heddle

[hed-l]

noun

one of the sets of vertical cords or wires in a loom, forming the principal part of the harness that guides the warp threads.

Origin of heddle

1505–15; perhaps representing Old English *hefedl, a metathetic variant of hefeld (Middle English helde, ModE heald), cognate with Old Saxon hevild; akin to Old Norse hafald

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for heddle

Historical Examples of heddle

This will fasten the heddle in its place across the loom (Fig. 12).
Indoor and Outdoor Recreations for Girls
Lina Beard
With his left hand he works the reed, with his feet he works the heddle.
Stories of Useful Inventions
Samuel Eagle Foreman
This very ingenious man in 1801 invented a substitute for the heddle.
Stories of Useful Inventions
Samuel Eagle Foreman
On each side of the woof in the heddle there is a carrier, B.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 286
Various
Prof. Kennedy argues that these rods are in the wrong position and that D1 which is a heddle should be in the place of D2.
Ancient Egyptian and Greek Looms
H. Ling Roth

British Dictionary definitions for heddle

heddle

noun

one of a set of frames of vertical wires on a loom, each wire having an eye through which a warp thread can be passed

Word Origin for heddle

Old English hefeld chain; related to Old Norse hafald, Middle Low German hevelte

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012