| 释义 |
▪ I. thick, a. (n.)|θɪk|
Forms: 1 ðicce, (3 þihk), ðhikke, þeck, (9 dial. theck), 3–5 þ-, thikke, 3–6 þ-, thycke, 3–7 þ-, thicke, 4 thic, thikc, 4–5 þ-, thyk(e, thykke, þik, 4–6 thik, thikk, 5 thek, þ-, thike, 5–6 thyck, (7 thigge), 4– thick.
[OE. þicce = OS. thikki (Du. dik), OHG. dicchi (G. dick), ON. þykkr, beside þjokki (Da. tyk, Sw. tjok, tjock), Goth. *þiqus:—OTeut. *þik(k)uz, fem. þik(k)wī-; cf. Ir., Gael. tiugh (‹ *tigu-); ulterior etymology uncertain.]
A. adj.
I.
1. a. Having relatively great extension between the opposite surfaces or sides; of comparatively large measurement through: as a thick wall, board, or plank, a thick stem, post, or stick; a thick stratum or seam of coal, a thick layer of fat or coating of paint, thick cloth, etc. Opposed to thin; distinct from long and broad: cf. sense 2.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxxv. §4 Hi woldon witan hu heah hit wære to ðæm heofone, & hu ðicce se hefon wære & hu fæst. c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 200 Leᵹe on þone þiccestan clað oþðe on fel. c1020Rule St. Benet lv. (Logeman) 91 Culam [= cowl] on wintre þicce on sumere þinne. a1225Ancr. R. 50 Þe blake cloð..is þiccure aȝein þe wind. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints vii. (Jacobus) 753 He saw a wal wes fow thyke. c1440Promp. Parv. 490/2 Thykke clothe. 1535Coverdale 1 Kings xii. 10 My litle fynger shall be thicker then my fathers loynes. 1552Huloet, Thicke leafe, carnosum folium. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 6 The Grapes that grow there..have a thick skin. 1776Withering Brit. Plants (1796) III. 206 Stems several, the central one thickest; leafy. 1809Med. Jrnl. XXI. 335 The individuals belonging to the Austrian branch have thick lips. 1845Talfourd Vac. Rambles I. 174 The dull gleam through the thick glass of my small round peep-hole.
fig.a1571Jewel Sacram. in Serm. etc. (1583) X v b, I neede not speake more hereof, the errour is so grosse, so thicke, so sensible and palpable.
†b. Extending far down from the surface; deep.
c893[see sense 2]. 1676W. Row Contn. Blair's Autobiog. ix. (1848) 138 Riding the water of Belfast, it being thicker than he apprehended. 1693Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. II. 58 A thick Frost would kill the Roots, as well as the Head.
c. Of a person or animal: Thickset, stout, burly. Obs. exc. dial.
a1250Owl & Night. 580 Ne þu nart þikke ne þu nart long. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8570 Þikke mon he was ynou, round & noȝt wel long. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1198 (Dido) Vp on a thikke palfrey..Sit Dido. 1486Bk. St. Albans a vj b, A longe hawke, a short thike hawke. 1570Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 2252/1 She was..of a very litle and short stature, somwhat thicke. 1643Baker Chron., Will. II. 49 He was but meane of stature, thick and square bodied. 1819W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd ii. (1827) 69 Thick Jamie Bud, lang Sandy Kay.
†d. transf. Having substance all through; solid, not hollow. Obs. rare—1.
a1400–50Alexander 4073 Imagis..He made his pepill þaim to perse, to proue þam with-in, Quethire þai ware hologhe or hale, & hale he þam fyndis, Saȝe þaim thike þurȝe-out.
2. a. Used (with words of measurement, or in the comparative or superlative) to express the third dimension of a solid, which has a direction at right angles at once to the length and the breadth: Having a (specified) thickness. (Sometimes equivalent to deep, but not now said of a body of water or other fluid.) Commonly following the words stating the measure, as ten feet thick, paper 1/10 of a millimeter thick.
In this sense not opposed to thin; for the thinnest substance has some thickness, as the shortest line has some length, and the narrowest surface some breadth or width.
c893K. ælfred Oros. i. iii. §1 ælce ᵹeare þæt land middeweard oferfleow mid fotes þicce flode. Ibid. iv. xiii. §2 Se weall wæs xx fota ðicce, & xl elna heah. c1384Chaucer H. Fame iii. 245 Men myght make of hem a bible xxti foote thykke. 1493Litt. Red Bk. Bristol (1900) II. 134 Whiche wall we Fynde xxij yenchis thycke by the grownde. 1602Shakes. Ham. v. i. 214 Let her paint an inch thicke, to this fauour she must come. 1682Wheler Journ. Greece i. 70 The Front is thick Fourteen foot. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 88 One Inch thick, and three Inches broad. 1812New Bot. Gard. i. 61 Some very rotten dung put in the bottom six inches thick. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 69 When a sheet of water is not a quarter of an inch thick before it meets the float [of a mill-wheel].
†b. Standing one behind the other; = deep a. 2 b. Obs.
1604E. Grimstone Hist. Siege Ostend 56 They discouered their Gabions nine thicke. 1605B. Jonson Volpone i. i. ad fin., There is a guard of spies ten thick upon her. 1650Rudd Geom. Questions 130 The Pikes are invironed with shot four men thick, round about.
3. fig. Excessive in some disagreeable quality; too much to manage or to stand; spec. too gross, indecent, or indelicate. Often in phrase a bit thick. Cf. to lay it on thick. slang.
1884Standard 6 June 6/3, I know it is thick in Brum. [Birmingham] for you, so that we must meet in London. 1902G. W. E. Russell Londoner's Log-bk. iii. 46 These manifold exercises of culture are characterized by our curate as ‘a bit thick’, and he owns himself ‘fairly out of it’. 1902Daily Chron. 9 Sept. 7/3 Guardsmen who have been drinking are a thick lot,..and gentle methods will not always prevail with them. 1907H. Wales The Yoke xii, They hinted more than once that Christopher was ‘a bit thick’. 1907H. Wyndham Flare of Footlights x, ‘By the way, what's the piece like?’.. ‘A bit thick, my dear? I should just think it was! It's an adaptation from the French, you know’. Ibid. xxii, ‘It's a bit thick’, he said indignantly, ‘when a man of my position is passed over for a beginner like young Merrick’.
b. the thick end of the stick = the dirty end (of the stick) s.v. dirty a. 1 e.
1957Times 22 Nov. 8/3 Sir Ralph Richardson has the thick end of the stick... He has to represent an ordinary city insurance clerk. 1960Woman's Own 13 Feb. 17/2 I'm the one to get what Father used to call ‘the thick end of the stick’.
