sleave

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

sleave, n. [Cf. Dan. slöif, a knot loop, Sw. slejf, G. schleife a knot, sliding knot, and E. slip, v.i.].

 The knotted or entangled part of silk or thread.  [1913 Webster]
"Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care."  [1913 Webster]

sleave, v. t. 

 To separate, as threads; to divide, as a collection of threads; to sley; -- a weaver's term.  [1913 Webster]

ROGET THESAURUS

sleave

Complexity

N complexity, complexness, complexus, complication, implication, intricacy, intrication, perplexity, network, labyrinth, wilderness, jungle, involution, raveling, entanglement, coil, sleave, tangled skein, knot, Gordian knot, wheels within wheels, kink, gnarl, knarl, webwork, difficulty, gnarled, knarled, complex, complexed, intricate, complicated, perplexed, involved, raveled, entangled, knotted, tangled, inextricable, irreducible.