thread
     n 1: a fine cord of twisted fibers (of cotton or silk or wool or
          nylon etc.) used in sewing and weaving [syn: {yarn}]
     2: any long object resembling a thin line; "a mere ribbon of
        land"; "the lighted ribbon of traffic"; "from the air the
        road was a gray thread"; "a thread of smoke climbed
        upward" [syn: {ribbon}]
     3: the connections that link the various parts of an event or
        argument together; "I couldn't follow his train of
        thought"; "he lost the thread of his argument" [syn: {train
        of thought}]
     4: the raised helical rib going around a screw [syn: {screw
        thread}]
     v 1: to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular
          course; "the river winds through the hills"; "the path
          meanders through the vineyards"; "sometimes, the gout
          wanders through the entire body" [syn: {weave}, {wind},
          {meander}, {wander}]
     2: pass a thread through; "thread a needle"
     3: remove facial hair by tying a fine string around it and
        pulling at the string; "She had her eyebrows threaded"
     4: pass through or into; "thread tape"; "thread film"
     5: thread on or as if on a string; "string pearls on a string";
        "the child drew glass beads on a string"; "thread dried
        cranberries" [syn: {string}, {draw}]
Source: WordNet® 2.0

thread n. [Usenet, GEnie, CompuServe] Common abbreviation of `topic
   thread', a more or less continuous chain of postings on a single topic.
   To `follow a thread' is to read a series of Usenet postings sharing a
   common subject or (more correctly) which are connected by Reference
   headers. The better newsreaders can present news in thread order
   automatically. Not to be confused with the techspeak sense of `thread',
   e.g. a lightweight process.

   Interestingly, this is far from a neologism. The OED says: "That which
   connects the successive points in anything, esp. a narrative, train of
   thought, or the like; the sequence of events or ideas continuing
   throughout the whole course of anything;" Citations are given going back
   to 1642!


Source: The Jargon File