II. In general sense of dense.
4. a. Closely occupied, filled, or set with objects or individuals; composed of numerous individuals or parts densely arranged; dense, crowded. Of hair: Bushy, luxuriant.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxxv. §5 Ðu..lædst me hidres & ðidres on swa þicne wudu. a900O.E. Martyrol. 148 Þa ᵹewat he in þone þiccestan wudu. c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 156 ᵹif hær to þicce sie, ᵹenim [etc.]. c1205Lay. 27525 Amidden þan þrunge þer heo þihkest weoren. a1250Owl & Night. 17 In ore vaste þikke hegge. 13..K. Alis. 4067 (Bodl. MS.) Of þe draweyng of bowȝes & stykke, Þe eyre bicom trouble & þicke. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace 13925 Mikel was þe pres, ful þykke þe þro. c1400Destr. Troy 12496 A thoner and a thicke rayne þrublet in the skewes. c1440Promp. Parv. 490/2 Thykke, as wodys, gresse, or corne, or other lyke, densus. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xxxiii. 89 Thik was the clud of kayis and crawis. 1612Proc. Virginia 61 in Capt. Smith's Wks. (Arb.) 424 He had a thicke blacke bush beard. 1620T. Granger Div. Logike 166 A thick multitude of people. 1658Dryden Stanzas to O. Cromwell xiv, Thick as the galaxy with stars is sown. 1711Addison Spect. No. 56 ⁋3 A thick Forest made up of Bushes, Brambles, and pointed Thorns. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 199 The women..were seen amidst the thickest fire serving out water and ammunition to their husbands and brothers. 1872Tennyson Last Tourn. 213 Then fell thick rain. 1899Westm. Gaz. 24 Nov. 8/2 After..the high grass and thick country is entered.
fig.1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 355 Þey makeþ..melody wiþ wel þicke tunes, werbeles, and nootes. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. iv. §24 His reign was not onely long..but also thick for remarkable mutations happening therein.
b. Const. with, † of.
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 217 A wyndow thikke of many a barre Of Iren. 1535Coverdale Ps. lxiv. [lxv.] 13 The valleys stonde so thicke with corne yt they laugh and synge. 1558T. Phaer æneid vii. S iij, This Laurel bushe full thick of browse. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 22 The Red Seas coast towards Aden is thick of good towns. 1700Dryden Sigism. & Guiscardo 102 A mount of rough ascent, and thick with wood. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xviii. 154 The whole range of walls and towers was thick with defenders.
5. a. Of the individual things collectively: Existing or occurring in large numbers in a relatively small space, or at short intervals; densely arranged, crowded; hence, numerous, abundant, plentiful. (Usually predicative, rarely attrib.) Also in colloq. phr. thick on the ground: (chiefly of persons) numerous, abundant; closely concentrated or crowded. Cf. thin a. 2 e.
c893K. ælfred Oros. i. i. §9 Heo ᵹedeð mid þæm flode swiþe þicce eorþwæstmas on ægypta lande. c1386Chaucer Wife's T. 12 Hooly freres..As thikke as motes in the sonne beem. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxiv. 152 Gude tounes er þare so thikk þat [etc.]. c1400Destr. Troy 6626 He segh þe troiens so tore, & turnyt so þik, All pyght in a place on a playn feld. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 136 Rotman..running amonges his ennemies where they were thickest was slayne. 1667Milton P.L. i. 303 His Legions..Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks In Vallombrosa. 1726Leoni tr. Palladio's Archit. (1742) I. 97 Thick columns..distant from each other..at the most two diameters. c1813Mrs. Sherwood Stories Ch. Catech. xxxvi. (1816) 367 We are pretty thick..in this berth. 1836Browning Paracelsus v. 369 Lay me..within some narrow grave..But where such graves are thickest. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 629 Among the thick graves of unquiet and aspiring statesmen, lie more delicate sufferers. 1893J. Salisbury Gloss. Words S.E. Worcestershire 42 Thick on the ground = crowded. 1919J. Buchan Mr Standfast xii. 218, I see you're some kind of general. They're pretty thick on the ground here. 1964C. Willock Enormous Zoo viii. 133 Where animals are thick on the ground as with the herds, often three hundred strong, of topi [etc.]. 1978‘E. Peters’ Rainbow's End i. 24 Willing workers are not so thick on the ground these days.
†b. Of actions: Occurring in quick succession; rapid, frequent. Also transf. of an agent. Obs.
c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 8319 Þe bischops prayers þik Made him to take þe bischopryk. 1552Huloet, Thycke speaker, tolutiloquus. Ibid., Thycke speakynge, tolutiloquentia. 1573–80Baret Alv. T 154 A thicke and feeble beating of the pulse. 1611Shakes. Cymb. i. vi. 67 He furnaces The thicke sighes from him. a1631Donne Lett. (1651) 149 If you make not so thick goings as you used. 1665Dryden Ind. Emperor i. ii, Thick breath, quick Pulse and heaving of my Heart.
6. a. Having great or considerable density, either from natural consistence or from containing much solid matter; dense, viscid; stiff. (Said of liquids, semi-liquids, and plastic or easily liquefiable solids; formerly sometimes of solids generally.)
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxxiii. §5 Sio eorþe þon is hefiᵹre & þiccre þon oðra ᵹesceafta. c897― Gregory's Past. C. xliv. 329 Ðonne ðæt mon gadriᵹe ðæt ðicce fenn on hiene. c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 74 Wæter..swa þicce swa huniᵹes tear. Ibid. 314 Hrer on blede oþ þ̶ hit sie þicce swa þynne briw. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xix. 398, I can..drawe..at on hole Þikke ale and þinne ale. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. lxiii. [xlviii.] (Bodl. MS.), Þ⊇ more þik melke is þ⊇ more chese is þerin. c1440Promp. Parv. 490/2 Thykke, as lycure, spissus. 1552Huloet, Thicke as dregges, turbidus. 1605Shakes. Macb. iv. i. 32 Make the Grewell thicke, and slab. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 86 So as the surface might not be some airsom body, but all such thick or fast body. 1875Darwin Insectiv. Pl. v. 78 A mixture about as thick as cream. 1877Huxley Physiogr. x. 161 Not..a clear bright spring, but..a thick stream laden with detritus. 1893Hodges Elem. Photogr. (1907) 106 It should solidify into a thick jelly.
fig.1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. v. ii. 143 A woman mou'd, is like a fountaine troubled, Muddie, ill seeming, thicke, bereft of beautie. 1602― Ham. iv. v. 82 The people muddied, Thicke and vnwholsome in their thoughts.
b. Of air: Foul from admixture of fumes, vapours, etc., stuffy, close; also, dense, not rare or thin. Now rare or Obs. (Cf. 7.)
