thoroughadj.n.²

Brit.

/ˈθʌrə/, U.S.

/ˈθəroʊ/,

/ˈθərə/

Forms: see thorough prep. and adv.; also Scottish 1900s– thoara, 1900s– thorie, 1900s– thorra.

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: thorough adv.

Etymology: < thorough adv. Compare through adj.It is unclear whether the following textual cruces show earlier instances of the word. In quot. c1250 the word þurue has been glossed as ‘assiduous’, but such a meaning for thorough adj. is not found until very much later (compare sense A. 3); the form would also be unique. In quot. a1350 on þoro lay has been explained as ‘in perfect light’ (compare sense A. 2, and see leye n.), although the latter noun usually means ‘fire, blaze’, and in any case makes an unusual referent for this sense of thorough adj.; for a discussion of alternative (and less likely) explanations see G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 86.c1250 in Englische Studien (1935) 70 231 Ful þurue heo [sc. Lucifer's companions] beoit abuten hore mesterre To makin us..of blisse to ben sære.a1350 in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 66 Þat oþer ioie..wes o Cristesmasse day, when God wes bore on þoro lay.

A. adj.

†1. That goes, passes, or extends through something. Cf. through adj. 3. Obsolete.In earlier use, attributive use of the adjective is not always clearly distinguishable from thorough- prefix 2, for early instances of which see e.g. thoroughwax n., thoroughleaf n., and β. forms at thoroughfare n.Not in predicative use after the 15th cent.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > [adjective] > progressing or going through

thorough?a1425

through1836

society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, passage, or means of access to a place > [adjective] > through

thorough?a1425

throughgang1523

?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 135, in Middle Eng. Dict. at Thurgh Summe men wete þe þrede wiþ a corrosiue water and bynde it newe euerye daye to þat it be þoruȝ, & summe men keruen.

c1450 Treat. Fishing in J. McDonald et al. Origins of Angling (1963) 149 Pers þe stafe þer with thorow þe pith of the seyd stafe. ffyrste at þe oon ende & sithen at þe other tyll hyt be thorow.

c1475 tr. Henri de Mondeville Surgery (Wellcome) f. 162 (MED) If..þe wounde passe þe brayn panne, þer schal be sum moiste nes þat schal passe out, And if þe wounde be not þoruȝ, þer schal no moistnesse come out.

1602 S. Patrick tr. J. de Hainault Estate of Church 649 This Deputie..thought it best to bring the whole land into shyre grounds, whereby the lawes of England, might haue a thorough course, and passage.

1738 G. Smith tr. Laboratory iii. 92 Give it by degrees a thorough Heat.

1776 G. Semple Treat. Building in Water 47 Very large Stones carefully bedded.., to guard the thorough Foundation between the Piers from..being displaced.

1803 W. O. Pughe Geiriadur Cynmraeg a Saesoneg: Welsh & Eng. Dict. II Tryliv, a thorough flow.

1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. v. 62 The bed-room..should be well aired, but without what is termed thorough air.

1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxi. 251 The patient caught a fresh cold from being exposed to the thorough air of our too well ventilated ward.

1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (new ed.) 101 The holes for the train pivots are termed ‘thorough holes’.

2. Of an action, treatment, etc.: applied to or affecting every part or detail; fully executed; thoroughgoing. Hence also: that is fully what is expressed by the noun; complete, perfect, downright, entire. Cf. through adj. 6.In early attributive use not always clearly distinguishable from thorough- prefix 2. In later use usually distinguishable by whether the stronger stress falls on the adjective or the noun.In quot. a1586: †completely apt or suitable.In the 16th and 17th centuries very frequently collocated with reformation.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > [adjective] > thoroughgoing

thorough1566

thoroughgoing1719

whole hog1829

full-blooded1832

whole-hogging1904

saturation1942

the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > [adjective] > thorough or exhaustive

goodeOE

thorough1566

exhaustive1786

ingoing1928

the world > relative properties > wholeness > completeness > [adjective] > complete or thorough

through1458

thorough1566

intimea1618

radical1648

radicative1657

full-scale1939

the world > relative properties > wholeness > completeness > [adjective] > that is completely what is specified

perfectc1387

just?1537

full-fledged1579

thorough1719

1566 R. Crowley Briefe Disc. Outwarde Apparell sig. C.vii^v To worke the thorow reformation of oure state generally, and of eche one of vs particularlye.

