woof
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /wuːf/
enpr: wo͝of
ipa: /wʊf/
ipa: /wuf/
rhymes: -uːf
rhymes: -ʊf
Forms: form: woofs
Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English wof, oof, owf (“threads in a piece of woven fabric at right angles to the warp, weft, woof; also sometimes the warp; transverse filaments of a spider web”) [and other forms] (the forms beginning with w were influenced by warp and weft), from Old English ōwef, āwef, from ō-, ā- (prefix meaning ‘away; from; off; out’) + *wef (“web”) (only attested in the form gewef (“woof”); from wefan (“to weave”), from Proto-West Germanic *weban (“to weave”), from Proto-Germanic *webaną (“to weave”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid; to weave”)).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: When the plage of leproſye is in a cloth: […] that cloth ſhalbe burnt, ether warpe or wolfe, whether it be wollen or lynen or any thynge that is made of ſkynne where the plage is, […]
ref: 1530 January 27 (Gregorian calendar), W[illiam] T[yndale], transl., [The Pentateuch] (Tyndale Bible), Malborow [Marburg], Hesse: […] Hans Luft [actually Antwerp: Johan Hoochstraten], →OCLC, Leuiticus xiij:[47 and 52], folio XXIII, recto:
text: […] Solon vvas of this opinion, that the proper vvorke of every art and facultie, as vvell divine as humane, vvas rather the effect and thing by it vvrought, than that vvhereby it vvas effected; […] for ſo I ſuppoſe that a vveaver vvill ſay, that his vvorke is to make a vveb for a mantle, a coat or ſuch a robe, and not to ſpoole, vvinde quils, lay his vvarpe, ſhoot oufe, or raiſe and let fall the vveights and ſtones hanging to the loome: […]
ref: 1603, Plutarch, “The Banquet of the Seven Sages”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 337:
text: […] Paſsions of Matter, are Plebeian Notions, applied vnto the Inſtruments and Vſes vvhich Men ordinarily practiſe; But they are all but the Effects of ſome of theſe Cauſes follovving; […] The Fourteenth is the Placing, of the Tangible Parts, in Length, or Tranſuerſe; (as it is in the VVarpe, and the VVoofe of Textiles;) […]
ref: 1631, Francis [Bacon], “IX. Century. [Experiment Solitary Touching Other Passions of Matter, and Characters of Bodies.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 846, page 216:
topics: business
manufacturing
textiles
weaving
glosses: The set of yarns carried by the shuttle of a loom which are placed crosswise at right angles to and interlaced with the warp; the weft.
examples: text: [T]his is no lavv unto the vvoof of the neat Retiarie Spider, vvhich ſeems to vveave vvithout tranſverſion, and by the union of right lines to make out a continued ſurface, vvhich is beyond the common art of Textury, and may ſtill nettle Minerva the Godeſſe of that myſtery.
ref: 1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter II.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, pages 110–111:
text: To ſpread the pall beneath the regal chair / Of ſofteſt vvoof, is bright Alcippe’s care.
ref: 1725, Homer, “Book IV”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 153, lines 163–164:
text: The purple ſtain on fleecy vvoofs he ſpread, / VVhich lur'd the eye, adorning many a nymph, / And drevv the pomp of trade to riſing Tyre.
ref: 1757, John Dyer, “Book II”, in The Fleece: A Poem. […], London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 77, lines 600–602:
text: […] Ulyſſes then in haſte / Put on his veſt and mantle, and, the nymph / Her ſnovvy veſture of tranſparent vvoof, / Graceful, redundant; […]
ref: 1791, Homer, “[The Odyssey.] Book V.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume II, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 118, lines 274–277:
text: Drawn round her [Nature's] brows a lucid veil depends, / O'er her fine waist the purfled woof descends; / Her stately limbs the gather'd folds surround, / And spread their golden selvage on the ground.
ref: 1803, Erasmus Darwin, “Canto I. Production of Life.”, in The Temple of Nature; or, The Origin of Society: A Poem, with Philosophical Notes, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, […], by T[homas] Bensley, […], →OCLC, section II, page 12, lines 133–136:
text: Flames dart their glare o'er midnight's sable woof, […]
ref: 1811, Walter Scott, The Vision of Don Roderick; a Poem, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for John Ballantyne and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, stanza XXIV, page 29:
text: That girl's thread of life has been the dark line in my woof—she has robbed me of fortune—she now thwarts me in my career—she humbles me in my vanity.