1626Bacon Sylva §143 When the aire is more Thin,..the Sound pierceth better; But when the Aire is more Thicke, (as in the Night) the Sound spendeth and spreadeth abroad lesse. 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 330 Thick fogs..continually rising from the Po, and other waters, by which the air is rendered thick and moist, and consequently unhealthy. 1819Shelley Peter Bell the Third iii. xxiii, They breathe an air Thick, infected, joy-dispelling.
7. a. Of mist, fog, smoke, etc.: Having the component particles densely aggregated, so as to intercept or hinder vision. Hence of the weather, etc.: Characterized by mist or haze; foggy, misty. Also dial. or colloq. in phr. (to be) thick o' fog.
a1000Boeth. Metr. v. 6 Se þicca mist þynra weorðe. Ibid. xx. 264 Todrif þone þiccan [mist]. c1000ælfric Exod. xix. 16 Liᵹetta & þunor & þicce ᵹenip [nubes densissima] oferwreh þone munt. c1290St. Michael 621 in S. Eng. Leg. 317 Þanne freost þe þicke Myst, and cleouez an heiȝ on þe treo. c1384Chaucer H. Fame ii. 400 Or ellis was the aire so thikke That y ne myght not discerne. c1400Song Roland 848 Thik, and clowdy, and evyll wedur thene. 1594T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 211 Like to a thick smoke ascending out of a great fire which would dim the eies. 1654Whitelocke Jrnl. Swed. Emb. (1772) II. 328 The fogge..was so thicke, that we could not see two ships length before us. 1745P. Thomas Voy. S. Seas 18 The Weather proving thick and hazy. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy xxvi, The horizon was so thick that the vessels ahead were no longer to be seen. 1884Queen Victoria More Leaves 128 A very dull, dark thick morning... Still, no rain. 1935L. Luard Conquering Seas ii. 19 Thick o' fog—can't see whaleback. 1972E. Staebler Cape Breton Harbour xvii. 148 We wanted to go back next day but thought we better wait till it was thick-a-fog and nobody'd see us.
b. transf., esp. of darkness: Difficult to penetrate; dense, deep, profound.
a900tr. Bæda's Hist. v. xiii. [xii.] (1890) 426 Ða þeostro..swa micel & swa ðicco wæron, þæt ic noht ᵹeseon meahte. c1000ælfric Hom. II. 194 Ðicce ðeostru and eᵹeslice. c1250Gen. & Ex. 3102 Ðhikke ðherknesse cam on ðat lond. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 6566 Swa mykel myrknes, Þat it may be graped, swa thik it es. 1605Shakes. Macb. i. v. 51 Come thick Night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoake of Hell. 1611Bible Exod. xx. 21 Moses drew neere vnto the thicke darkenes, where God was. 1781Sc. Paraphrases i. ii, Thick darkness brooded o'er the deep.
III. In transferred senses.
8. Of the voice, etc.: Not clear; hoarse; having a confused or husky sound; indistinct, inarticulate; also, of low pitch; deep; guttural; throaty.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxxi. (1495) 942 The voyces ben fatte and thycke whanne moche spyryte comyth out as the voys of a man. 1556, etc. [implied in thick adv. 4]. 1748J. Mason Elocut. 17 To cure a thick confused cluttering Voice. 1844Mrs. Carlyle Lett. (1883) I. 283 His speech is..so thick that I have great difficulty in catching what he says. 1881Rossetti Ballads & Sonn. (1882) 325 The young rooks cheep 'mid the thick caw o' the old. 1887Hall Caine Deemster xxxiii, The thick boom of the sea that came up from the rocks. 1889Morfill Gram. Russian Lang. 4 The sound of the vowel ы is a thick guttural e.
9. a. Of or in reference to hearing: Dull of perception; not quick or acute. Also of sight. (See also thick-eyed in 12 b, thick-sighted.) Now dial.
1526Tindale Acts xxviii. 27 The hert off this people is wexed grosse and their eares wexe thycke of hearinge. 1594T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 81 Many become deafe by hearing ouergreat soundes, whereof wee haue experience in Smithes, amongest whome many are thicke of hearing. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 336 His Dimensions (to any thicke sight) were inuincible. 1601― Jul. C. v. iii. 21 My sight was euer thicke. 1720Col. Rec. Pennsylv. III. 97 But we find their Ears are thick. 1888Elworthy W. Somerset Gloss. s.v., ‘Thick o' yearin'’ (hearing).
b. Of mental faculties or actions, or of persons: Slow (or characterized by slowness) of apprehension; dense, crass, thick-headed; stupid, obtuse. Now chiefly colloq. of persons. Also emphatically, as thick as two planks, etc. Cf. thick-headed a. b.
(In quot. 1597 with play on sense 6.)
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 262 Hang him Baboone, his Wit is as thicke as Tewksburie Mustard. 1603Hayward Answ. to Doleman iv. M j, I omit your thicke error in putting no difference betweene a magistrate and a king. 1670Penn Liberty of Consc. v. 32 What if you think our Reasons thick, and our ground of Separation mistaken? a1800Pegge Suppl. Grose, Thick... Also stupid. North. 1824Byron Juan xvi. lxxxiii, To hammer a horse laugh from the thick throng. 1865Harper's Mag. Dec. 133/2 [He] is nevertheless slow to see the point—in fact, ‘thick’ otherwise than crosswise. 1961S. Chaplin Day of Sardine ii. 53 Free rides on trains and trolleys were routine stuff; and the thickest character in the school could find a buckshee road into a cinema. 1974G. Honeycombe Adam's Tale i. ii. 27 ‘He must be as thick as two planks,’ said Nick. 1976J. I. M. Stewart Memorial Service iii. 40 You might expect to become P.M. if you hadn't been so thick as to accept your idiotic life peerage. 1980‘J. Gash’ Spend Game xiii. 130 Rough-mannered and a bit greedy... Corporal's thick as a plank.
IV.
10. (fig. from 5.) Close in confidence and association; intimate, familiar; often in similes (with allusion to other senses), e.g. as thick as glue, thick as inkle-weavers, thick as peas in a shell, thick as (two) thieves, thick as three in a bed, etc. colloq.
c1756Bp. Law in J. Nichols Lit. Anecd. 18th C. (1812) II. 70 ‘Yes’, said he, ‘we begin now, though contrary to my expectation, and without my seeking, to be pretty thick; and I thank God who reconciles me to my adversaries’. 1781Twining in Select. Papers T. Family (1887) 100 He and I were quite ‘thick’. We rode together frequently. 1803Lamb Let. to Manning Feb., Are you and the first consul thick? 1820Scott Monast. Introd Ep., That's right, Captain,..you twa will be as thick as three in a bed an ance ye forgather. 1833T. Hook Parson's Dau. ii. ii, She and my wife are as thick as thieves, as the proverb goes. 1836Lady Granville Lett. (1894) II. 199 He is thick with all the new Ministers. 1869Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 593 We soon grew as thick as inkle-weavers.
V.