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Astrophel & Stella lvii, in Arcadia (1599) 264 He forst them out to find The thorowest [earlier throwest] words, fit for woes selfe to grone.

c1613 (a1501) in T. Stapleton Plumpton Corr. (1839) 63 To make a thorow search for my matter.

1614 S. Latham Falconry ii. v. 92 To giue her a thorough scowring.

a1617 S. Hieron Penance for Sinne in Wks. (1620) II. 110 To bring vs to this thorow and effectuall vnderstanding.

1642 T. Hill Trade of Truth 54 This is the best way to make the Reformation thorow and lasting.

1709 Ld. Shaftesbury Sensus Communis: Ess. Freedom of Wit 94 A Man of thorow Good-Breeding..is incapable of doing a rude or brutal Action.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 214 In the Morning, even before it was thorow Day-light.

1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield II. vi. 94 A thorough knowledge of the world.

1780 J. Warner in J. H. Jesse G. Selwyn & his Contemp. (1844) IV. 383 Mr. Mathews..proposed a thorough resolution..to stand by you.

1862 J. H. Burton Book-hunter 102 The thoroughest test of active scholarship.

1869 W. G. T. Shedd Homiletics iii. 85 Unity that is thorough and perfusive, and moulds the multitudes of materials.

1893 W. Lewin in Bookman June 85/2 His knowledge of English literature is extensive and thorough.

1948 ‘N. Shute’ No Highway 111 He had made a thorough inspection and had found everything correct.

2013 Sunday Express (Nexis) 6 Oct. 37 It is vital the inspectors do a thorough job.

3. Of a person.

a. Chiefly in predicative use. That carries out or promotes something thoroughly; taking pains to do something carefully and completely.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > completeness > [adjective] > that is completely what is specified > specifically of a person

thorough1625

double-dyed1667

through1697

thoroughgoing1719

full-blooded1784

the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adjective] > utter or absolute > of a person or his character

utterc1420

complete1526

entirea1533

throughout1532

in grain?1577

consummate1603

essential1604

perfecta1616

thorough1625

thorough-paceda1628

thoroughbred1701

throughgoing1830

through and through1831

thorough-souled1842

ingrained1851

ingrain1865

1625 R. Montagu Appello Cæsarem 71 The then Professor, a thorough man everie way upon Your Side, and an earnest Promoter of the novell opinions against other learned Divines.

1642 W. Carter Israels Peace with God 27 Least it should be done to halves, God will be put upon some such device, whereby to make you thorow in his worke.

1643 N. Lockyer Baulme for Bleeding Eng. & Ireland 305 The Divell is a thorough worke-man; where hee layes a foundation he raises up the building till all be fit for himselfe... Christ is a thorough workeman; hee doth throughly purge his floore, and so takes Wheat into his barne.

1687 in J. H. Trumbull Public Rec. Colony Connecticut (1859) III. 396 I propownd Sarj^t Zachary Sandford to be a suitable person to look after it: he will be a man that will be thorow in it.

1768 C. Chauncy Appeal to Public Answered 129 It is heartily wished this Society would..engage in the affair of Gospelising the Indians, and that they would be thorow in it.

1831 Lady's Mag. July 330 The Author has been thorough in his investigations.

1889 F. Davenport-Hill Children of State (ed. 2) viii. 271 The authorities in New Zealand are thorough in the discharge of parental duties towards their State children.

1907 ‘N. Blanchan’ Birds Every Child should Know v. 69 Dame Nature, the most thorough of housekeepers, gave to the birds the task of restraining insects within bounds.

1955 Science 15 July 122/1 It would not be excessive to demand that the thorough scholar check all papers that have cited or criticized such papers.

1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File xxiv. 156 The film lab had been very thorough, they had spliced on to the end of the film the incident of my arrest.

