thread

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Fine cord of a fibrous material, such as cotton or flax, made of two or more filaments twisted together and used in needlework and the weaving of cloth.
• noun A piece of such cord.
• noun A thin strand, cord, or filament of natural or manufactured material.
• noun Something that suggests the fineness or thinness of such a strand, cord, or filament.
• noun Something that suggests the continuousness of such a strand, cord, or filament.
• noun A helical or spiral ridge on a screw, nut, or bolt.
• noun A portion of a program that can run independently of and concurrently with other portions of the program.
• noun A set of posts on a newsgroup, composed of an initial post about a topic and all responses to it.
• noun Slang Clothes.
• intransitive verb To pass one end of a thread through the eye of (a needle, for example).
• intransitive verb To pass (something) through in the manner of a thread.
• intransitive verb To pass a tape or film into or through (a device).
• intransitive verb To pass (a tape or film) into or through a device.
• intransitive verb To connect by running a thread through; string.
• intransitive verb Sports To throw or send (a pass) though a heavily defended area to a teammate.
• intransitive verb To make one's way cautiously through.
• intransitive verb To make (one's way) cautiously through something.
• intransitive verb To occur here and there throughout; pervade.
• intransitive verb To machine a thread on (a screw, nut, or bolt).
• intransitive verb To remove (body hair) by using a looped thread that has been wound tightly in the middle.
• intransitive verb To make one's way cautiously.
• intransitive verb To proceed by a winding course.
• intransitive verb To form a thread when dropped from a spoon, as boiling sugar syrup.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To pass a thread through the eye or aperture of, as a needle.
• To string on a thread.
• To pass through with the carefulness and precision of one who is threading a needle, implying narrowness or intricacy in that which is passed through.
• To form a spiral projection on or a spiral groove in; furnish with a thread, as a screw: as, to thread a bolt.
• In electricity, to pass through and link with, as the lines of force of the magnetic S.—85 field of a D' Arsonval galvanometer pass through the suspended coil of the instrument.
• noun plural A defect in glass articles: same as string, 15.
• noun A twisted filament of a fibrous substance, as cotton, flax, silk, or wool, spun out to considerable length.
• noun A fine filament or thread-like body of any kind: as, a thread of spun glass; a thread of com-silk.
• noun The prominent spiral part of a screw. See cuts under screw and screw-thread.
• noun In mining, a thin seam, vein, or fissure filled with ore.
• noun A very slender line applied on a surface: thus, in decorative art, thin and minute lines are so called to distinguish them from bands of color, which, though narrow, have a more appreciable width.
• noun plural In conchology, the byssus.
• noun A yarn-measure, the circumference of a reel, containing 1½, 2, 2½, or 3 yards.
• noun That which runs through the whole course of something and connects its successive parts; hence, proper course or sequence; the main idea, thought, or purpose which runs through something: as, the thread of a discourse or story.
• noun A clue.
• noun Distinguishing property; quality; degree of fineness.
• noun The thread of life. See phrase below.
• noun A thin strip of gilded paper often used in Oriental brocaded stuffs.
• noun Erroneously, gold wire.
• noun See goldthread.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb To pass a thread through the eye of.
• transitive verb To pass or pierce through as a narrow way; also, to effect or make, as one's way, through or between obstacles; to thrid.