Definitions

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

  • noun Any of the open spaces in a net or network; an interstice.
  • noun The cords, threads, or wires surrounding these spaces.
  • noun An openwork fabric or structure; a net or network.
  • noun Something that snares or entraps.
  • noun The engagement of gear teeth.
  • noun The state of being so engaged.
  • intransitive verb To catch in or as if in a net; ensnare.
  • intransitive verb To cause (gear teeth) to become engaged.
  • intransitive verb To cause to work closely together; coordinate.
  • intransitive verb To become entangled.
  • intransitive verb To become engaged or interlocked.
  • intransitive verb To fit together effectively; be coordinated.
  • intransitive verb To accord with another or each other; harmonize.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To make in meshes; form the meshes of.
  • To catch in a net, as fish; hence, to entangle; entrap in meshes.
  • To engage (the teeth of wheels or the teeth of a rack and pinion) with each other.
  • To make meshes or nets.
  • To become engaged, as the teeth of one wheel with those of another.
  • An obsolete or dialectal form of mash.
  • noun One of the clear spaces of a net or netting; an opening in network of a size determined by the distance apart of the knots by which the crossing twines or threads are united; also, a clear space between the threads or wires of a sieve.
  • noun Figuratively, network; means of entanglement; anything that serves to entangle or constrain: often in the plural: as, the meshes of the law.
  • noun plural In lace and similar fabrics, the whole background, often formed of threads very irregularly spaced.
  • noun In machinery, the engagement of the teeth of gearing : as, the mesh of a toothed wheel with the teeth of a rack or with the cogs of another wheel.
  • noun A tool used in embroidery, knitting, etc., for the production of stitching of regular size, and sometimes having a groove to guide the scissors.
  • noun One of the subdivisons of a head or ear of wheat; a wheat spikelet.

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

  • transitive verb To catch in a mesh.
  • intransitive verb (Gearing) To engage with each other, as the teeth of wheels.
  • noun The opening or space inclosed by the threads of a net between knot and knot, or the threads inclosing such a space; network; a net.
  • noun (Gearing) The engagement of the teeth of wheels, or of a wheel and rack.
  • noun a stick on which the mesh is formed in netting.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A structure made of connected strands of metal, fiber, or other flexible/ductile material, with evenly spaced openings between them.
  • noun The opening or space enclosed by the threads of a net between knot and knot, or the threads enclosing such a space.
  • noun The engagement of the teeth of wheels, or of a wheel and rack.
  • noun computer graphics A polygon mesh.
  • noun A measure of fineness (particle size) of ground material. A powder that passes through a sieve having 300 openings per linear inch but does not pass 400 openings per linear inch is said to be -300 +400 mesh.
  • verb to fit in, to come together

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun contact by fitting together
  • verb coordinate in such a way that all parts work together effectively
  • noun the topology of a network whose components are all connected directly to every other component
  • verb entangle or catch in (or as if in) a mesh
  • verb keep engaged
  • noun the act of interlocking or meshing
  • noun the number of openings per linear inch of a screen; measures size of particles
  • verb work together in harmony
  • noun an open fabric of string or rope or wire woven together at regular intervals

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English mesch, probably from Middle Dutch maesche.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English mesche, from Old English masc ("net") (perhaps influenced in form by related Old English mæscre ("mesh, spot")) both from Proto-Germanic *maskrōn, from Proto-Indo-European *mezg- (“to knit, twist, plait”). Akin to Old High German māsca ("mesh"), Old Saxon maska ("net"), Old Norse mǫskvi, mǫskun ("mesh").

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Examples

Comments

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  • ...beard meshed tight with

    silver cobwebs...

    - Peter Reading, Nocturne, from The Prison Cell and Barrel Mystery, 1976

    June 23, 2008

  • "Of the total screen time, simultaneous use with TV is taking place around a third of the time. Millward Brown then breaks down simultaneous time into two categories: “stacking,” or using a digital screen for matters unrelated to the television, and “meshing,” which means using the second screen to enhance the TV experience. Those who stack tend to be filling time during ad breaks or watching TV somewhat halfheartedly. Those who mesh are mostly looking for more information or engaging in social media chatter about a show. Millward Brown says Americans are most likely to stack, while viewers in Thailand, the Philippines and South Korea are most likely to mesh.

    - Will Palley, Why TV viewers 'stack' or 'mesh' digital devices, JWT Intelligence, 21 March 2014.

    March 21, 2014