2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane vii. 160 A thorough inquisitor, Aktar spent the next hour and a half asking the girls about every aspect of their lives.

b. attributive. Chiefly British. That is fully the kind of person indicated by the noun; absolute, complete, out-and-out.

ΚΠ

1643 F. Cheynell Rise, Growth, & Danger Socinianisme iv. 46 Any Liturgy which will please one that is a thorow Socinian, will please Turkes, and Jewes also.

1661 W. Gurnall Christian in Armour: 1st Pt. (new ed.) 373 The soul effectually brought out of the love of sin as sin, will never be thorow-friends [1655 through friends] with it again.

1685 J. Dryden Sylvæ Pref. sig. A4^v A thorow Translatour..must be a thorow Poet.

1691 J. Norris Pract. Disc. Divine Subj. 1 The thorough Fool is not nigh so great a Prodigy as the Half-wise Man.

1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Architecture II. 96/2 He is a thorow master of those elements of Painting.

a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. iv. 203 I am apt to think there never yet has really been such a monster in the world as a thorough sceptic.

1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Disowned II. xx. 263 He was the finest and most thorough gentleman I ever saw.

1877 ‘Rita’ Vivienne I. iii. 44 Blanche de Verdreuil was a thorough coquette.

1909 ‘P. Craven’ Pride of Graftons ix. 113 I'm a thorough rotter, and I always have been.

1987 A. Djoleto Hurricane of Dust xv. 69 He was..probably of Fulani-Hausa ancestry though a thorough Ghanaian by any consideration.

2010 P. Frank Know when someone lies to You ix. 130 I know you to be a thorough gentleman and a person with integrity.

c. Designating a servant who undertakes all kinds of domestic work. Now rare.

ΚΠ

1708 R. Steele Let. 13 Oct. in Corr. (1968) 239 The bearer is one I propose to be our Footman. He is..fitt for what I often heard You call it, a Thorow Servant.

1743 E. Purefoy Let. 12 Feb. in R. Foster & E. Foster European Society 18th Cent. (1969) vii. 296 I want a maid in her place. She must be a thorough servant & capable of seeing the sending in of 5 or 10 dishes of meat upon occasion.

1762 Public Advertiser 5 June 1/2 (advt.) Wanted a thorough Maid Servant of all Work.

1822 M. Edgeworth Let. 26 Feb. (1971) 359 I have engaged a ladys maid..and a thorough maid for cooking and brooming.

1883 Letts's Illustr. Househ. Mag. 160/1 ‘I want a general.’ ‘A general?’ ‘Yes, a thorough servant for a small house, you know.’

1941 Times 28 Jan. 1/2 (advt.) Cook-general, 21.., tall, neat, thorough maid; good cooking: understands war-time economy.

B. n.²

English History. Chiefly with capital initial. The thoroughgoing action or policy of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and of Archbishop William Laud in the reign of Charles I with regard to the strengthening of the king's authority in church and state; (sometimes also) a thoroughgoing application of the policies of Cromwell as Lord Protector.With allusion to the (elliptical) use in quot. 1633, and in other letters of Laud's.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > [noun] > specific principles or policies

thorough1849

Manchester policy1851

tariff-reform1859

Manchesterdom1882

Manchesterism1883

Little Englandism1887

Manchesterianism1897

Poplarism1922

Euroscepticism1988

1633 Abp. Laud Let. 9 Sept. in W. Knowler Earl of Strafforde's Lett. & Disp. (1739) I. 111 And for the State, indeed, my lord, I am for Thorough, but I see that both thick and thin stays somebody, where I conceive it should not; and it is impossible for me to go thorough alone.

1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. I. viii. 501 The system which Laud was longing to pursue in England, and which Strafford approved, is frequently hinted at by the word Thorough.

1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. I. viii. 502 But it is more difficult to perceive in what respects the Thorough system was disregarded.]

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. i. 92 And now Wentworth exulted in the near prospect of Thorough.

1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People viii. §5. 505 The dark gloomy countenance, the full heavy eye, which meet us in Strafford's portrait are the best commentary on his policy of ‘Thorough’.

