Advertisement

Advertisement

sleave

[ sleev ]

verb (used with object)

, sleaved, sleav·ing.
  1. to divide or separate into filaments, as silk.


noun

  1. anything matted or raveled.
  2. a filament of silk obtained by separating a thicker thread.
  3. a silk in the form of such filaments.

sleave

/ sliːv /

noun

  1. a tangled thread
  2. a thin filament unravelled from a thicker thread
  3. poetic.
    anything matted or complicated
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to disentangle (twisted thread, etc)
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Discover More

Other Words From

  • un·sleaved adjective
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of sleave1

1585–95; Old English -slǣfan (only in the compound tōslǣfan ), akin to slīfan to split; sliver
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of sleave1

Old English slǣfan to divide; related to Middle Low German slēf, Norwegian sleiv big spoon
Discover More

Example Sentences

It’s one we make from childhood – the sleeping infant, untroubled by conscience or the weight of the world, or in the fairytales that have people slumbering for a hundred years; it’s there in Shakespeare when he writes, in Romeo and Juliet, “where care lodges, sleep will never lie”, and in that line in Macbeth: “innocent sleep, sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care”.

Shakespeare wisely recognized that sleep “knits up the ravell’d sleave of care” and relieves life’s physical and emotional pains.

Let’s knit up the raveled sleave of care together today, shall we?

From Slate

Shakespeare put it best: Sleep…that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care.

"Youth and the Lady," 73;"To-day for Me," 103;"Sleep, that knits up the Ravell'd Sleave of Care," 114;"He Married a Wife," 126;"Designs," 141;"Iseult of Brittany," 142.Brockmann,

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


SLEsleaze