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• tweed
  tweed

  noun

  a coarse wool cloth in a variety of weaves and colors, either hand-spun and handwoven in Scotland or reproduced, often by machine, elsewhere.
• Tweed
  Tweed

  noun

  William Marcy Boss Tweed, 1823–78, U.S. politician.

tweed

¹ American  

[tweed] / twid /

noun

• tweeds
  plural

1. a coarse wool cloth in a variety of weaves and colors, either hand-spun and handwoven in Scotland or reproduced, often by machine, elsewhere.

2. tweeds, garments made of this cloth.

3. a paper having a rough surface, used especially for certain photographic prints.

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Tweed ² American  

[tweed] / twid /

noun

1. William Marcy Boss Tweed, 1823–78, U.S. politician.

2. a river flowing E from S Scotland along part of the NE boundary of England into the North Sea. 97 miles (156 km) long.

3. a male given name.

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tweed ¹ British  

/ twiːd /

noun

1. 1. a thick woollen often knobbly cloth produced originally in Scotland

   2. ( as modifier )

      a tweed coat

2. (plural) clothes made of this cloth, esp a man's or woman's suit

3. informal (plural) trousers

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Tweed ² British  

/ twiːd /

noun

1. a river in SE Scotland and NE England, flowing east and forming part of the border between Scotland and England, then crossing into England to enter the North Sea at Berwick. Length: 156 km (97 miles)

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• tweeds
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of tweed

1835–45; apparently back formation from Scots tweedling twilling (now obsolete) < ?

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Explanation

Tweed is a kind of speckled fabric made from woven wool. Used for jackets, suits, and coats, tweed is a rough, sturdy material. Tweed was originally tweel, the Scots word for twill, a diagonally-patterned textile weave. In the 1830's the word was misread by a fabric merchant who assumed it came from the Scottish River Tweed, and the name stuck. Woven on looms, rough wool is transformed into tweed's tidy patterns, like herringbone and houndstooth. Most tweed is still made in Scotland for garments including suit jackets, skirts, and trousers, as well as blankets and scarves.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tweed Tweed tweeds

"I wanted to see whether, when you strip away the usual Chanel signatures - the tweed, the jewelled buttons - you can still get to that essence," he told WWD.

From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2026

“He was wearing a tweed jacket and looked like a professor,” said Raskin, now at investigations firm Nardello & Co.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026

John scored quarter-zip sweaters for himself and his father-in-law, and his wife splurged on a tweed jacket for Christmas Day.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025

Another is Harris tweed, the manufacturer of a fabric handwoven in the Outer Hebrides, which has risen from near death and now employs hundreds, selling its products all over the world.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025

He’s dressed in the same tweed suit and old-fashioned hat that he wears every day when he takes his morning and evening walks to the river.

From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish

Magistrate Andrew McGregor said Tweed would receive a statutory disqualification from driving of 12 months.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

He purchased it for $10.5 million in 2021 to use as a California home base after he and his wife, Shannon Tweed Simmons, moved to Las Vegas.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 27, 2026

In another email, correspondence quoted from Paul Tweed appears to propose a media strategy over comments allegedly made by Sarah Ferguson about Epstein.

From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026

Activist groups staged protests for months near places where it provides service, including Tweed New Haven Airport in Connecticut.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 10, 2026

He is now an associate in mergers and acquisitions at Milbank Tweed in New York, where, interestingly, Hugh Corcoran was just made partner.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

On the Scottish island of Harris, the setting for this novel, expensive tweeds are a costly commodity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2026

With stars from Nicole Kidman to Dua Lipa looking on, the first outfits made abundant use of sheer silk muslin alongside Chanel tweeds before the arrival of more whimsical, avian-inspired styles.

From Barron's ● Jan. 27, 2026

Giambattista Valli switched things up for his fall runway show at Paris Fashion Week, taking a step back from his signature, airy floral styles to focus on tweeds, which he also offered for men.

From Reuters ● Mar. 3, 2023

Here, the riding jacket was a key theme, constructed in gleaming silken tweeds above gamine miniskirts and youthful skorts.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 24, 2023

I had a picture of Mrs. Willard, with her heather-mixture tweeds and her sensible shoes and her wise, maternal maxims.

From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

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