Definitions

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

  • noun One of a set of parallel cords or wires in a loom, used to separate and guide the warp threads and make a path for the shuttle.
  • noun A frame fitted with rigid wooden or plastic strips and used for the same purpose, especially in smaller looms.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To draw (warp-threads) systematically through the eyes of a heddle.
  • noun In weaving, a series of leashes, twines, cords, or wires vertically stretched, generally in pairs, between two horizontal bars or laths, looped about both bars, and joined in their middle part to form eyes for the reception of a warp-thread or yarn.

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

  • noun (Weaving) One of the sets of parallel doubled threads which, with mounting, compose the harness employed to guide the warp threads to the lathe or batten in a loom.
  • transitive verb To draw (the warp thread) through the heddle-eyes, in weaving.

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

  • noun A part of a loom. Each of the threads that form a warp passes through an eye in a heddle to allow control of the up and down movement of the threads.
  • verb To draw the warp thread through the eyes of the heddle

Etymologies

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

[Probably alteration of Middle English helde, from Old English hefeld; see kap- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • Dr.H. G. H.rrison by no means overstates the case when he says that the development of the heddle is the most important step in the evolution of the loom (H.rniman Museum H.ndbooks, No. 10, pp. 47-49).

    Ancient Egyptian and Greek Looms 1890

  • The heddle is a row of twines, cords, or wires called leashes, which are stretched vertically between two horizontal bars or rods, placed about a foot apart.

    Home Life in Colonial Days Alice Morse Earle 1881

  • The heddle is the part of a loom through which all threads pass.

    The Seattle Times 2012

  • May 12th, 2009 at 3: 01 am raevmo: The problem for Christians is, of course, once you admit that parts of the bible are utterly foolish and untrue statements, heddle: That would be a problem.

    Augustine on Creation 2009

  • Of course feel free to argue “the KJV says it, and they must have translated the Hebrew without error, and they must have meant by unicorn exactly what we mean by unicorn 400 years later, and any argument to the contrary is just cafeteria Christianity.” heddle

    Creationists on the Square in Madison, Wisconsin - The Panda's Thumb 2010

  • Whatever you might think of heddle, he is not someone who should be lumped with the likes of the Dishonesty Institute, Ray Comfort and Ken Ham.

    Dover Trap in the Pelican State - The Panda's Thumb 2010

  • The warp yarns are threaded through a heddle, a row of thin vertical wires, rather like needles with their eyes halfway down.

    How to weave a blanket Melissa Viney 2010

  • Although she must have heard some of the drum messages over the clack of heddle and shuttle, she made no comment on the world outside.

    Artichoke Christian Bell 2010

  • Mike in Ontario, NY replied to comment from heddle

    Creationists on the Square in Madison, Wisconsin - The Panda's Thumb 2010

  • He then had to use his Maker Hooks to mount it and ride it back to the garden to show Eve that he had become a man. heddle

    Creationists on the Square in Madison, Wisconsin - The Panda's Thumb 2010

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