Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913
Sleave
Sleave (slēv), n. [Cf. Dan. slöif, a knot loop, Sw. slejf, G. schleife a knot, sliding knot, and E. slip, v.i.] (a) The knotted or entangled part of silk or thread. (b) Silk not yet twisted; floss; — called also sleave silk.
Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care. Shak.
Sleave, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sleaved (slēvd); p. pr. & vb. n. Sleaving.] To separate, as threads; to divide, as a collection of threads; to sley; — a weaver's term.