11. Phrases. thick and threefold: see thick adv. 6; thick and thin, q.v.
12. a. Combinations. Chiefly parasynthetic adjectives; these can be formed at pleasure; the following are specimens: thick-ankled (having thick ankles), thick-barred (having thick bars), thick-billed, thick-blooded, thick-bodied, thick-bottomed, thick-brained (in sense 9 b), thick-coated, thick-fingered, thick-fleeced, thick-foliaged, thick-haired, thick-hided (hence thick-hidedness), thick-knobbed, thick-legged, thick-lensed, thick-lugged, thick-necked, thick-piled, thick-ribbed, thick-rimmed, thick-rinded, thick-shelled, thick-shouldered, thick-soled, thick-stemmed, thick-topped, thick-voiced, thick-walled, thick-wooled. Also thick-looking (looking or seeming thick). See also thick-headed, -skinned, -skulled, etc.
1853Tennyson in Ld. Tennyson Mem. (1897) II. 505 [In these, he would say] ‘Wordsworth seemed to him *thick-ankled’.
1753Young Brothers v. i, Ye *thick-barr'd sunless passages for air.
1855J. R. Leifchild Cornwall Mines 96 Slate abounding in tin is uniformly of a *thick-bedded, deep-blue colour.
1770G. White Let. 21 May in Nat. Hist. Selborne (1789) ii. vi. 131 The bird you kept..abides all the year, and is a *thick-billed bird. 1783Latham Gen. Syn. III. 148 Thick-billed Gr[osbeak]. Size of a Bulfinch: length five inches three quarters. 1897W. R. Ogilvie-Grant Game-Birds II. 151 The Thick-billed Partridges. Genus Odontophorus. 1939F. C. Lincoln Migration Amer. Birds 103 As an exemplar of vagrant migration from south to north, the Thick-billed Parrot may be cited. 1980Cyrus & Robson Bird Atlas of Natal 274 Thick-billed Weaver..inhabits coastal bush.
1888Doughty Arabia Deserta I. 471 A little of that *thick-blooded unforbearing, which was in her family, with her own elder son.
1752J. Hill Hist. Anim. 110 The long-legged and *thick-bodied, small, green Lacerta. 1868Rep. U.S. Commission. Agric. (1869) 314 Small, thick-bodied butterflies.
1844Mrs. Browning Duchess May Concl. v, Though in passion ye would dash..Up against the *thick-bossed shield of God's judgment in the field.
1619Drayton Sacr. Apollo vii, The *thick-brained audience lively to awake.
1620Venner Via Recta vi. 106 It..is for them that be short and *thicke breathed, the..greatest remedy.
1626Bacon Sylva §318 A Pomegranate or some such *thick-coated fruit.
1874‘Mark Twain’ Let. 9 Dec. (1917) I. xiv. 238, I am so *thick-fingered that I miss the keys.
1864G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 136 *Thick-fleeced bushes like a heifer's ear. 1924E. Sitwell Sleeping Beauty xxvi. 95 As lovely as the thick-fleeced waters.
1828P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 170 Clumps of *thick-foliaged trees.
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1660 Somme helden with hym with the blake berd, Somme with the balled, somme with the *thikke hered. c1611Chapman Iliad ii. 40 The thick-hair'd Greeks.
1861Kingsley in Lett., etc. (1877) II. 132 But the mass will not have ―'s courage or *thick-hidedness.
1689Lond. Gaz. No. 2415/4 A Young Slender Horse 5 years old,..*thick Jawed.
1861Dickens Gt. Expect. xxviii, Their keeper..carried a *thick-knobbed bludgeon.
1873J. Brown Let. 23 June (1912) 280 Uig is a pretty snug little bay, with its tidy Inn and its *thick-legged, humorous landlord, John Urquhart.
1946E. O'Neill Iceman Cometh i. 4 He has black eyes which peer near-sightedly from behind *thick-lensed spectacles. 1973J. Goodfield Courier to Peking ii. 23 A short, squat person with thick-lensed glasses.
1849Sk. Nat. Hist., Mammalia III. 197 Forster's Sea-Lion..everywhere equally *thick-looking, as Buffon describes it, like a great cylinder.
1922Joyce Ulysses 319 The curse of a goodfornothing God light sideways on the bloody *thicklugged sons of whores' gets!
1591Percival Sp. Dict., Cervigudo, *thicke necked. 1840Carlyle Heroes v. (1872) 176 There is the same burly thick-necked strength of body as of soul.
1853M. Arnold Sohrab & Rustum in Poems 6 Upon the *thick-pil'd carpets in the tent. 1976Sounds 11 Dec., His hair, short at the sides and thickpiled high on top, makes him look faintly ridiculous.
1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. i. 123 To recide In thrilling Region of *thicke-ribbed Ice.
1976‘R. Gordon’ Doctor on Job iii. 18 A small, round, well-scrubbed looking man in a grey business suit and *thick-rimmed glasses.
1590Greene Orl. Fur. Wks. (Rtldg.) 95/2 And *thickest-shadow'd groves.
1649G. Daniel Trinarch. The Author 8 To stoope at the *thick-Shell'd Dorrs of Obiection. 1804T. Bewick Brit. Birds (1847) II. 272 The female..lays..six or seven thick-shelled white eggs.
1965J. A. Michener Source (1966) 564 And he knelt in the boat, a *thick-shouldered, heavy-necked, sandy-haired German seeking God.
1815Scott Guy M. l, His rough coat and *thick-soled boots.
1840Emerson Woodnotes in Dial (Boston) Oct. 244 You ask..what guide Me through trackless thickets led, Through *thick-stemmed woodlands.
1851Mantell Petrif. i. §3. 70 *Thick-toed tridactylous birds.
1552Huloet, *Thycke tothed, or stronge tothed, dentatus.
1859Cornwallis New World I. 63 A very stout, thick-set, *thick-voiced Yorkshireman.
1820M. Edgeworth Let. 26 Dec. (1971) 231 Old *thick-walled mansions. 1875Bennett & Dyer Sachs Bot. 484 The very thick-walled mother-cells do not become isolated.
