Forms: 1 wefta, weft, wift, 4 wyft, weeft, 4–6 wefte, 4– weft; 6 woft(e, 7–9 Sc. woft, waft. [OE. wefta wk. masc., weft str. masc., ? wift fem., corresp. to ON. veptr masc., vipta fem., weft, MHG. wift masc., fine thread; repr. OTeut. types *wefton-, *wefto-z, *wefti-z, f. *weƀ- to WEAVE.]
1. Weaving. The threads that cross from side to side of a web, at right angles to the warp threads with which they are interlaced: = WOOF 1.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), D 57. Deponile wefta.
a. 1100. Gerefa, in Anglia, IX. 263. He sceal fela tola to tune tilian & fela andlomena to husan habban…. Fela towtola: flexlinan, spinle, reol, ʓearnwindan, wifte, wefle, wulcamb, [etc.].
c. 1100. Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 187/32. Deponile, wefta, uel weft.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xiv. 23. A threed of the weeft. Ibid., Exod. xxxix. 3. He made hem into thredes, that thei myȝten be plattid with the weft of the rather colours.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xi. (Bodl. MS.). Ȝif þe wefte is ibroke þei begynneþ to amende it.
14[?]. Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 696/21. Hec trama, a wefte.
1570. Levins, Manip., 52. Wefte, wofte, stamen. Ibid., 157. Ye Woft of a web, subtegmen.
1615. Markham, Eng. Housew., II. iii. 89. The one they call warpe, the other weft, or els Wooffe.
1629. Orkney Witch Trial, in County Folk-Lore (1903), III. 78. Christane Reid in Clett cam in ane maid errand, seiking woft to ane wob.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 46. In the Silk Ribbans, you might plainly see the Contexture, how the Warp and the Weft cross one another at right Angles.
1767. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, IX. xxi. She … wets it—dries it—then takes her teeth to both warp and weft of it.
1788. Picken, Poems Scot. Dial., 248. Gloss., Waft, woof.
1822. Scott, Pirate, xxxii. And we have many of foreign knacks Of finer waft than woo’ or flax.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Manch. Strike, ix. 106. My father used to … set my mother to card and spin the raw cotton for the weft.
1860. Smiles, Self-Help, ii. 34. ‘Blackburn Greys,’ consisting of linen weft and cotton warp.
1867. Morris, Jason, XV. 360. And Eradne left The carding of the fine wool for the weft.
1876. Rock, Text. Fabr., v. 41. Bagdad or Baldak silks, with a weft of gold, known among us as ‘baudekins.’
fig. 1563. Mirr. Mag., Richard Dk. Glouc., xx. Of ambicion behold the worke [? read warpe] and weft, Prouoking me to do this haynous treason.
a. 1693. Urquhart’s Rabelais, III. xxviii. 237. Wouldst thou … untwist all the Threads of the warp and the waft of the weer’d Sister Parques?
b. The strips of cane, palm-leaf, straw, etc., used as the filling, in weaving baskets, mats, etc. Also, the woven fabric.
1845. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., VI. I. 212. Many workmen thoughtlessly force their feet between the weft or horizontal branches of the hurdle.
1859. C. Williams, Narr. & Adv. Trav. Africa, xvii. 189. Flags, reeds, and bulrushes … are woven, simply with the fingers, into mats…. So close is their weft that neither light, nor wind, nor rain can penetrate it.
1859. Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Weaving (1861), 1015. For these purposes wires … may be used as the warps of the fabric, and straw or rushes or other materials being the weft.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Straw-fabric Loom. A loom for making goods the weft of which is straw.
2. Yarn to be used for the weft-threads.
1795. Aikin, Country Round Manchester, 233. Employed in spinning cotton wefts for check-makers.
1802. Bancks’s Manch. & Salford Directory, 29. Brown, Richard and Co. dealers in twist, weft, &c.
1846. M’Culloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), I. 677. All sorts of wefts, from the lowest to the highest numbers, are now spun by means of this machine.
1898. Daily News, 16 May, 8/5. Tow wefts … have been dealt in to a larger extent than for weeks back.
1902. Times, 29 July, 11/3. Doubled wefts are offered at easy prices; single wefts are dull and barely steady.
3. That which is spun or woven.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. lv. (1495), 896. Certen smalle wormes as it were attercoppes … done spynne and weue and make webbes and weftes abowte the hony combes.
1570. Levins, Manip., 52/45. Wefte, wofte, stamen.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 381. Then Weavers stretch your Stays upon the Weft.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Weft, a thing woven; as A Weft of Hair.
