Word: woof Part of Speech: noun 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. Pronunciation: /wuːf/, /wʊf/, /wuf/ 1. 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. Example: 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, […] Example: […] 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: […] 2. A woven fabric; also, the texture of a fabric. Labels: broadly Example: [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. Example: To ſpread the pall beneath the regal chair / Of ſofteſt vvoof, is bright Alcippe’s care. 3. The thread or yarn used to form the weft of woven fabric; the fill, the weft. Labels: broadly, poetic Example: [F]irſt I muſt put off / Theſe my skie robes ſpun out of Iris vvooffe, / And take the vveeds and likeneſſe of a Svvaine, […] Example: Iris had dipt the wooff; / His ſtarrie Helme unbuckl'd ſhew'd him prime / In Manhood where Youth ended; […] 4. Synonym of weaving (“the process of making woven material on a loom”). Labels: obsolete, rare Example: 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: […] 5. Something which is interwoven with another thing. Labels: figuratively Example: [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. 6. An underlying foundation or structure of something; a fabric. Labels: figuratively Example: The proces of that Oration was of the ſame woofe and thrid with the beginning; […] Example: Miſta black, terrific Maid, / Sangrida, and Hilda ſee, / Join the vvayvvard vvork to aid: / 'Tis the vvoof of victory.