1913W. de la Mare Peacock Pie 85 Roasting a *thick-wooled mountain sheep Upon an iron spit.
b. Special combinations and collocations: thick-back, in full thickback sole, a flat-fish, Microchirus variegatus, found in the Mediterranean and off western European coasts; thick-bill, a local name of the bullfinch; thick coal: see quot.; hence thick-coalman; thick ear, an ear swollen or numbed by a sharp blow; usu. in phrases, as to give (someone) a thick ear; also spec. used attrib. to designate literature, etc., marked by rough violence and horseplay, or the writers of such material; thick end, the greater part of anything (colloq. and dial.); thick-eyed a., having obscure vision, dim-sighted; thick intestine, Entom., in some insects, a dilatation of the posterior end of the ileum, forming a large blind sac turned back towards the ventricules; thick-knit a., designating a garment knitted from wool of greater thickness than double knitting; also absol. as n., a thick-knit sweater; thick-leaf, a name of plants of the genus Crassula; † thick letter Typogr., type cast too thick: see quot.; † thick listed a. [list n.1], hard of hearing; thick register, the lowest register of the voice; thick sandwich (course), a sandwich course (see sandwich n.2 1 b) with an extended theoretical component between two periods of practical instruction (see quot. 1978); thick seam, a seam of ‘thick coal’; also attrib.; thick space Typog., a third of an em space used in separating words; cf. thin space s.v. thin a. D b; hence thick-spaced a.; thick-stamen (see quot.), a small genus of prostrate euphorbiaceous plants, the Alleghany Mountain Spurge; thick-stuff: see quot. c 1850; thick tea, high tea (local); thick-tongued a., speaking thickly; thick wind, in Farriery, laborious breathing, usually due to previous inflammation; hence thick-winded adj; thick woods Canad. = strong wood(s s.v. strong a. 12 b. Also thick-head, thick-knee, etc.
1864J. Couch Hist. Fishes Brit. Isles III. 203 The *Thickback seldom exceeds the length of eight or nine inches. 1896J. T. Cunningham Nat. Hist. Marketable Marine Fishes Brit. Isles 259 The Thickback... Pectoral fins very small. 1925J. T. Jenkins Fishes Brit. Isles 198 The Thickback Sole..is brownish-red, with six or seven dark bands running across the body. 1969A. Wheeler Fishes Brit. Isles & N.-W. Europe 557/1 The thickback sole is found rather more offshore. Ibid. 557/2 The thickback makes a very minor contribution to fishery landings of ‘soles’, but its flesh is of high quality.
1847–78Halliwell, *Thick-bill, the bullfinch. Lanc.
1883Gresley Coal Mining Gloss., *Thick Coals or Thick Seams, coal seams of greater thickness than (say) 8 or 10 feet... The Thick coal of South Staffordshire is about 28 or 30 feet thick.
1894Daily News 7 May 8/4 The new scale will give 1d per ton rise in *thick-coalmen's wages for every 1½d advance in the price of thick coal.
1909J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 243/2 *Thick ear. 1916‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin ii. 28, I sed I'd give yer a thick ear if yer went on worryin' me. 1922A. Haddon Green Room Gossip ix. 248 ‘A thick-ear play’ was Sir Gerald du Maurier's description of ‘Bull-dog Drummond’. 1943Gen 2 Jan. 28/1 A member of the thick-ear fraternity. 1978Lancashire Life Oct. 83/2 Ah geet a reyt thick ear yon time Ah tarned sheets in a tangle! 1981N. Tucker Child & Book v. 133 One particular favourite type of comic—referred to in the trade as the ‘thick-ear market’—is chiefly concerned with crude, knockabout humour.
1847–78Halliwell s.v., ‘The *thick-end of a mile’. Linc. 1865W. White E. Eng. II. 66 When he spoke of the thick end of a mile, it reminded me of the ‘thick league’ of a certain rustic whom I once accosted on the sandy wastes of Friesland. 1877N.W. Lincs. Gloss. s.v., I've gotten th' thick end o' th' job finished wi'. 1938‘N. Shute’ Ruined City x. 195 It would be the thick end of that sum before we're cracking as a proper yard again. 1965P. O'Donnell Modesty Blaise xviii. 196 Willie..tested the weight. ‘It's the thick end of a hundredweight..But I could manage one on me own all right.’ 1971D. Lees Rainbow Conspiracy i. 13 It will take them the thick end of half an hour to get to the Travellers from here.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV. ii. iii. 49 *Thicke⁓ey'd musing, and curst melancholly. 1684Lond. Gaz. No. 1976/4 A gray Horse, Milk white about the Mouth and Tail,..all his Paces, thickeyed.
1961*Thickknit [see cover-up]. 1976J. Fleming To make Underworld xii. 138 The three Irishmen, ill-disguised as sailors or fishermen in their thick-knits.
1884Miller Plant-n., *Thick-leaf, the genus Crassula.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing 392 A Fount of Letter that Rubs not high enough into the Neck is called *Thick Letter; and consequently will Drive out Matter.
[c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 129 Deue we ben, oðer *þicke liste, þanne we heren speke godes word and nimeð þer to litel geme.] 1579Twyne Phisicke agst. Fort. ii. xcvii. 289 They that are thicke listed, seeme in a maner to be out of their wittes. 1905J. Heywood Music in Churches 17 Average choir boys cannot recite on a low note without being liable to use the *thick register or chest voice instead of the medium register, and the use of their lower mechanism is usually accompanied with..coarseness of tone.
1962Engineering 13 July 57/2 The 1-3-1 type of ‘*thick sandwich’ course (one year in industry, three years at university, and one year in industry again). Ibid. 26 Oct. 555 A pre-university year in industry (as in 1:3:1 thick sandwiches). 1978Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 549/1 A sandwich course such as the ‘thick’ sandwich, where you do one year in industry, three years at university and then one year back in industry.
1883*Thick seam [see thick coal]. 1892Daily News 25 Jan. 2/6 The leading thick⁓seam pits are sending a large tonnage to Hull and Grimsby.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc. II. 99 Some [letters] are Space thick; that is, one quarter so thick as the Body is high; though Spaces are seldom Cast so,..and therefore..we shall call these Spaces, *Thick Spaces. 1808C. Stower Printer's Gram. iii. 90 Of Spaces... They are cast to various thicknesses... Three to an m—or three thick spaces. 1967E. Chambers Photolitho-Offset ii. 12 The thick space and middle space are a third and a quarter respectively of the width of the em quad.
1824J. Johnson Typographia II. 132 A d and an h..will admit an addition, but not more than a middle and thin space to a *thick spaced line. 1893Hart Rules for Compositors 22 When the last line but one of a paragraph is widely spaced and the first line of the following paragraph is also more than thick-spaced.
1878T. Meehan Native Fl. & Ferns U.S. I. 30 The stamens have remarkably thick filaments, and this suggested its botanical name Pachysandra, which is the Greek for ‘*thick-stamen’. 1884Miller Plant-n., American Thick-stamen, Pachysandra procumbens.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) H iij, The *thick stuff, or strong planks of the bottom withinboard. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 155 Thickstuff, a name for sided timber exceeding 4 inches, but not being more than 12 inches, in thickness.
1886S. Coolidge What Katy did Next xi. 305 The month's housekeeping wound up that night with a ‘*thick tea’. 1893Daily News 1 June 5/2 Perhaps something might have been said for the compromise of a thick tea. 1896Ibid. 18 Dec. 3/6 The ‘thick teas’ of Lancashire have long been celebrated for their eccentricity.
