571:The bundells of roddes vvhich the ſergeaunts caried before them, vvere vvreathed about vvith lavvrell braunches for the victories they had both atchieued: […]
**** c. 1630 (date written), Thomas Heywood, The Fair Maid of the West. Or, A Girle Worth Gold. The Second Part. […], London: […] [Miles Flesher] for Richard Royston, […], published 1631, →OCLC, Act I, signature B, verso:Braine, I for this / VVill vvreathe thee in a glorious arch of gold, ſtuck full of Indian gemmes.
**** 1671, John Milton, “The Fourth Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 82, lines 74–76:From India and the golden Cherſoneſs, / And utmoſt Indian Iſle Taprobane, / Dusk faces vvith vvhite ſilken Turbants vvreath'd: […]
**** 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.
**** 1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “To ——”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza III, page 3:When, in the darkness over me, / The fourhanded mole shall scrape, / Plant thou no dusky cypresstree, / Nor wreathe thy cap with doleful crape, / But pledge me in the flowing grape.
**** 1838, Elizabeth B[arrett] Barrett [i.e., Elizabeth Barrett Browning], “Stanzas on the Death of Mrs. [Felicia] Hemans, Written in Reference to Miss [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon’s Poem on the Same Subject”, in The Seraphim, and Other Poems, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, pages 273–274:Perhaps she shuddered, while the world's / Cold hand her brow was wreathing: / But never wronged that mystic breath / Which breathed in all her breathing; […]
**** 1915 June, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, in Prufrock and Other Observations, London: The Egoist […], published 1917, →OCLC, page 16:We have lingered in the chambers of the sea / By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown / Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
*** (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.
*** (chiefly passive voice) Often followed by together: to entwine or twist (two or more people or things) together; to intertwine, to interweave.
    Synonym: interwreathe
**** 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: […]
**** c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC; republished as Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5), London: W[illiam] Griggs, […], [1880], →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], signature E4, recto:You do not loue Maria? Longauile, / Did neuer Sonnet for her ſake compile, / Nor neuer lay his vvreathed arms athvvart / His louing boſome, to keepe dovvne his hart.An adjective use, referring to arms which are crossed.
**** c. 1599 (date written), I. M. [i.e., John Marston], The History of Antonio and Mellida. The First Part. […], London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Mathewe Lownes, and Thomas Fisher, […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act IV, signature H, recto:Enter Andrugio and Antonio vvreathed together, […]A stage direction.
**** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Lamentations 1:14, column 1:The yoke of my tranſgreſſions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come vp vpon my necke: he hath made my ſtrength to fall, the Lord hath deliuered me into their hands, from vvhom I am not able to riſe vp.
**** 1675 October 27 (Gregorian calendar); first published 1692, Robert South, “A Sermon Preached at Christ-Church, Oxon. before the University, Octob. 17. 1675.”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions. […], volume I, London: […] J[ohn] H[eptinstall] for Thomas Bennet, […], →OCLC, page 568:[I]n ſuch baſe, noyſom Hearts, you ſhall ever ſee Pride and Ingratitude indiviſibly vvreathed, and tvviſted together.
**** c. 1794–1796 (date written), Walter Savage Landor, “From the Phocæans”, in Poetry […], Warwick, Warwickshire; London: Sharpe, printer, […]; [s]old by Rivingtons, […], published [1800], →OCLC, page 36, lines 644–645:Thou vvreatheſt ſerpents as thou vvreatheſt flovvers, / Thou ſilenceſt the vvinds vvithout a vvord, […]
**** 1817 December (indicated as 1818), Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, “Canto First”, in Laon and Cythna; or, The Revolution of the Golden City: A Vision of the Nineteenth Century. […], London: […] [F]or Sherwood, Neely, & Jones, […]; and C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […]; by B[uchanan] M‘Millan, […], →OCLC, stanza VIII, page 5:For in the air do I behold indeed / An Eagle and a Serpent wreathed in fight:— […]
*** (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.
*** (Southeast England) To strengthen (an earthen embankment) with hurdles of wattle.
*** (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.
*** (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.
** (intransitive)
*** Followed by about, around, or round: to coil, twist, or wind around a person or thing.
    Antonym: unwreathe