1900 J. Morley Cromwell iv. vi. 354 They had set up the Commonwealth without lords or monarch. They were deep in all the proceedings of Cromwellian Thorough.

1996 C. McAlister in D. F. Rutledge Ceremony & Text in Renaissance iii. 55 Laud also succeeded Archbishop Abbott and began systematically to impose what he called ‘thorough’, a program of unity and conformity of outward worship.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

thoroughprep.adv.

Brit.

/ˈθʌrə/, U.S.

/ˈθərə/,

/ˈθəroʊ/

Forms:

α. Old English ðuruh, Old English–Middle English þuruh, Middle English doruȝ, Middle English ȝoruȝ, Middle English þoreȝ, Middle English þorewȝ, Middle English thorog, Middle English þoroȝ, Middle English thoroȝ, Middle English þorogh, Middle English thorogh, Middle English þoroghe, Middle English thoroghe, Middle English thorohe, Middle English þorough, Middle English þorouȝ, Middle English thorouȝ, Middle English þorouȝe, Middle English thorouȝe, Middle English þorouȝh, Middle English thorouȝh, Middle English þorouh, Middle English thorouh, Middle English þorouhg, Middle English þorour (perhaps transmission error), Middle English thorowg, Middle English þorowgh, Middle English þorowghe, Middle English þorowȝ, Middle English thorowȝ, Middle English þorowh, Middle English þorrughe, Middle English þorug, Middle English thorug, Middle English þorugh, Middle English thorughe, Middle English þorugȝ, Middle English þoruȝ, Middle English thoruȝ, Middle English þoruȝe, Middle English thoruȝe, Middle English þoruȝh, Middle English thoruȝh, Middle English þoruh, Middle English thoruh, Middle English þoruhe, Middle English þoruhg, Middle English þorul (transmission error), Middle English thorur (perhaps transmission error), Middle English þouȝ (transmission error), Middle English thouroughe, Middle English þouruȝ, Middle English throrough, Middle English þureȝ, Middle English þuregh, Middle English þureh, Middle English ðureh, Middle English þureþ, Middle English þureu, Middle English thurew, Middle English þuroȝ, Middle English thurogh, Middle English thurough, Middle English þuroughe, Middle English þuruch, Middle English þurugh, Middle English thurugh, Middle English þurughe, Middle English þuruȝ, Middle English thuruȝ, Middle English yorough, Middle English yorouȝ, Middle English yorour (perhaps transmission error), Middle English yorugh, Middle English yoruȝ, Middle English yoruh, Middle English–1500s thorowghe, Middle English–1500s thorowh, Middle English–1500s thorugh, Middle English–1600s thoroughe, Middle English–1600s thorowgh, Middle English– thorough (archaic and poetic in later use, except in sense B. 1), late Middle English (in a late copy) 1500s–1600s thourough, 1500s thurrough; also Scottish pre-1700 thorowch, pre-1700 thorycht. OE Paris Psalter (1932) lxv. 11 We þuruh fyr farað and þuruh floda þrym.a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 199 Oðer kinnes neddre..criepeð nedlinge þureh nerewe hole.a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 33 Þe engel..seweð a whilche wise and þuregh hwam þis blisse cumen sholde.c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xi. l. 81 A baptized man may..Þorough contricioun come to þe heigh heuene.a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 142 As þe sunne comeþ þorouȝ þe glas. ▸ c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 7 Weelnyȝ thoruȝ al the chapiter.1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope (1967) i. xiv. 83 Deceyued thorugh fals counceylle.a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1908) II. 401 Þat it be thorough tannyd and thorowe Coryed.1593 W. Raleigh Let. 8 Mar. (1999) 92 Being as yet left poureless, ether thorugh myne own ill desteny or the strenght of counterworkinge.1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream ii. i. 3 Ouer hill, ouer dale, thorough [1623 through] bush, thorough brier.1645 E. Reyner Rule New Creature 10 You are thourough Christ more then Conquerors over all the world of Creatures.1725 New Canting Dict. (at cited word) Snuffle, to speak thorough the Nose from a Cold, or worse.1825 J. Jennings Observ. Dial. W. Eng. 75 Thorough, through.1850 J. S. Blackie tr. Æschylus Lyrical Dramas I. 191 Thorough my heart, Thorough my liver, Keen as the cold ice Shot through the river.1932 P. Colum Coll. Poems (1953) 184 Thorough waters, thorough nations I have come To lay last offerings at your low abode.1978 D. J. Enright Paradise Illustr. in Coll. Poems (1998) 242 In at his [sc. the serpent's] mouth the Enemy entered, Thorough his throat commodious Filtered our fatal Foe.

