thread

1 noun

1 COTTON/SILK ETC (C, U) a long thin string of cotton, silk etc used to sew or weave cloth: Have you got a needle and thread?

2 IDEAS (singular) the connection between the different parts of an explanation, story etc: a common thread running through all the poems | lose the thread (=stop understanding how ideas or events are connected): I'm sorry, I've lost the thread of your argument.

3 pick up the threads to begin something again after a long period, especially a relationship or way of life: It's difficult to pick up the threads when you've been travelling for so long.

4 LIGHT/SMOKE ETC literary (C) a long thin line of something

(+ of): The Colorado River is just a thread of silver, 4000 feet below.

5 ON A SCREW (C) a continuous raised line of metal that winds around the curved surface of a screw

6 threads (plural) old fashioned, especially AmE clothes

—see also: hang by a thread hang 1 (5) 2 verb (T)

1 to put a thread or string through a hole: Williams threaded the rope through the karabiner and attached it to the safety point. | thread a needle (=push a thread through the hole in a needle)

2 to put a film, tape etc correctly through parts of a camera, projector or tape recorder

3 to connect objects by pushing a string through a hole in them: Thread the beads on a string and make a necklace.

4 thread your way through/into etc to move through a place by carefully going around things that are blocking your way: She came towards me, threading her way through the traffic.