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:
His missing forearm prevented him from immediately returning to his previous occupation as a weaver.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 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
Long ago, Athena had taught the mortal weaver Arachne a hard lesson—cursing her for her pride by turning her into the first spider.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
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
It includes stars from New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s team, including Tascha Van Auken, who led the campaign’s field operation, and Cea Weaver, his housing guru.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
Weaver assured Lawrence that he himself was “perfectly willing to bleed for this thing,” but “we have simply got to take more time.”
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Despite the decline in volume of work, some weavers are determined to carry on with the beloved tradition.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
The streets are also named for these weavers of words, so they’re overhead and underfoot.
From Salon ● Jun. 23, 2026
Beyond its cultural importance, Gomashie said the outfit's weekly display would "generate far-reaching social and economic benefits" especially for local weavers, designers, artisans and traders.
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2026
Because “the demand for woven cloth could fluctuate wildly,” she writes, “as quickly as weavers remembered the good wages, memories of periods of acute hardship came flooding back.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
Those mounted plains warriors and Navajo sheepherders and weavers now figure prominently in white Americans’ image of American Indians, but the basis for that image was created only after 1492.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions 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.
