wreathed, ppl. a.
(riːðd)
[f. wreathe v. + -ed1. Cf. next and writhed ppl. a.]
1. Formed by or as by wreathing, wrying, twisting, or twining; arranged or disposed in coils, curves, or twists; contorted, twisted.
In frequent use from c 1590 to c 1630.
| c 1530 Tindale Exod. xxviii. 14 Thou shalt make..cheynes off fine golde: lynkeworke and wrethed, and fasten the wrethed cheynes to the hokes. 1535 in Bury Wills (Camden) 127 My ij wrethed rynges of gold. 1587 A. Day Daphnis & Chloe (1890) 14 Yong rammes..with their wreathed hornes. 1605 B. Jonson Masque Blackness ¶1 Musique made out of wreathed shells. 1608 Sir H. Plat Garden of Eden (1653) 142 Winding the young stock about the stick,..it will grow in a wreathed form. 1665 G. Havers P. della Valle's Trav. E. India 114 [The] Diadem..might have been of wreath'd Linnen, or Gold, or other solid matter. a 1711 Ken Psyche Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 273 Unicorns..with their terrible wreath'd Hornes. 1743 Davidson Virgil, Aeneid vii. 351 A chain of wreathed gold. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam i. x, The Eagle..unremittingly assailed The wreathed Serpent. 1820 P. Nicholson Staircases p. iv, The geometrical construction of the wreathed part of the Rail. 1844 Kinglake Eothen xx, The short and proudly wreathed lip. 1908 [Miss Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 362 The fog at times lies wreathed, white and still. |
| fig. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. cxix. D iii, From falshoods wreathed way, O save me, Lord. 1846 J. C. Mangan Poems (1903) 95 Whence flowed the tones Of silver lyres, And many voices in wreathed swell. |
† b. Corrugated; wrinkled.
Obs.| 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 42 The Fig tree;..all his Wood not so plaine, as wrethed & wrinckled. 1656 Beale Heref. Orchards (1657) 12 You shall find the better-tasted fruit to be more wrethed or wrinckled. |
c. Formed by wreathing the countenance.
| 1633 Milton L'Allegro 28 Nods, and Becks, and Wreathed Smiles. |
† 2. Crossed, folded; also, having the arms folded.
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 135 Longauile Did..neuer lay his wreathed armes athwart His louing bosome, to keepe downe his heart. 1595 Markham Sir R. Grinvile iv, Thetis..with wreath's armes. 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. iii. ii, Another..walks off melancholic, and stands wreath'd As he were pinn'd up to the arras. |
3. a. Of columns, etc.: Twisted or shaped in a screw-like form; contorted.
| 1624 Wotton Elem. Archit. 31 Wreathed, and Vined, and Figured Columnes, which our Author himselfe condemneth. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 25 Mar. 1644, Some of the columns wreathed, others spiral. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 596 Wreathed columns; such as are twisted in the form of a screw. 1842 Gwilt Archit. 1053 Wreathed columns..are..very appropriately called contorted columns. |
† b. Having a spirally-grooved bore; rifled.
Obs.| 1681 R. Cromwell Let. in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1898) XIII. 96 The little gun..is not so propper for shott it being a wreathed barrell. |
4. Formed or combined by twining or interweaving; entwined, intertwined.
| 1578 H. Wotton Courtlie Controv. 8 A banquet..vnder a wreathed arbor of Laurell, Iessemen, Holly, and Iuy. Ibid., A banke of wrethed boughes. 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Pet ii. 4. 524 These chaines,..were they of cords, of wreathed trees, of iron,..might bee burst asunder. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Wreath 1 A Wreathed garland of deserved praise. 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 468/2 Two Serpents in Fesse to the sinister; wreathed, respecting. Ibid., Two Snakes wreathed in pale. 1795 H. Tooke Purley II. 256 A raddle hedge, is a hedge of..twisted or wreathed twigs or boughs. 1817 Dugdale's Monasticon I. 1 Here St. Joseph..erected,..of wreathed twigs, the first Christian oratory in England. 1828 Tennyson Lover's T. ii. 43 They vanish'd..Beneath the bower of wreathed eglantines. |
| transf. 1782 Warton On Sir J. Reynolds's Painted Window 24 Where Superstition with capricious hand In many a maze the wreathed window plann'd. |
| fig. 1820 Keats Ode to Psyche 60 A rosy sanctuary will I dress With the wreath'd trellis of a working brain. |
5. Covered, decked, or encompassed by a wreath or wreaths; garlanded.
| 1819 Keats Lamia i. 38 When from this wreathed tomb shall I awake? 1847 Longfellow in Life (1891) II. 76 Byron's wild and wicked travesty..hits the Laureate [sc. Southey] hard on his wreathed head. 1897 Daily News 30 June 6/2 The wreathed coffin was conveyed..to the burial ground. |
b. Her. Encircled with a twisted band or wreath.
| 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 473/2 A Flower de Lis Wreathed, or in the middle Wreathed. Ibid. 393/2 A Sarazens Head..wreathed about the temples. 1838 Penny Cycl. XII. 143/2 Heads are also blazoned wreathed or banded, as the case may be. |
c. In the specific names of birds (see
quots.).
Frequently used by Latham.
| 1781 Latham Gen. Synop. Birds I. 358 Wreathed Hornbill;..on the top of the upper mandible is an appendage..rounded at top. 1785 Ibid. V. 216 Wreathed Plover;..round the crown runs a list of white, encircling the head like a wreath. 1819 Stephens in Shaw Gen. Zool. XI. 488 Wreathed Pluvian. Pluvianus coronatus,..[= Latham's] Wreathed Plover. 1823 Latham Gen. Hist. Birds VII. 140 Wreathed Warbler... From the eye round to the nape a white line, passing backwards, and surrounding it as a wreath at the back part. |
Hence
ˈwreathedness.
rare—0.
| 1730 Bailey (fol.), Contorteousness, wreathedness. |