1887Poor Nellie (1888) 370 Though *thick-tongued still, she spoke more clearly.
1831[Youatt] Horse x. 193 *Thick-wind consists in short, frequent, and laborious breathing, especially when the animal is in exercise.
a1694Life M. Robinson (1856) 35 He was *thickwinded and ungovernable. 1704Lond. Gaz. No. 3981/4 A..Mare,..thick Winded. 1831[Youatt] Horse x. 193 Heavy draught-horses are..thick-winded.
1754A. Hendry Jrnl. 2 Dec. in Trans. R. Soc. Canada (1907) I. ii. 343 Strong gale with Snow & Sleet. Obliged to remove into *thick woods. 1865Milton & Cheadle N.W. Passage by Land xii. 223 We had thirteen horses to pack and drive through the thick woods. 1957C. Harris Cariboo Trail 137 The gold-seekers had arrived at the fort after making their way through the thickwoods.
B. absol. use of a., passing into n.: That which (rarely, one who) is thick, in any sense.
I. Only in sing.
1. a. The most densely occupied or crowded part (of a wood, an assemblage, etc.).
a1250Owl & Night. 1626 Me may vppe smale sticke Me sette a wude ine þe þikke. c1400Mandeville (1839) xxi. 226 Ȝif ony of hem had ben hid in the thikke of the wodes. a1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV 221 Some fledde for succor in the thyck of the parke. a1610Knolles (J.), In the thick of the dust and smoke presently entered his men. 1637Rutherford Lett. (1671) 28 If I could yoke in amongst the thick of Angels, and Seraphims. 1714Spect. No. 625 ⁋22 In the Anti-chamber, where I thrust my Head into the thick of the Press. 1857Lady Canning in Hare Two Noble Lives (1893) II. 328 The Residency buildings and its gardens are in the thick of the town. 1890C. Martyn W. Phillips 192 Mr. Phillips was constantly out in the thick and throng of the world.
b. fig. The position, time, stage, or state in which activity is most intense; the midst, the height (of an action). Always in the thick of.
1681J. Flavel Meth. Grace x. 214 Something they enjoy..in the very thick of troubles. 1821Byron Sardan. iii. i. 111 Where a soldier should be. In the thick of the fight. 1849C. Brontë Shirley i, They are in the thick of a revival. 1870Burton Hist. Scot. (1873) V. lv. 105 The bishop was in the thick of these splendid projects. 1885Dunckley in Manch. Exam. 15 June 6/2 We are now in the thick of a Cabinet crisis.
2. a. The more turbid or viscid part of a liquid, which usually subsides to the bottom. rare.
c1400Lydg. æsop's Fab. ii. 39 He was wont my water here to trouble, To meue þe thyk þat lay low doune. 1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 78 This he dissolved in Water, and poured off the thick into another Bason, till all was gone but the Sand.
b. A beverage of thick or heavy consistency, as cocoa, porter, etc. slang.
1887J. W. Horsley Jottings from Jail i. 26 A somewhat..despairing view of prison life is indicated by ‘Lads, your only friend here is your brown lofe [sic] and pint of thick’. 1903Farmer & Henley Slang VII. 99/1 Thick, (common).—porter: ironically said to be ‘a decoction of brewers' aprons’. 1923J. Manchon Le Slang 309 Thick, le café, le jus. 1947W. de la Mare Coll. Stories for Children 222 The mugs of thick proved to be cocoa.
3. The thick part of a limb or of the body.
c1400Destr. Troy 9021 He..braid out a big sword,..& derit hym full euyll Throgh the thicke of the thegh. 1470–85Malory Arthur vii. xxii. 248 He smote hym with a foyne thorou the thycke of the thyȝ. 1880Tennyson Northern Cobbler xv, An' blacksmith 'e strips me the thick ov 'is airm, an 'e shaws it to me.
4. So ˈthickest (the superl. adj. used absol. as n.): the thickest part (in any of prec. senses).
c1470Henry Wallace ii. 56 Throuch oute the thikest of the pres he ȝeid. 1548Udall Erasm. Par. Luke iii. 37 Puttyng himself in coumpaignie emong the thickest of the people. 1617Moryson Itin. ii. 24 Valiantly fighting among the thickest of the Rebels. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. II. viii. 259 Henry was..soon again in the thickest of the fight.
II. n. with pl.
5. (from 1) = thicket. Now rare.
c825Vesp. Psalter xxviii [xxix]. 9 Stefn dryhtnes ᵹear⁓wienden heoretas & biwrah ða ðiccan [Vulg. revelavit condensa]. c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. cxxxii. (1869) 126 He may not sette the wacches in the thikke ther thei ben. a1547Surrey æneid iv. 708 Among the bushy thickes of bryar. 1612Drayton Poly-olb. iii. 118 Where mists and rotten fogs Hang in the gloomie thicks, and make vnstedfast bogs. 1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 200 A fox..made good his retreat to Sir Thos. Beauchamp's thicks. 1836L. Hunt in New Monthly Mag. XLVII. 20 The lusty bee..dances in the bloomy thicks with darksome antheming.
6. colloq. and slang (orig. Schoolboys'). A thick-headed or stupid person.
1857Hughes Tom Brown i. vii, What a thick I was to come! Ibid. ii. viii, I'm such a thick, I never should have had time for both. 1891Wrench Winchester Word-bk. s.v., He is not a thick, but he won't mug. 1925S. O'Casey Juno & Paycock iii, in Two Plays 97 The thick made out the Will wrong. 1960B. Moore Luck of Ginger Coffey vii. 123 Ha, Ha! cried all the countrified young thicks he had gone to school with. 1970G. Lord Marshmallow Pie iii. 28 Some of those thicks in Earls Court would do it just for the kicks.
7. A thick fog. Cf. sense 7 a of the adj. slang.
1936J. Buchan Island of Sheep ii. 35 Out of the marshes a fog crept which the gunners call a ‘thick’. 1961Partridge Slang Suppl. 1463/1 Thick, in the, in, esp. caught in, a thick fog: R.A.F. (operational ‘types’): since ca. 1930.
▪ II. thick, adv.|θɪk|
Forms: see the adj.
[OE. þicce = OS. thikko, OHG. diccho: see thick a.]
In a thick manner, thickly. (After many verbs as come, fall, lie, stand, sow, etc., when thick expresses the accompanying or resulting condition, it is often rather an adj. than an adv.; cf. L. pinus prona cadit; supinus cadere.)
1. a. So as to be thick; to a great depth.
c1000ælfric Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 151/22 Pauidensis, ðicce ᵹewefen hræᵹel. a1300Cursor M. 3377 (Cott.) Suilk er in þis liue ful thike, Forgetes þe deid for þe quick. 1670H. Stubbe Plus Ultra 136 We found the passage crusted very thick. 1713Addison Cato i. iii, Cato has piercing eyes, and will discern Our frauds, unless they're cover'd thick with art. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. x. 67 The snow..lay thick upon the glacier.
