Definitions

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

  • noun A ring or circlet of flowers, boughs, or leaves worn on the head, placed on a memorial, or hung as a decoration.
  • noun A representation of this ring or circlet, as in woodwork.
  • noun A curling or circular form.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A twisted band; something twisted, as a flowering branch, into a circular form; especially, a sort of crown made of natural or artificial flowers sewed to a stem, or of thin metal-work, filigree, or the like; a garland; a chaplet.
  • noun In heraldry:
  • noun A garland or diadem for the head.
  • noun The tail of a wild boar: mentioned in the blazon only when of a different tincture from the rest of the bearing.
  • noun Something resembling a twisted band; something narrow, long, and circular, of slightly irregular outline.
  • noun A defect in glass, consisting of a wavy appearance, due to want of uniform density. This defect is most common in flint-glass.
  • noun The trochal disk of a rotifer with its fringe of cilia. See cuts under Rotifera and trochal.
  • See wreathe.

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

  • noun Something twisted, intertwined, or curled.
  • noun A garland; a chaplet, esp. one given to a victor.
  • noun (Her.) An appendage to the shield, placed above it, and supporting the crest (see Illust. of Crest). It generally represents a twist of two cords of silk, one tinctured like the principal metal, the other like the principal color in the arms.

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

  • noun Something twisted, intertwined, or curled.
  • noun An ornamental circular band made e.g. of plaited flowers and leaves, and used as decoration; a garland; a chaplet, especially one given to a victor.
  • noun heraldry An appendage to the shield, placed above it, and supporting the crest. It generally represents a twist of two cords of silk, one tinctured like the principal metal, the other like the principal color in the coat of arms.
  • verb To place an entwined circle of flowers upon or around something.
  • verb To wrap around something in a circle.

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

  • noun flower arrangement consisting of a circular band of foliage or flowers for ornamental purposes

Etymologies

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

[Middle English wrethe, from Old English writha, band; see wer- in Indo-European roots.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word wreath.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "4. The tail of a wild boar: mentioned in the blazon only when of a different tincture from the rest of the bearing.

    5. Something resembling a twisted band; something narrow, long, and circular, of slightly irregular outline.

    6. A defect in glass, consisting of a wavy appearance, due to want of uniform density. This defect is most common in flint-glass.

    7. The trochal disk of a rotifer with its fringe of cilia. See cuts under Rotifera and trochal."

    --Century Dictionary

    April 1, 2011