1799. H. Gurney, Cupid & Psyche, xx. 44. See those crones that on the left Weave the many-colour’d weft.
1851. Mrs. Browning, Casa Guidi Wind., II. 122. Let thy weft Be of one woof and warp.
1883. Whitelaw, Sophocles, Trachin., 675. The investiture O’ the robe, a weft of wool, fleecy and white.
b. fig. and in figurative context.
c. 1400. 26 Pol. Poems, xxi. 64. In helle is shewed euell-sponnen wyft.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., ii. 435. Yey, ill spon weft ay comes foule out.
1719. Hamilton, Ep. to Ramsay, 24 July, v. I’m unco iri, and dirt feart I mak’ wrang waft.
1864. Swinburne, Atalanta, 738. The weft of the world was untorn That is woven of the day on the night.
1891. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Sydney-side Sax., ii. I cannot unravel the weft of it. I’ve made and helped to make a sight of victual in my day, and now [etc.].
4. Transferred uses. † a. A film formed over the eye. Obs.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 29. The ashes of the head of a black Cat … put into the eye … helpe the haw, weft, and web in the eye. Ibid., 105. The gall [of the Rock-goat] cureth the weft in the eye.
b. A layer of closely interwoven hyphæ produced in certain fungi; also a ‘mat’ of hairs on the stem or leaf of a plant.
1875. Cooke, Fungi, ii. 26. Certain filaments of the weft of the fungus.
1879. A. W. Bennett, in Academy, 11 Jan., 33/1. The access of small wingless, useless, and therefore injurious insects to the flower is prevented in some species by the dense weft of woolly hairs which covers the stem and leaves.
1887. trans. De Bary’s Fungi, v. 217. The peripheral portion of the delicate hyphal weft … takes an active part in the further growth.
c. (See quot.)
1847. Halliwell, Weft,… (5) The ground of a wig.
5. A streak of cloud; a thin layer of smoke or mist. Cf. WAFT sb.1 2 d, WAIF sb.3
a. 1822. Shelley, Queen of My Heart, ii. And thy beauty more bright Than the stars’ soft light, Shall seem as a weft from the sky.
1883. Symonds, Ital. Byways, 97. Exceedingly soft and grey, with rose-tinted weft of steam upon its summit, stood Vesuvius above us in the twilight.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 187. The mountains … opposite were just enough illumined to let one see the wefts and floating veils of blue-white mist upon them.
6. attrib. and Comb., as weft cop (COP sb.2 3), dealer, thread, warehouse, winding, yarn; weft-finger (Knitting), the forefinger; weft fork (a) a pronged weft stopper; (b) (see quot. 1875); weft-hook (see quot.); weft line, flax (see LINE sb.1 1 b) for the manufacture of weft-thread; weft (stop) motion, stopper, a device that automatically causes a stoppage of the loom when the weft-thread breaks or fails; weft-way (see quot.).
1881. *Weft cop [see TWIST sb.1 22].
1892. Daily News, 16 July, 7/1. There is only a very small demand for twist and weft cops for the home trade.
1802. Bancks’s Manch. & Salford Directory, 34. *Weft and twist dealer.
1880. [Mrs. Floyer], Plain Hints Needlework, 37. The … fore, or *‘weft,’ finger; the thumb, or ‘rest:’ the second, or ‘position’ finger.
1851. in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Weaving (1861), 329. Improvements in the manufacture of *weft forks … for looms.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Weft-fork, one used in certain kinds of looms where the filling is laid in, one piece at a time.
1898. Daily News, 7 March, 2/1. As soon as either thread breaks the machine is stopped immediately by the weft forks.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Weft-hook, one for drawing in the filling in the case of slat-weaving looms and some forms of narrow-ware and ribbon looms.
1896. Daily News, 5 Dec., 9/4. The range of *weft lines continues unchanged at 3s. 11/2d.
1863. in Abridgm. Specif. Patents Weaving, II. (1871), 410. That part of the loom known as the *‘weft motion’ for stopping the loom when the weft breaks.
1878. A. Barlow, Hist. Weaving, xxiv. 261. The fork and grid *weft stop motion.
1853. in Abridgm. Specif. Patents Weaving (1861), 408. An improved *weft stopper for two or more shuttles.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVII. 177/1. Into this shed … he throws the shuttle containing the *weft-thread.
1802. Bancks’s Manch. & Salford Directory, p. iv. Twist, *weft and calico warehouse.
1888. C. P. Brooks, Cotton Manuf., 168. *Weft-way, yarn twisted over to the right in spinning. Weft may be either twist-way or weft-way.
1863. B. Woodcroft, Brief Biogr., 44. He [Heilmann] introduced a series of improved preparation machines (including a *weft-winding engine).
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 330. It must be spun into warp-yarn and *weft yarn, each of peculiar grist.
