Etymologically
Log in

weaver

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 03:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈwiː.və(ɹ)/[1]
  • US: /ˈwi.vɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wever, also wefer,[2][3] formed from English weave + -er.[4][2][5] Wiktionary traces the Middle English word to Old English *wefere, recorded only in compounds.[1] The verb weave is weven, from Old English wefan,[2][6] from Proto-Germanic *weban,[2] from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to weave”).[2][6][4] Wiktionary compares Dutch wever and German Weber.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who weaves cloth, especially for a living: 1362, in Langland's Piers Plowman.[4] Etymonline dates wever to the mid-14th century and records it as a surname from the mid-13th century, also for a member of a weavers' guild.[2]

Semantic evolution

From the 15th century the word was used figuratively, of someone who contrives or devises something (c. 1430).[4][5] Johnson (1755) defined it as one who makes threads into cloth, quoting Shakespeare's Henry VIII and the Book of Job.[7] Later senses extended the comparison with weaving: one who plaits hair or, in Scotland, knits (1783),[4][5] a spider in Scots (1825),[4] and a cane worked between the stakes of a basket (1897).[4] The tropical birds were named for their elaborately interwoven nests; the OED's first record is from 1828[4] and Etymonline dates weaver-bird to 1826.[2] A water beetle, the whirligig, was called a weaver from 1864.[4] In dialect, weaver's beef was sprats in Essex, and a knock-kneed person was weaver-kneed.[8]

Timeline

  • mid-13th century – as a surname.[2]
  • 1362 – one who weaves cloth, in Piers Plowman.[4]
  • c. 1430 – figuratively, one who contrives something.[4]
  • 1783 – one who plaits; in Scotland, one who knits.[4]
  • 1825 – a spider, in Scots.[4]
  • 1826 – weaver-bird.[2]
  • 1828 – a bird of the weaver family.[4]
  • 1864 – a whirligig beetle.[4]
  • 1897 – in basket-making, a cane woven between the stakes.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person who weaves cloth, especially as a trade: The village weavers sold their linen at the market.[9][3][4]
  2. Someone who makes baskets or other things by interlacing, or who mends cloth by reweaving.[3]
  3. A weaverbird, one of the tropical birds of the family Ploceidae that build woven nests.[9][4]
  4. (figurative) Someone who contrives or puts together something, such as a story: a weaver of tales.[4][5]
  5. In basketry, a reed or cane woven over and under the stakes.[3][4]

Word family

  • weaver ant
  • weave
  • web
  • weft
  • woof

Usage notes

A separate noun weaver, formed from the verb weave "to move from side to side", is used of a horse that sways its head and body (1847), a boxer who weaves (1829), a pilot taking a devious course (1942) and a driver who keeps changing lanes (1960).[4][5][10] That verb is probably a continuation of Middle English weve (“to move about”), a variant of waive from Old Norse veifa,[6] though Etymonline thinks it may come from weave in the sense of interlacing.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com