woof

Definition

The set of yarns carried by the shuttle of a loom which are placed crosswise at right angles to and interlaced with the warp; the weft.

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English wof, oof, owf (“threads in a piece of woven fabric at right angles to the warp, weft, woof; also sometimes the warp; transverse filaments of a spider web”) [and other forms] (the forms beginning with w were influenced by warp and weft), from Old English ōwef, āwef, from ō-, ā- (prefix meaning ‘away; from; off; out’) + *wef (“web”) (only attested in the form gewef (“woof”); from wefan (“to weave”), from Proto-West Germanic *weban (“to weave”), from Proto-Germanic *webaną (“to weave”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid; to weave”)). The verb is derived from the noun.

Example Sentences

• "When the plage of leproſye is in a cloth: […] that cloth ſhalbe burnt, ether warpe or wolfe, whether it be wollen or lynen or any thynge that is made of ſkynne where the plage is, […]"
• "[…] Solon vvas of this opinion, that the proper vvorke of every art and facultie, as vvell divine as humane, vvas rather the effect and thing by it vvrought, than that vvhereby it vvas effected; […] for ſo I ſuppoſe that a vveaver vvill ſay, that his vvorke is to make a vveb for a mantle, a coat or ſuch a robe, and not to ſpoole, vvinde quils, lay his vvarpe, ſhoot oufe, or raiſe and let fall the vveights and ſtones hanging to the loome: […]"
• "[…] Paſsions of Matter, are Plebeian Notions, applied vnto the Inſtruments and Vſes vvhich Men ordinarily practiſe; But they are all but the Effects of ſome of theſe Cauſes follovving; […] The Fourteenth is the Placing, of the Tangible Parts, in Length, or Tranſuerſe; (as it is in the VVarpe, and the VVoofe of Textiles;) […]"