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NEEDLEWORK
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Work (such as sewing or embroidery) that is done with a needle
Synonyms:
needlecraft; needlework
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("needlework" is a kind of...):
handicraft (a craft that requires skillful hands)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A creation created or assembled by needle and thread
Synonyms:
needlecraft; needlework
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("needlework" is a kind of...):
creation (an artifact that has been brought into existence by someone)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "needlework"):
crochet; crocheting (needlework done by interlocking looped stitches with a hooked needle)
embroidery; fancywork (decorative needlework)
knit; knitting; knitwork (needlework created by interlacing yarn in a series of connected loops using straight eyeless needles or by machine)
sewing; stitchery (needlework on which you are working with needle and thread)
tatting (needlework consisting of handmade lace made by looping and knotting a single thread on a small shuttle)
Context examples:
All other errands were done, and Meg and her mother busy at some necessary needlework, while Beth and Amy got tea, and Hannah finished her ironing with what she called a 'slap and a bang', but still Jo did not come.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
We varied the legal character of these proceedings by going to see some perspiring Wax-work, in Fleet Street (melted, I should hope, these twenty years); and by visiting Miss Linwood's Exhibition, which I remember as a Mausoleum of needlework, favourable to self-examination and repentance; and by inspecting the Tower of London; and going to the top of St. Paul's.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Edmund watched the progress of her attention, and was amused and gratified by seeing how she gradually slackened in the needlework, which at the beginning seemed to occupy her totally: how it fell from her hand while she sat motionless over it, and at last, how the eyes which had appeared so studiously to avoid him throughout the day were turned and fixed on Crawford—fixed on him for minutes, fixed on him, in short, till the attraction drew Crawford's upon her, and the book was closed, and the charm was broken.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
I have an impression on my mind which I cannot distinguish from actual remembrance, of the touch of Peggotty's forefinger as she used to hold it out to me, and of its being roughened by needlework, like a pocket nutmeg-grater.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
