Thread n. 1.A very small twist of flax, wool, cotton, silk, or other fibrous substance, drawn out to considerable length; a compound cord consisting of two or more single yarns doubled, or joined together, and twisted; also, one fiber of a cord composed of multiple fibers.
2.A filament of any substance, as of glass, gold or silver; a filamentous part of an object, such as a flower; a component fiber of any or of any fibrous substance, as of bark.
3.The prominent part of the spiral of a screw or nut; the rib. See Screw, n., 1. 4.(Fig.) Something continued in a long course or tenor; a recurrent theme or related sequence of events in a larger story; as the thread of a story, or of life, or of a discourse.
5.Fig.: Composition; quality; fineness. (Obs.) "A neat courtier, Of a most elegant thread."
6.(Computers) A related sequence of instructions or actions within a program that runs at least in part independent of other actions within the program; such threads are capable of being executed only in oprating systems permittnig multitasking.
7.(Computers) A sequence of messages posted to an on-line newsgroup or discussion group, dealing with the same topic; messages in such a thread typically refer to a previous posting, thus allowing their identification as part of the thread. Some news-reading programs allow a user to follow a single such thread independent of the other postings to that newsgroup.
Air thread, the fine white filaments which are seen floating in the air in summer, the production of spiders; gossamer.
Thread and thrum, the good and bad together. (Obs.)
Thread cell (Zool.), a lasso cell. See under Lasso. Thread herring (Zool.), the gizzard shad. See under Gizzard. Thread lace, lace made of linen thread.
Thread needle, a game in which children stand in a row, joining hands, and in which the outer one, still holding his neighbor, runs between the others; called also thread the needle.
Thread v. t. (past & past part. threaded; pres. part. threading) 1.To pass a thread through the eye of; as, to thread a needle.
2.To pass or pierce through as a narrow way; also, to effect or make, as one's way, through or between obstacles; to thrid. "Heavy trading ships... threading the Bosphorus." "They would not thread the gates."
3.To form a thread, or spiral rib, on or in; as, to thread a screw or nut.
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