†b. fig. Deeply, severely. Obs. rare.
13..E.E. Allit. P. C. 6 Quo for þro may noȝt þole, þe þikker he sufferes.
c. to lay it on thick, (fig.) to do something with vehemence or excess. Cf. lay v.1 55 f. Also, to put (spread, etc.) it on thick.
1740Champion 29 Jan. (1741) I. 225 You may lay on Honour and Beauty, and all Manner of Virtues as thick as you please. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) i. Introd., Lay it on thick, I beg, while your hand is in. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. xi, Lay it on thick, and never mind expenses. 1865‘Mark Twain’ in Californian 6 May 9/3 Don't you think he is spreading it on rather thick? 1888Mrs. H. Ward R. Elsmere xviii, Henslowe lays it on thick—paints with a will. 1929A. Christie Seven Dials Mystery xviii. 148, I thought Bundle was laying it on a bit thick myself... But Codders is such an ass he'd swallow anything. 1955W. C. Gault Ring around Rosa xiv. 165 Now she was putting it on as thick as a starlet at a producer's party. 1976Times 24 Mar. 3/2 (Advt.), If we are laying it on a bit thick it's only because we want you to volunteer out of a mature realisation of what the Army can be like.
†d. After a sum of money: To the extent of (so much), ‘deep’. Obs.
1570Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 2142/2 Which then cost the Universitie an hundreth pound thicke. 1592Greene Blacke Bks. Messenger Wks. (Grosart) XI. 31 My couetous maister is cheated fortie or fiftie pound thick at one clap. 1592― Repentance ibid. XII. 177.
2. In a thick, dense, or crowded state; closely, densely, compactly; in crowds or throngs; numerously, abundantly. (See also thick and threefold in 6.)
971Blickl. Hom. 203 Ða fluᵹon þa leᵹetu swylce fyrene strælas..toðæm þicce þæt [etc.]. c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 234 Eall swa þicce is þeo heofon mid steorrum afylled on dæᵹ swa on niht. a1175Cott. Hom. 237 Of þe folce we siggeð þat hit..elce deȝie þicce þringeð. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 26/72 Þut folk a-boute heom cam ase þicke ase huy miȝten go. c1305St. Lucy 12 in E.E.P. (1862) 101 Þat folc wende þider þicke. c1400Brut lxxviii. 79 Þai deide wonder þik wiþin the citee for hunger. c1500Melusine 289 Quarelles & arowes, that flewh so thyk. 1523Fitzherbert Husb. §12 The beste propertie..is, to sowe all maner of corne thycke ynough. a1687Petty Pol. Arith. (1690) 73 When England shall be thicker peopled. 1772–84Cook's Voy. (1790) V. 1683 The woods in many places..so thick intersected with boughs and matted with leaves. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiv. III. 454 Doubts came thick upon him.
3. In close or rapid succession; frequently; quickly; fast. Often thick and fast. (See also thick and threefold in 6.)
a1000Cædmon's Gen. 684 (Gr.) Hio spræc him þicce to. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 655 (Cleopatras) Ffor strokys whiche that wente as thikke as hayl. c1450in Aungier Syon (1840) 255 She schal nothing say butte ‘Mea culpa, I wylle amende’, whiche sche schal reherse thykke and many tymes. 1540Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 43 The sayd apparaunce & attendaunce commeth so often and thicke together. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 165 Cock croweth at midnight, times few aboue six,..At three a clock thicker. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xxi. 210 Great talkers discharge too thick to take alwayes true aim. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 98 He and his Brother-Jacks..toss Jests and Oaths about as thick and fast as Boys do Squibs. 1729Law Serious C. xx. (1732) 378 It will perhaps be thought..that these hours of prayer come too thick. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xi. 66 Thick and fast indeed came the events.
4. With confused and indistinct articulation; also, with a husky or hoarse voice.
1556W. Towrson in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 102 These wordes they speake very thicke. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iii. 24 Speaking thicke (which Nature made his blemish) Became the Accents of the Valiant. 1686Lond. Gaz. No. 2143/4 He speaks so thick that he is scarce to be understood. a1791Tom Line xiii. in Child Ballads (1884) ii. 343/2 Out then spak her father dear, He spak baith thick and milde.
5. With density or thick consistence; densely.
a1711,1746[implied in thick-clouded, -streaming in 7]. Mod. colloq. The syrup runs thick. The porridge stirs thick.
6. Phrases. to lay it on thick: see 1 c. thick and fast: see 3. thick and threefold, advb. (n., adj.) phr.
a. In large numbers; in quick succession; with rapid iteration. arch. and dial.
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 186 When mo newe Testamentes were Imprinted thei came thicke and threfold into Englande. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 134 There dwell deuylles thycke and threfolde. a1592Greene Alphonsus i. Wks. (Rtldg.) 225/2 How that such clients cluster'd to thy court, By thick and threefold. 1613Day Dyall ix. (1614) 218 Our Antipodes of Rome that so much boast of the Fathers, and how they are theirs, thicke and threefold. 1710tr. Werenfels's Disc. Logom. 3 Scoffs and Reproaches come thick and threefold. 1872De Morgan Budget of Paradoxes 163 A..writer..who threw aspersions on his opponents thick and threefold.
†b. With vehemence; fervently, ardently, impetuously. Obs. rare—1.
1627W. Sclater Exp. 2 Thess. (1629) 295 So thicke and threefold he falls vpon his deuotion.
†c. as adj. Abundant and frequent. Obs.
1614Day Festivals xi. (1615) 302 The Commendations given Anna here are thicke and threefold. 1809Malkin Gil Blas v. i. ⁋4 This thick and threefold companionship with [the] birch was not the only rub.
7. In combination with participles (with hyphen, or as single words); forming adjs., usually of obvious meaning, unlimited in number; as
a. in sense 1, as thick-blown, thick-mined, thick-plied, thick-spread, thick-tangled, thick-woven, thick-wrought;
b. in senses 2 and 3, as thick-beating, thick-coming, thick-drawn, thick-flaming, thick-growing, thick-jewelled, thick-laid, thick-packed, thick-rustling, thick-spreading, thick-starred, etc.;
c. in sense 4, as thick-speaking;
d. in sense 5, as thick-clouded, thick-plotting, thick-scarred, thick-streaming.
1690Dryden Don Sebast. iv. i, The trampling of *thick-beating feet.
1725Ramsay Gentle Sheph. i. ii, The *thick-blawn wreaths of snaw.
a1711Ken Edmund Poet. Wks. 1721 II. 355 Your now *thick-clouded Mind.
1605Shakes. Macb. v. iii. 38 Troubled with *thicke-comming Fancies.