ref: 1838, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter V, in Alice or The Mysteries […], volume II, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, book V, page 147:
text: These causes of delay now vanished, the Parcæ closed the abrupt woof, and lifted the impending shears.
ref: 1846, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “Retrospect”, in Lucretia: Or The Children of Night. […], volume III, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, part II, page 134:
text: At either hand stood open the tall doors, / But partly draped by woofs of Phrygian looms; […]
ref: 1866, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, “The Wife of Miletus”, in The Lost Tales of Miletus, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 111:
topics: business
manufacturing
textiles
weaving
glosses: A woven fabric; also, the texture of a fabric.
examples: text: [F]irſt I muſt put off / Theſe my skie robes ſpun out of Iris vvooffe, / And take the vveeds and likeneſſe of a Svvaine, […]
ref: 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 4:
english: Comus
translation: Comus
text: Iris had dipt the wooff; / His ſtarrie Helme unbuckl'd ſhew'd him prime / In Manhood where Youth ended; […]
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 244–246:
text: Or am I mad, my father, and did I weave these visions from the woof of my madness? I do not know, but it is true that I seemed to see them.
ref: 1892, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “The Counsel of Baleka”, in Nada the Lily (Longmans’ Colonial Library), London; New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 87:
topics: business
manufacturing
textiles
weaving
glosses: The thread or yarn used to form the weft of woven fabric; the fill, the weft.
examples: text: Mean time Alcyone (his Fate unknovvn) / Computes hovv many Nights he had been gone, / […] / Againſt the promis'd Time provides vvith care, / And haſtens in the VVoof the Robes he vvas to vvear: / And for her Self employs another Loom, / Nevv-dreſs'd to meet her Lord returning home, / Flatt'ring her Heart vvith Joys that never vvere to come: […]
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “Ceyx and Alcyone”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 370:
topics: business
manufacturing
textiles
weaving
glosses: Synonym of weaving (“the process of making woven material on a loom”).
synonyms: word: weaving
extra: the process of making woven material on a loom
examples: text: [T]he woof of self-interest is so cunningly interwoven with the warp of righteous feeling that very few of us can tell where the threads cross.
ref: 1882, [Mary Elizabeth Braddon], “‘Alas for Me then, My Good Days are Done’”, in Mount Royal […], volume II, London: John and Robert Maxwell […], →OCLC, page 19:
glosses: Something which is interwoven with another thing.
examples: text: The proces of that Oration was of the ſame woofe and thrid with the beginning; […]
ref: 1596, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Dialogus”, in Haue with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up. […], London: […] John Danter, →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Have with You to Saffron-Walden (Miscellaneous Tracts; Temp. Eliz. and Jac. I), [London: s.n., 1870], →OCLC, page 82:
text: Miſta black, terrific Maid, / Sangrida, and Hilda ſee, / Join the vvayvvard vvork to aid: / 'Tis the vvoof of victory.
ref: 1761 (date written), [Thomas] Gray, “Ode VIII. The Fatal Sisters. From the Norse Tongue.”, 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 5, page 46:
text: The fireside, then, is a seminary of infinite importance; it is important because it is universal, and because the education it bestows, being woven in with the woof of childhood, gives form and color to the whole texture of social life. There are few who can receive the honors of a college, but all are graduates of the hearth.
ref: 1838, [Samuel Griswold Goodrich], “The Fireside”, in Fireside Education. […], New York, N.Y.: Samuel Colman, →OCLC, page 71:
text: The blind old scholar—whose proud truthfulness would never enter into that commerce of feigned and preposterous admiration which, varied by a corresponding measureless in vituperation, made the woof of all learned intercourse—had fallen into neglect even among his fellow-citizens, […]
ref: 1862 July – 1863 August, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Old Man’s Hope”, in Romola. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1863, →OCLC, book I, page 315:
glosses: An underlying foundation or structure of something; a fabric.
Derived terms: warp and woof