braids

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
braid/breɪd/

▶noun

• 1 threads of silk, cotton, etc. woven into a decorative band.

• 2 chiefly N. Amer. a plaited length of hair.

▶verb

• 1 plait (hair).

• 2 (usu. as adj. braided) edge or trim with braid.

• 3 (usu. as adj. braided) (of a river or stream) flow into shallow interconnected channels divided by deposited earth.

– derivatives
braiding noun.

– origin OE bregdan ‘make a sudden movement’, also ‘interweave’, of Gmc origin.