1715–20Pope Iliad iii. 6 With piercing frosts, or *thick-descending rain.
1777J. Mountain Poet. Reveries (ed. 2) 6 His children watch his *thick-drawn breath.
1757Dyer Fleece iv. Poems (1761) 184 While flames, *thick-flashing in the gloom.
1865Trollope Belton Est. xxxi, Wide fields and *thick-growing woods.
1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. i. 1 Vnder this *thicke growne brake.
1833Tennyson Lady of Shalott iii. iii, All in the blue unclouded weather *Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather.
1698Norris Pract. Disc. (1707) IV. 191 So *thick-laid are the Temptations of the World.
1957C. Day Lewis Pegasus 35 The rescuer plunging through some *thick-mined region Who cannot rescue and is not to die.
1599Shakes. Much Ado i. ii. 10 Walking in a *thick pleached alley.
1840Carlyle Heroes vi. (1872) 204 The *thick-plied perversions which distort our image of Cromwell.
1922Joyce Ulysses 35 They swarmed loud..their heads *thickplotting under maladroit silk hats.
1969G. Macbeth War Quartet 59 Its enormous back, *thick-scarred From under-water struggles.
1861W. F. Collier Hist. Eng. Lit. 114 The *thick-speaking, shambling,..pedant.
1740Somerville Hobbinol. i. 9 On the large Bough Of a *thick-spreading Elm.
1676Dryden Aurengzebe i. i, Of *thick-sprung Lances in a waving Field.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §23 In some wynters nyht, whan the firmament is clere & *thikke-sterred. 1860Emerson Cond. Life, Worship Wks. (Bohn) II. 408 Thick-starred Orion was my only companion.
1746Francis tr. Hor., Sat. i. viii. 47 They..fill'd a magic Trench profound With a black Lamb's *thick-streaming Gore.
1738Wesley Psalms cxviii. iv, Hosts of Enemies Vexatious as *thick-swarming Bees.
1956D. Gascoyne Night Thoughts 15 The shadows drift in tattered velvet bunches, *Thick-tangled rags of shadow are set swaying.
1595Locrine ii. v. 39 Amongst the dangers of the *thick throngd pikes.
c1410Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) ii, Whan þe heed is of gret beemes and is wele afeeted and *thike tynded.
1671Milton P.R. iv. 246 Where the Attic Bird Trills her *thick-warbl'd notes.
1865Q. Rev. Apr. 329 The *thick-wove paper, and the brilliant type.
1667Milton P.L. ix. 437 Now hid, now seen Among *thick-wov'n Arborets and Flours.
1743Francis tr. Hor., Odes i. vii. 28 Whether..Tibur holds thee in its *thick-wrought Shade.
▪ III. thick, v. Now rare or Obs.|θɪk|
(In the current senses thicken is the usual verb.)
[OE. þiccian, f. þicce, thick a. (cf. OHG. dicchên, MHG. dicken).]
1. trans. To make dense in consistence. arch.
c1000ælfric Gram. xxxvii. (Z.) 220 Denso..and denseo.., ic ðicciᵹe. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. ii. (Tollem. MS.), It [melancholy] þikkeþ þe blood, þat it fleteþ nouȝt from digestion by clernesse and þinnesse. c1440Anc. Cookery in Househ. Ord. (1790) 430 Let hit boyle and thyck hit with floure of ryse. 1526Grete Herball cxliv. (1529) I ij b, A moysture that by the heet of the sonne is thycked,..and torned to a gommy substaunce. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 171 Thoughts, that would thick my blood. 1642H. More Song Soul i. i. xxvii, You thick that veil, and so your selves array With visibility. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. iii. xi, The Night-Mare Life-in-Death was she, Who thicks man's blood with cold.
†2. To make (cloth, etc.) close in texture by fulling; = thicken 5. Obs.
1482Rolls of Parlt. VI. 223/2 Made, wrought, fulled and thikked, by the myghte and strengh of men. 1511–12Act 3 Hen. VIII, c. 6 §1 The Walker and Fuller shall truely walke fulle thikke and werke every webbe of wollen yerne. 1566Act 8 Eliz. c. 11 §2 That no person..shall thicke or full in any Myll..any Cappe vntyll suche tyme as the same Cappe be first..half thicked..in the Footestocke. 1719D'Urfey Pills VI. 92 The Water..over-thicks my Cloth.
3. intr. To become thick, in various senses; = thicken intr. Now dial. or arch.
a1000Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 219/7 Densescit, spissat, þiccaþ. c1290St. Michael 714 in S. Eng. Leg. 320 Hit þickez to Nye dawes..þanne it tornez formest to flesch. 13..K. Alis. 3841 (Bodl. MS.) Þe erþe quaked of her rydyng: Þe weder þicked of her crieyng. c1450Two Cookery-bks. 91 Lete hit not boyle til hit thikke. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Mar. 115 But see the Welkin thicks apace. 1876Mid-Yorks. Gloss. s.v., T'day's thicking (getting cloudy). 1879J. D. Long æneid ii. 374 The sounds grow clear, The noise of battle thicks.
†b. ? To become frequent or prevalent. Obs.
13..Cursor M. 17476 (Cott.) Ful wa þam was þaa wreches wick, Quen þis tiþand bigan to thik.
†4. intr. To move thickly or in crowds; to flock, crowd. Obs. rare.
c1000in Cockayne Shrine (1864) 38 Þa þiccodan þider semninga þa ismaheli. 1513Douglas æneis vi. v. 30 Als gret number thiddir thikkit in feir As..Levis of treis. Ibid. x. vii. 31 Quhar ȝondir sop of men thikkis in a rout.
†5. refl. [f. thick n. 5.] To get into the thick of any place; to hide. Obs. rare—1.
1574Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. (1584) 144 Hauing past three daies and three nightes, forsaking al high wayes, thicked myself in the great desart, and being vtterly tyred with great and extreame heat.
Hence thicked |θɪkt| ppl. a., thickened; † fulled; ˈthicking vbl. n., thickening; † fulling.
c1440Anc. Cookery in Househ. Ord. (1790) 435 Stere hit tyl hit be thyk, and in the thikkynge do the rosted felettes therto. 1482Rolls of Parlt. VI. 223/2 To forfaite and lose xl s., as ofte as eny such persone shall putt to fullyng or thikkyng, or to sale, eny suche Huers, Bonettes or Cappes. 1552–3Act 7 Edw. VI, c. 8 (title) An Acte for the true fulling and thicking of Cappes. 1604Compt Bk. D. Wedderburne (S.H.S.) 45, xij ellis & a quarter bred thickit blew worzet clayth. 1759Compl. Letter-writer (ed. 6) 53 The thicking or fulling-mill.
▪ IV. thick
Sc. var. theek, to thatch; dial. var. thilk. |