**** 1580, Iohn Lyly [i.e., John Lyly], “Euphues to His Friend Philautus”, in Euphues and His England. […], London: […] [Thomas East] for Gabriell Cawood, […], →OCLC, folio 105, recto:[W]hen the Hoppe groweth high it muſt haue a pole, when the Iuie ſpreadeth, it cleaueth to the flint, when the Vine riſeth, it wreatheth about yͤ Elme, […]
*** Of mist, smoke, etc.: to move with a coiling, spiralling, or twisting motion.
**** 1833 (date written), Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “A True Dream (Dreamed at Sidmouth, 1833)”, in Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, edited by Frederic G[eorge] Kenyon, New Poems, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1914, →OCLC, page 112:I unsealed the vial mystical, / I outpoured the liquid thing, / And while the smoke came wreathing out, / I stood unshuddering.
**** 1867, William Morris, “Book VII”, in The Life and Death of Jason: A Poem, London: Bell and Daldy, […], →OCLC, page 133, lines 394–396:Real fire of pine-wood in some rocky place, / Wreathing around my body greedily, / A dreadful beacon o'er the leaden sea.
*** (obsolete, rare) Followed by with: to become intertwined with something.
*** (obsolete, chiefly Scotland) Of snow: to form drifts.
* Senses relating to vigorous movement.
** (transitive)
*** 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.
**** 1813, Walter Scott, “Canto First”, in Rokeby; a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [F]or John Ballantyne and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; by James Ballantyne and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza XXIII, page 35:Contempt kept Bertram's anger down, / And wreathed to savage smile his frown.
**** 1866, C[harles] Kingsley, “How Hereward was Asked to Slay an Old Comrade”, in Hereward the Wake, “Last of the English.” […], volume I, London, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 302:[…] Gilbert of Ghent, […] walked up to the pair, his weather-beaten countenance wreathed into what were meant for paternal smiles.
*** (reflexive) To bend or turn (oneself), often continuously; to twist and turn, to writhe.
*** (reflexive, figurative, archaic) To artfully introduce (oneself) into a situation, a person's thoughts, etc.; to insinuate.
*** (obsolete) To cause (the body, limbs, etc.) to twist violently; to contort, to writhe.
**** 1713, [John] Gay, Rural Sports. A Poem. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC, pages 7–8:If an huge ſcaly Salmon chance to ſpy / The vvanton Errors of the ſvvimming Fly, / […] / Soon in ſmart Pains he feels the dire Miſtake, / Laſhes the VVaves, and beats the foamy Lake, / […] / And novv again, impatient of the VVound, / He rolls and vvreathes his ſhining Body round; […]
**** 1817 December (indicated as 1818), Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, “Canto Eleventh”, in Laon and Cythna; or, The Revolution of the Golden City: A Vision of the Nineteenth Century. […], London: […] [F]or Sherwood, Neely, & Jones, […]; and C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […]; by B[uchanan] M‘Millan, […], →OCLC, stanza XI, page 242:Warm corpses fall upon the clay cold dead; / And even in death their lips are wreathed with fear.— […]
**** 1854 September – 1855 January, [Elizabeth Gaskell], “Dressing for Tea”, in North and South. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1855, →OCLC, page 112:Margaret wreathed her throat in a scornful curve.
*** (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, Conradus Gesnerus [i.e., Conrad Gessner], Edward Topsell, “Of the Lyon. [The Medicines of the Lyon.]”, in The Historie of Foure-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: […]
*** (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?
*** (obsolete) Followed by from: to take (something) by force; to wrest.
*** (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.
*** (obsolete, figurative) To give (spoken or written words) a false or strained meaning; to twist.
** (intransitive) To bend or turn, often continuously; to twist and turn, to writhe.
*** 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.
*** [1611?], Homer, “The Seventh Booke of Homers Iliads”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC, page 101:But Aiax a farre greater ſtone, lift vp, and (vvreathing round, / VVith all his bodie layd to it) he ſent it forth to vvound, / And gaue vnmeaſur'd force to it; the round ſtone broke vvithin / His rundled target: […]
*** 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], Shirley. A Tale. […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 151:Beauty is never so beautiful as when, if I teaze it, it wreathes back on me with spirit.
*** 1866, C[harles] Kingsley, “How Hereward Slew the Bear”, in Hereward the Wake, “Last of the English.” […], volume I, London, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, pages 87–88:[I]n the midst of the court-yard stood the Fairy Bear; […] his long snake neck and cruel visage wreathing about in search of prey.

#### Conjugation

| infinitive | (to) wreathe | (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 | wreathed, wreath'd$^†$ |
| subjunctive | wreathe | wreathed, wreath'd$^†$ |
| imperative | wreathe | — |
| participles | wreathing | wreathed, wreath'd$^†$ |
$^†$Archaic or obsolete.

#### Alternative forms

* wreath

#### Derived terms

* enwreathe, inwreathe
* interwreathe
* unwreathe
* unwreathed (adjective)
* wreathed (adjective)
* wreather
* wreathewort (historical)
* wreathing (adjective, noun)

#### Translations
### References

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

### Anagrams

* weareth, wheater, whate'er, weather, whereat