braids

Noun

braid (countable and uncountable, plural braids)

1. (countable, obsolete) A sudden movement; a jerk, a wrench.
   • And than in a brayde Sir Launcelot brake hys chaynes of hys legges and of hys armys (and in the brakynge he hurte hys hondys sore)[…].1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum ii”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book XII, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer...
2. A weave of three or more strands of fibers, ribbons, cords or hair often for decoration.
   • The physician should evaluate for a history of tight ponytails, buns, chignons, braids, twists, weaves, cornrows, dreadlocks, sisterlocks, and hair wefts in addition to the usage of religious hair coverings.2021, Becky S. Li, Howard I. Maibach, Ethnic Skin and Hair and Other Cultural Considerations, page 154
3. A stranded wire composed of a number of smaller wires twisted together.
4. A tubular sheath made of braided strands of metal placed around a central cable for shielding against electromagnetic interference.
5. (obsolete) A caprice or outburst of passion or anger.
   • Let the maide learne none uncleanly words, or wanton, or uncomely gesture and moving of the body, no not so much as when she is yet ignorant what shee doth, and innocent; for shee shall doe the same, when shee is growne bigger and of more discretion, […] And oftentimes such braides come uppon them...1540, Juan Luis Vives, chapter 2, in Richard Hyrde, transl., Instruction of a Christian Woman
6. Given two sets of n points on corresponding positions on two parallel lines, a braid is a unique set of crossings (over or under) between n strands that connect each point on one line to a point on the other line such that all points represent the terminus of one and only one strand and the traversal of any strand from a starting point to an ending point never moves further away from the from the ending point.
   • We introduce braids via their historical roots and uses, make connections with knot theory and present the mathematical theory of braids through the braid group.2009, Mitchell A. Berger, Louis H. Kauffman, Renzo L. Ricca, Lectures on Topological Fluid Mechanics, page 1

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