[ad. L. textūra a weaving: see TEXT sb.1 and -URE. So F. texture (16th c. in Godef., Compl.).]
† 1. The process or art of weaving. Obs.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 145. Mynerve hyr self wych hath the sovereynte Of gay texture, as declayryth Ovyde.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., 256. Coats of skinnes … a naturall habit … before the invention of Texture.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Texture,… a weaving.
1726. Pope, Odyss., XX. 87. Pallas taught the texture of the loom.
† b. fig. The fabricating, machinating, or composing of schemes, conspiracies, writings, etc. Obs.
a. 1641. Bp. Mountagu, Acts & Mon., iv. (1642), 275. First they began their malicious texture with secret whisperings, and giving out in corners.
1656. Earl Monm., trans. Boccalini’s Advts. fr. Parnass., II. xciv. (1674), 247. The exquisite diligence used in the texture of those his Eternal Labours.
2. The produce of the weaver’s art; a woven fabric; a web; cloth. arch.
a. 1656. Bp. Hall, Rem. Wks. (1660), 260. The invaluable sumptuousness of the Temple…; … the curious celatures, and artificial textures.
1728–46. Thomson, Spring, 642. Others … far in the grassy dale … their humble texture weave.
1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 407. When the dyer dyes A texture, can the red dye prime the white?
b. transf. Any natural structure having an appearance or consistence as if woven; a tissue; a web, e.g., of a spider. Also fig.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, IV. 56. The notable texture of Mesenterium.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 499. That phlegme … which distilleth out of that texture or web into the ventricles. Ibid., 525. That the spirits are attenuated in the textures of the small arteries, & in the strayghtes of those passages.
a. 1774. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 43. Nor the spider entangle the heedless fly in his texture.
1877. Tyndall, in Daily News, 2 Oct., 2/4. His physical and intellectual textures have been woven for him during his passage through phases of history and forms of existence which lead the mind back to an abysmal past.
† c. A ‘woven’ or composed narrative or story.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., VII. xxxviii. § 9. 341. A peece of ancient Saxon coine of Siluer, inscribed with his name, Anlaf Cynyng, which for the antiquity of the thing, and honor of the man we haue here imprinted, and placed, though in the texture of our English Saxon Kings.
3. The character of a textile fabric, as to its being fine, coarse, close, loose, plain, twilled, ribbed, diapered, etc., resulting from the way in which it is woven.
1685. Boyle, Salubr. Air, 79. The texture that belongs to Linen.
1791. Cowper, Odyss., I. 556. Putting off his vest Of softest texture.
1842. in Bischoff, Woollen Manuf., II. 176. One piece of cloth of German wool, and another piece of South Down wool … made of the same colour and texture.
1866. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. xxii. 573. The linen worn by the wealthier classes differed materially in its texture.
4. In extended use: The constitution, structure, or substance of anything with regard to its constituents or formative elements. a. Of organic bodies and their parts.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Medit., IV. iv. The Leaves … of a Tree … are of a more solid Texture, and a more durable Nature than the Blossoms.
1738. Wesley, Ps. CXXXIX. ix. Thou know’st the Texture of my Heart, My Reins, and every vital Part.
1797. M. Baillie, Morb. Anat. (1807), 212. The cartilage is smooth and thin, and very soft in its texture.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, III. 905. Butter assumes a texture according as it has been treated.
1882. Garden, 18 March, 182/3. Flavour and texture should be our watchword in raising Apples.
b. Of inorganic substances, as stones, soil, etc.: Physical (not chemical) constitution; the structure or minute molding (of a surface).
1660. Boyle, New Exp. Phys. Mech., xxii. 165. Air is … endow’d with an Elastical power that probably proceeds from its Texture. Ibid. (1663), Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos., II. V. xiii. 242. Glass acquires a more or lesse brittle Texture, according as … it is baked.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 106. The stone … in point of hardness and texture much like the Bath stone.
1811. Pinkerton, Petralogy, p. xxii. Mr. Kirwan has justly observed the inaccuracy of Werner and his disciples, who have confounded the texture with the fracture.
1813. Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem. (1814), 5. Some lands of good apparent texture are yet sterile in a high degree.
1865. Geikie, Scen. & Geol. Scot., viii. 220. Gneiss is too various in its texture and the rate of its decomposition.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 63. The loose texture of snow.
5. fig. Of immaterial things: Constitution; nature or quality, as resulting from composition. Of the mind: Disposition, as ‘woven’ of various qualities; temperament, character.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., VI. xix. § 9. 104. Albeit the very texture of this Epistle carrieth with it the true Character or Antiquity.
a. 1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., 157. Hence it is that the texture of Zeuxes or Apelles inclines him to the invention or improving of Painting.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., iii. 80. An argument … of so frail and brittle a texture.
1751. Smollett, Per. Pic. (1779), III. lxxxi. 272. Had her thoughts been of a more tender texture.
1771. Misc., in Ann. Reg., 161/1. The whole texture of the fable.
1827. Pollok, Course T., II. 538. Creeds of wondrous texture.
6. In the fine arts: The representation of the structure and minute molding of a surface (esp. of the skin), as distinct from its color: cf. 4 b.
1859. Gullick & Timbs, Paint., 228. Impasting gives ‘texture’ and ‘surface.’
1877. Morley, Crit. Misc., Robespierre, Ser. II. 64. It is transparent and smooth, but there is none of that quality which the critics of painting call Texture.
7. attrib. and Comb., as texture-counter, a thread-counter or waling-glass: see quot.
1909. Cent. Dict., Suppl., Texture-counter, a small magnifying-glass of low power, used in counting the number of threads, within a given space, in the texture of a fabric.
