NEEDLEWORK

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does needlework mean? 

• NEEDLEWORK (noun)
  The noun NEEDLEWORK has 2 senses:

1. a creation created or assembled by needle and thread

2. work (such as sewing or embroidery) that is done with a needle

  Familiarity information: NEEDLEWORK used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NEEDLEWORK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A creation created or assembled by needle and thread

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

needlecraft; needlework

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Work (such as sewing or embroidery) that is done with a needle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

needlecraft; needlework

Hypernyms ("needlework" is a kind of...):

handicraft (a craft that requires skillful hands)

 Context examples 

Elizabeth took up some needlework, and was sufficiently amused in attending to what passed between Darcy and his companion.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

After luncheon, the girl took them out for a walk, and I went to my needlework like little Mabel 'with a willing mind'.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

From my earliest infancy she seems to have been always employed in that class of needlework, and never by any chance in any other.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

These could already read, write, and sew; and to them I taught the elements of grammar, geography, history, and the finer kinds of needlework.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She was a woman who spent her days in sitting, nicely dressed, on a sofa, doing some long piece of needlework, of little use and no beauty, thinking more of her pug than her children, but very indulgent to the latter when it did not put herself to inconvenience, guided in everything important by Sir Thomas, and in smaller concerns by her sister.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Whenever I see her, she always curtseys and asks me how I do, in a very pretty manner; and when you have had her here to do needlework, I observe she always turns the lock of the door the right way and never bangs it.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

For two days Mrs. Morland allowed it to pass even without a hint; but when a third night's rest had neither restored her cheerfulness, improved her in useful activity, nor given her a greater inclination for needlework, she could no longer refrain from the gentle reproof of, My dear Catherine, I am afraid you are growing quite a fine lady.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The doors of these humble dwellings were mostly open, and against the yellow glare from within Alleyne could see the bearded fellows cleaning their harness, while their wives would come out for a gossip, with their needlework in their hands, and their long black shadows streaming across the yard.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Peggotty at her needlework was as much at home with St. Paul's and the bit of wax-candle, as if they had never known any other roof.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

There was a great deal of needlework to be done, moreover, in which her help was wanted; and that Mrs. Norris thought her quite as well off as the rest, was evident by the manner in which she claimed it—Come, Fanny, she cried, these are fine times for you, but you must not be always walking from one room to the other, and doing the lookings-on at your ease, in this way; I want you here.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)