• enPR: wēv, IPA^(key): /wiːv/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: we've
• Rhymes: -iːv

From Middle English weven (“to weave”), from Old English wefan (“to weave”), from Proto-West Germanic *weban, from Proto-Germanic *webaną, from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to weave, braid”).

weave (third-person singular simple present weaves, present participle weaving, simple past wove or weaved, past participle woven or weaved or (now colloquial and nonstandard) wove)

1. (transitive) To form something by passing lengths or strands of material over and under one another.

   This loom weaves yarn into sweaters.

2. (transitive) To spin a cocoon or a web.

   Spiders weave beautiful but deadly webs.

3. (transitive) To unite by close connection or intermixture.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     This weaves itself, perforce, into my business.

   • 1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray,[…], →OCLC, stanza CII:

     these words, thus woven into song

4. (transitive) To compose creatively and intricately; to fabricate.

   to weave the plot of a story

   • 2024, David Golinkin, “Is Body Piercing Permitted According To Jewish Law”, in Responsa in a Moment, volume 4, page 193:

     According to the simple meaning, these verses warn against forgetting the Torah and against idol worship, but our Sages wove them into an Aggadic passage which deals with physical danger in order to say: Jews must protect their physical health.

• web
• sew

weave (plural weaves)

1. A type or way of weaving.

   That rug has a very tight weave.

   • 1979, Kax Wilson, A History of Textiles, Westview Press, →ISBN, page 239:

     Although fabrics of complex weave can most surely be identified as being imports, others, including a vast array of simple fabrics—bedding, table linens, everyday clothing fabrics—could have been made on either side of the Atlantic, since the materials and equipment were the same.

2. (cosmetics) Human or artificial hair worn to alter one's appearance, either to supplement or to cover the natural hair.
   • 2021, Becky S. Li, Howard I. Maibach, Ethnic Skin and Hair and Other Cultural Considerations, page 154:

     The physician should evaluate for a history of tight ponytails, buns, chignons, braids, twists, weaves, cornrows, dreadlocks, sisterlocks, and hair wefts in addition to the usage of religious hair coverings.

From Middle English weven (“to wander”); probably from Old Norse veifa (“move around, wave”), related to Latin vibrare.

weave (third-person singular simple present weaves, present participle weaving, simple past and past participle weaved)

1. (intransitive) To move by turning and twisting.

   The drunk weaved into another bar.

   • 2017 August 20, “The Observer view on the attacks in Spain”, in The Observer‎^[1]:

     The victims’ feeling of incredulity at what they were seeing, swiftly turning to paralysing fear as the van bore down on them, swerving and weaving to hit as many people as possible, can barely be imagined.

   • 2011 January 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Man City 4 - 3 Wolves”, in BBC‎^[2]:

     Tevez picked up a throw-in from the right, tip-toed his way into the area and weaved past three Wolves challenges before slotting in to display why, of all City's multi-million pound buys, he remains their most important player.

2. (transitive) To make (a path or way) by winding in and out or from side to side.

   The ambulance weaved its way through the heavy traffic.

   • 1797, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Kubla Khan: Or A Vision in a Dream”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John Murray,[…], by William Bulmer and Co.[…], published 1816, →OCLC, page 58:

     Weave a circle round him thrice,
     And close your eyes with holy dread:
     For he on honey-dew hath fed,
     And drank the milk of Paradise.

3. (intransitive, of an animal) To move the head back and forth in a stereotyped pattern, typically as a symptom of stress.

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “weave”, in The Century Dictionary[…], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “weave”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.