wreathe

American  

[reeth] / rið /

verb (used with object)

wreathed, wreathed, wreathen, wreathing

1. to encircle or adorn with or as with a wreath.

2. to form as a wreath by twisting or twining.

3. to surround in curving or curling masses or form.

4. to envelop.

   a face wreathed in smiles.

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verb (used without object)

wreathed, wreathed, wreathen, wreathing

1. to take the form of a wreath or wreaths.

2. to move in curving or curling masses, as smoke.

wreathe British  

/ riːð /

verb

1. to form into or take the form of a wreath by intertwining or twisting together

2. (tr) to decorate, crown, or encircle with wreaths

3. to move or cause to move in a twisting way

   smoke wreathed up to the ceiling

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Other Word Forms

• interwreathe verb
• wreather noun

Etymology

Origin of wreathe

1520–30; earlier wrethe, partly v. use of wreath, partly back formation from wrethen, obsolete past participle of writhe

Example Sentences

Mr. Chen shows the family trundling in a horse-drawn cart toward forbidding mountains wreathed in mist.

From The Wall Street Journal

"What we commemorate, what we celebrate, what public displays we make, where we place wreathes – the president does have that ability to signal what he thinks is important," he added.

From BBC

Rescue workers, wreathed in smoke, stood by a pair of excavators digging through a mountain of rubble — the wreckage of an eight-story, 16-apartment building.

From Los Angeles Times

The crosses throughout a bizarre realm wreathed in shadow mark sites where he has shed his corporeal flesh.

From New York Times

Across the valley, Mount Stuart is wreathed in clouds.

From Seattle Times

Related Words

• braid
• careen
• compose
• construct
• create
• entwine
• fabricate
• fold
• fuse
• incorporate
• intertwine
• introduce
• knit
• loop
• mesh
• sew
• snake
• spin
• splice
• twist