embroidery hoop
- noun
- /ɪmˈbroɪdəri huːp/
- Embroidery hoops are great for adding circles; use the inner hoop for your photography, and keep it round at other times by storing it in the outer hoop.
Examples
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The manner in which an actor arose suddenly from a table, cast down a book or letter, or snatched up an embroidery hoop, for instance, was a mute sign considered potentially more revealing than lines of dialogue.
Academic text (1993) -
I promise this will be the last embroidery hoop project for a while.
Blog text (32) -
Leane was right, she supposed; a woman could sit for hours with an embroidery hoop, watching everyone and everything, and nobody thought it strange.
Fiction book (1992) -
Shove everything handmade that you own in your suitcase, as well as lots of embroidery hoops.
Blog text (29) -
Conversely, a disengagement from the sewing basket or embroidery hoop served as a sign of honor lost.
Academic text (1993) -
Pulling her embroidery hoop from the basket, she ruefully examined yesterday's work, a number of lopsided yellow oxeyes and something she had meant to be a pale yellow rosebud, though no one would know unless she told them.
Fiction book (1992) -
She adjusted the tension of the fabric in her embroidery hoop before starting the design.
-
He carefully placed the fabric in the embroidery hoop to keep it taut while stitching.
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Using an embroidery hoop makes it easier to embroider detailed patterns on the fabric.
Synonyms
A round frame that holds fabric tight for sewing
A tool that holds fabric tight while you sew patterns by hand
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'embroidery' (decorative sewing) with 'hoop' (a circular band): it denotes a hoop used for embroidery to hold fabric taut. This is a straightforward compositional compound following a common noun+noun pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the sense.
Etymology
Embroidery hoop comes from the simple wooden or plastic ring, the hoop, that holds cloth tight like a small drum so a person can stitch neatly. Because the rings keep the fabric smooth and still, an embroidery hoop means 'a pair of fitted rings used to hold fabric taut while embroidering'.