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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

There, at a tombstone whose name is illegible, the inspector and his crew find a corpse in a tweed suit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

Boxy tweed boucle jackets with fringed trims and structured brightly coloured handbags were the order of day, with various materials including lace also on display.

From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2026

"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

A man with a spongy face, a bushel of white hair, and a patched tweed jacket grumbles at Jakob from the bar.

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

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

Paul Tweed has also acted for Sarah Ferguson and has had a personal friendship with both Sarah and Andrew.

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

Ms Broughton was the second vehicle and Mr Tweed was the third.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2025

“Reverend Tweed and I are in agreement that it is time for a choir for the Vida church. He has asked me to direct.”

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

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

There were tailored women’s coats in wool, checks and earth-toned tweeds, and chunky cable knits and mini-dress polos in cashmere.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 9, 2024

At the Conservative Party conference there really were young men in pin-striped suits or tweeds, as well as women of a certain age wearing pearls.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2022

At die moment, their choir coach, an enormous woman in tweeds, was advising them to open their mouths wider when they sang.

From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger

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