braid

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive)To make a sudden movement with, to jerk.
2. (archaic, intransitive)To start into motion.
3. (transitive)To weave together, intertwine (strands of fibers, ribbons, etc.); to arrange (hair) in braids.

   “Braid your locks with rosy twine.”

4. To mix, or make uniformly soft, by beating, rubbing, or straining, as in preparing food.
5. (obsolete)To reproach; to upbraid.

   “Great King, / Few loue to heare the ſinnes they loue to act, / T'would brayde your ſelfe too neare for me to tell it […]”

noun

1. (countable, obsolete)A sudden movement; a jerk, a wrench.

   “And than in a brayde Sir Launcelot brake hys chaynes of hys legges and of hys armys (and in the brakynge he hurte hys hondys sore)[…].”

   “He fixt vpon my face, which to my death / Will neuer part fro me, when with a braide / A deepe fet sigh he gaue, and therewithall / Clasping his handes, to heauen he cast his sight.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A weave of three or more strands of fibers, ribbons, cords or hair often for decoration.

   “The physician should evaluate for a history of tight ponytails, buns, chignons, braids, twists, weaves, cornrows, dreadlocks, sisterlocks, and hair wefts in addition to the usage of religious hair coverings.”

3. (countable, uncountable)A stranded wire composed of a number of smaller wires twisted together.
4. (countable, uncountable)A tubular sheath made of braided strands of metal placed around a central cable for shielding against electromagnetic interference.
5. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)A caprice or outburst of passion or anger.

   “Let the maide learne none uncleanly words, or wanton, or uncomely gesture and moving of the body, no not so much as when she is yet ignorant what shee doth, and innocent; for shee shall doe the same, when shee is growne bigger and of more discretion, […] And oftentimes such braides come uppon them against their will.”

6. (countable, uncountable)Given two sets of n points on corresponding positions on two parallel lines, a braid is a unique set of crossings (over or under) between n strands that connect each point on one line to a point on the other line such that all points represent the terminus of one and only one strand and the traversal of any strand from a starting point to an ending point never moves further away from the from the ending point.

   “We introduce braids via their historical roots and uses, make connections with knot theory and present the mathematical theory of braids through the braid group.”

   “In order to characterise the structure and complexity of a braid different numbers or topological invariants can be calculated.”

7. (countable, dialectal, uncountable)A wicker guard for protecting newly grafted trees.
8. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)A moment, stound.
9. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)A turn of work, job.
10. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)A trick; deception.
11. (Ireland, Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal)A shelf or board for holding objects.
12. (Ireland, Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal)A board to press curd for cheese.
13. (Ireland, Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal)A flat board attached to a beam, used for weighing.

adj

1. (obsolete)Crafty, deceitful.

   “Since Frenchmen are so braid, / Marry that will, I live and die a maid.”

name

1. A surname.