wreath
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: rēth
ipa: /ɹiːθ/
ipa: /ɹiːθ/
rhymes: -iːθ
enpr: rēth
ipa: /ɹiːð/
ipa: /ɹiθ/
ipa: /ɹið/
rhymes: -iːθ
rhymes: -iːð
enpr: rēth
ipa: /ɹiːθ/
ipa: /ɹiːθ/
rhymes: -iːθ
Forms: form: wreaths
form: wreathing
form: wreathed
form: wreathed
Etymology: See wreathe.
Senses: examples: text: Sale) or Salovv a kind of vvoodde like VVyllovv, fit to vvreath and bynde in leapes to catch fiſh vvithall.
ref: 1579, E. K., “[December. Ægloga Duodecima.] Glosse.”, in Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 51, verso:
text: [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.
ref: 1580, Iohn Lyly [i.e., John Lyly], Euphues and His England. […], London: […] [Thomas East] for Gabriell Cawood, […], →OCLC, folio 63, recto:
text: [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.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 56, page 203:
text: [Y]ou haue learn'd (like Sir Protheus) to vvreath your Armes like a Male-content: […]
ref: 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:
text: 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: […]
ref: 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:
text: [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.
ref: 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:
text: 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: […]
ref: 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:
text: [W]ith Laurels vvreath your poſts, / And ſtrovv vvith Flovv'rs the Pavement; […]
ref: 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:
text: But hovv ſhould I avoid to be her ſlave, / VVhoſe ſubtle art inviſibly can vvreath / My fetters of the very air I breathe?
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 1816, Lord Byron, “Stanzas for Music”, in Poems, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; by W[illiam] Bulmer and Co. […], →OCLC, stanza 4, page 18:
glosses: Alternative spelling of wreathe.
Derived terms: unwreath