withe

Meanings

Noun

• A flexible, slender twig or shoot, especially when used as a band or for binding; a withy.
• A band of twisted twigs.
• An elastic handle to a tool to save the hand from the shock of blows.
• An iron attachment on one end of a mast or boom, with a ring, through which another mast or boom is rigged out and secured.
• A partition between flues in a chimney.

Verb

• To bind with withes.
• To beat with withes.

Origin

• From Middle English withe, withthe, from Old English wiþe, wiþþe, from Proto-Germanic *wiþiz, *wiþjǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *weyt-, from Proto-Indo-European *wey-. Cognate with Danish vidje ("wicker"), Swedish vidja ("withe, wicker, osier"), Icelandic við, viðja, Latin vītis ("vine"). vice.