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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

Etymology

Origin of tweed

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

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

Across the aisle, a young man with shaggy hair and a tweed blazer noticed the book on my lap.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026

In a bedroom near pictures of her champions, Calvacca has laid out two St. John tweed skirtsuits, one pink and one purple, both with metallic-thread accents.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 31, 2026

Designed by her dressmaker Norman Hartnell, the Queen first wore her Harris tweed jacket and Balmoral Tartan skirt in the 1950s.

From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2025

Costelloe often used traditional Irish fabrics and textiles in his designs, including Irish linen and tweed.

From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2025

He wore a ragged tweed jacket, a skullcap, and a pair of eyeglasses with one chipped lens resting on the tip of his nose.

From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

The court fined Tweed £692 and ordered him to pay a surcharge of £277 and costs of £85.

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

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

Reverend Tweed was about to be on the receiving end of a sermon.

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

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

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

When he returned he would bring back gifts: slippery, shiny silks, or thick woolen tweeds, or toy dolls made of pale, cold porcelain.

From "Ash" by Malinda Lo

Related Words

• cashmere
• fleece
• fur
• hair
• mohair
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