wreathy

[ ree-thee, -thee ]

adjective

1. having the shape of a wreath:

   wreathy clouds.

Word History and Origins

Origin of wreathy¹

First recorded in 1635–45; wreath + -y ¹

Example Sentences

O stranger, led by Heaven's supreme decree, Go, view the dire effects of tyranny, Strait to the town direct thy fated way, But heark attentive, listen and obey, I to thy care commit this magic vest, To guard thee 'midst yon' spires, a viewless guest; Whene'er its wreathy folds thy limbs embrace, No mortal eye thy roving step shall trace; Unseen as ghosts that quit the clay below, Yet seeing all securely thou shalt go.

From Project Gutenberg

And his conversation, always accompanied by violent gesticulation, is loaded with rhetorical "Ah!'s," and wreathy superlatives.

From Time Magazine Archive

I know nothing so pleasant as to sit there on a summer afternoon, with the western sun flickering through the great elder-tree, and lighting up our gay parterres, where flowers and flowering shrubs are set as thick as grass in a field, a wilderness of blossom, interwoven, intertwined, wreathy, garlandy, profuse beyond all profusion, where we may guess that there is such a thing as mould, but never see it.

From Project Gutenberg

When woonce above the tun the smoke Did wreathy blue among the trees, An' down below, the livèn vo'k, Did tweil as brisk as bees; Or zit wi' weary knees, the while The sky wer lightless to their tweil.

From Project Gutenberg

After continuing his path some distance along the river's side he struck off into a narrow road, bordered thickly with brushwood, tinged with a thousand dyes of departed summer; here and there a grey crag peeped out from the foliage, over which the green ivy and the scarlet woodbine hung in wreathy dalliance; at other places the arms of the chestnut and mountain ash met in lofty fondness, casting a gloom deep almost as night.

From Project Gutenberg