withe

/wɪθ/US/wɪθ/

withe noun: a flexible, slender shoot or twig, especially when used as a band or for binding; a withy. Also the alternative spelling of wythe.

Noun

withe (plural withes)

A flexible, slender shoot or twig, especially when used as a band or for binding; a withy.
- It was most ingeniously secured at vacant hours, by a withe twisted in the handle of the door, and stakes set against the window-shutters;[…]1810, Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Synonyms:

winding
A band of twisted twigs.
- They deemed it little scathe indeed / That her coarse homespun ragged weed / Fell off from her round arms and lithe / Laid on the door-post, that a withe / Of willows was her only belt; / And each as he gazed at her felt / As some gift had been given him.1870, William Morris, “December: The Fostering of Aslaug”, in The Earthly Paradise: A Poem, part IV, London: F[rederick] S[tartridge] Ellis, […], →OCLC, page 57
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.
- Some short topgallant masts are rigged with a withe on the after part of the mast-head, through which a sliding-gunter royal-mast is run up, with its heel resting in a step on the topmast cap.1841, Richard Henry Dana, The Seaman's Friend

Verb

withe (third-person singular simple present withes, present participle withing, simple past and past participle withed)

(transitive) To bind with withes.
- As soon as the body of Deerslayer was withed in bark sufficiently to create a lively sense of helplessness, he was literally carried to a young tree, and bound against it, in a way that effectually prevented it from moving,1862, James Fenimore Cooper, The Deerslayer, page 341
- These frames are usually constructed of rough trees tightly withed and wedged together.1888, Virgil Chittenden Hart, Western China: a journey to the great Buddhist centre of Mount Omei, page 132
(transitive) To beat with withes.
- Question. Did you hear of the circumstances of William Davis having been whipped on the 5th day of December, the day before the cutting took place? Answer Yes, sir; I did that evening, when he came home. Q. Did you examine where he had been withed? A. Yes, sir.1888 June 30, Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia., “State v. Davis.”, in The Southeastern reporter, volume 7
- "He'll trim you up for tossing Suse that note," said Am Bayne to his own companion. / "Ye-es, and you'll get a withing, too," declared the other.1901, Oren Frederic Morton, Winning or losing?: a story of the West Virginia Hills

Also used as

withe is also the alternative spelling of wythe.

Examples of withe in a sentence

The strips are first laid on the back and two sides of the shanty, and are kept smooth and in proper position by poles laid across them and withed down to the frame.1890, Edward Augustus Samuels, With fly-rod and camera, page 184:
If it were withed by the aborigine it would have formed an effective and dangerous weapon, either in the chase of the large beasts with which he was contemporary or in war against his human enemies.1913, Newton Horace Winchell with Minnesota Historical Society, The weathering of aboriginal stone artifacts, no. 1, page 121:

Synonyms of withe

winding

Forms of withe

Noun
plural	withes
alternative form	with
Verb
third-person singular present	withes
present participle	withing
past participle	withed
past	withed

Origin of withe

From Middle English withe, from Old English wiþþe (“band, tie”), from Proto-Germanic *wiþiz, *wiþjǭ (“cord, rope”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéh₁itis (“that which twines”), from *weyt- (“that which winds or bends, branch, switch”), from Proto-Indo-European *wey- (“to turn, wind, bend”). Cognates Cognate with Danish vidje (“wicker”), Icelandic viðja (“willow”), Swedish vidja (“withe”), French guiche (“strap; kiss-curl”), Italian guiggia (“armstrap; sandal strap”), Finnish vitja (“chain; ponyfoot”), vitsa (“birch; twig, wicker”), Ingrian vitsa (“branch, twig”), Livonian vitsā (“twig; strap”), Veps vic (“twig”), Votic vittsõ (“cane; twig; wire”); also Irish féith (“calm, still; smooth; bashful, shy”), Manx feagh (“calm, docile, still”), Scottish Gaelic fèath (“calm”), Welsh gwden (“withe; snare; noose”), Latin vītis (“vine”), Greek ιτιά (itiá, “willow”), Old Prussian witwan (“willow”), Belarusian ве́йка (vjéjka, “eyelash”), Czech větev (“branch”), Old Polish wiećw (“vine branch”), Russian ветвь (vetvʹ, “branch, bough, limb”), Slovak vetva (“branch”), Slovene veja (“branch”), Ukrainian віта (vita, “branch, twig”), Armenian գի (gi, “juniper tree; cypress”), գիհի (gihi, “juniper...

Words formed from withe

green withe

Words that rhyme with withe

4 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about withe

What does withe mean?: Withe means a flexible, slender shoot or twig, especially when used as a band or for binding; a withy.
How do you use withe in a sentence?: The strips are first laid on the back and two sides of the shanty, and are kept smooth and in proper position by poles laid across them and withed down to the frame.
What part of speech is withe?: Withe can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce withe?: Withe is pronounced /wɪθ/ (UK).
What is the plural of withe?: The plural of withe is withes.

Words near withe in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: withe (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-withe.wav.

Cite this entry: “withe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/withe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.