weaver
noun
a person who weaves.
weaver
1 American
[wee-ver]
/ ˈwi vər /
Weaver
2
American
[wee-ver]
/ ˈwi vər /
noun
-
James Baird, 1833–1912, U.S. politician: congressman 1879–81, 1885–89.
-
Robert Clifton, 1907–97, U.S. economist and government official: first Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 1966–68.
weaver
British
/ ˈwiːvə /
noun
-
a person who weaves, esp as a means of livelihood
-
short for weaverbird
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of weaver
First recorded in 1325–75, weaver is from the Middle English word wevere. See weave, -er 1
Explanation
A person who makes fabric by weaving fiber together is a weaver. Most weavers use a loom, a device that holds the threads tightly as they're being woven. A craft weaver works by hand, weaving without a loom, but most weavers use either a hand loom or a power loom. This more mechanized type of loom was invented in the 1780s, and it made the work less physically taxing for weavers. The Proto-Indo-European root of weaver is also the source of the Sanskrit word ubhnati, "he laces together" and the Greek word hyphe, or "web."
Vocabulary lists containing weaver
Name That Job: Occupational Last Names
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"A Contest of Riddles"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Researchers from several South American institutions have identified a new species of crevice weaver spider, expanding what scientists know about the Pikelinia genus.
From Science Daily ● May 1, 2026
“Getting Native people out into nature is going to bring that tribal stewardship with it. The basket weaver, she can’t help herself; she’s going to care for those basket weaving materials.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
Shadrack Yao Agboli, a fugu weaver who also works with the National Commission on Culture, has a home workshop where long bands of hand-loomed fabric hang to dry in the afternoon sun.
From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026
Another old friend, Deborah Needleman, left her high-powered job as a magazine editor and became an expert basket weaver.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025
Tomorrow the women would dye the yarn, and when it was ready, her father, a master weaver, would create the strips of treasured fabric on his loom.
From "Copper Sun" by Sharon M. Draper
The treatment of pepperpot itself clearly involved some Solomonic choices, given that Mr. Weaver limits his sample recipes to three.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Weaver and his team looked at other recent races in New York state.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
Notre Dame got its touchdown on its opening possession, on a 50-yard pass from Skinner to Mica Weaver.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
In the spring of 2025, his personal attorney and political adviser Tim Parlatore was involved in efforts to polygraph Patrick Weaver, the secretary’s senior adviser.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
“Why in the world would Kenneth Weaver be in the teachers’ room?”
From "The Best School Year Ever" by Barbara Robinson
Despite the decline in volume of work, some weavers are determined to carry on with the beloved tradition.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
Through November, the museum features an open-air spider pavilion, a ticketed exhibit that allows visitors to walk amid hundreds of spiders known as orb weavers and their intricate webs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2025
Traditionally, mochilas were crafted over weeks, but rising demand led many weavers to develop faster techniques, producing simpler designs in two or three days.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2025
It also includes diamond workers of western India, who produce much of the world’s polished diamonds, as well as carpet weavers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2025
Some of the brilliant Ionian thinkers were the sons of sailors and farmers and weavers.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