β. Middle English ȝoru, Middle English þerew, Middle English þerow, Middle English þerue, Middle English þoovrow, Middle English þoreu, Middle English þorew, Middle English þorewe, Middle English þoro, Middle English thoroo, Middle English þorou, Middle English thorou, Middle English þoroue, Middle English þorow, Middle English þhorow, Middle English þorowe, Middle English thorrou, Middle English þorrow, Middle English thorrow, Middle English thorrowe, Middle English þoru, Middle English ðoru, Middle English thoru, Middle English þorue, Middle English thorue, Middle English þorv, Middle English thorv, Middle English toru, Middle English þouȝrou, Middle English þouȝrow, Middle English thouroo, Middle English þourow, Middle English thourow, Middle English þouru, Middle English thowrow, Middle English þrorow, Middle English þrorowe, Middle English thrurowe, Middle English þureu, Middle English thurew, Middle English þurew, Middle English þuri, Middle English þuro, Middle English thuro, Middle English þurow, Middle English thurow, Middle English þurowe, Middle English thurowe, Middle English thurrowe, Middle English þurru, Middle English þuru, Middle English thuru, Middle English thurv, Middle English yerowe, Middle English yhoru, Middle English yora, Middle English yoreu, Middle English yoro, Middle English yorou, Middle English yoroue, Middle English yorow, Middle English yorowe, Middle English yoru, Middle English yoȝou, Middle English youreu, Middle English youru, Middle English yourue, Middle English yurowe, Middle English yuru, Middle English (1900s– in sense B. 1) thoro, Middle English–1500s dorow, Middle English–1600s thorowe, Middle English–1700s thorow, Middle English–1700s thorrow, 1500s thorro, 1500s thurrou, 1700s– thoro' (archaic and poetic in later use, except in sense B. 1); Scottish pre-1700 thoro, pre-1700 thorowe, pre-1700 thurow, pre-1700 thurrow, pre-1700 1700s thorow, pre-1700 1700s thorrow, 1900s thoro' (poetic). a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 32 Glade us maiden, moder milde, þurru þin herre þu were wid childe.c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 8513 Þoru godes wille.a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 151 How crist com thoro [Fairf. þorow, Gött. thoru, Trin. Cambr. þourȝe] propheci.1482 R. Cely Let. 29 Mar. in Cely Lett. (1975) 134 I gawhe the Exchetter xl s. for ws bothe, and so whe be thorow wyth hym for aull matters.a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1908) II. 289 The blessyd babe..Thurrowe whom pece & tranquilite shall take þis reme on hand.?a1556 Grey Friars Chron. anno 1537 in R. Howlett Monumenta Franciscana (1882) II. 199 Browte..to the Tower thurow Smythfelde and in at Newgat, rydynge soo thorrow Chepe-sydy.?a1556 Grey Friars Chron. anno 1548 in R. Howlett Monumenta Franciscana (1882) II. 217 Prechynge thorro alle Ynglonde a-gayne the sacrament of the auter.1647 Araignm. & Impeachm. Major Gen. Massie 4 Was it not Massey whose thunderbolt did breake the ice of Winters frozen fury in the Danish forests; that guard great Gorings body thorrow and thorrow?1678 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Prov. (ed. 2) 339 Pendle, Penigent and Ingleborough, Are the three highest hills all England thorow.1725 S. Sewall Diary 17 Mar. (1973) II. 1028 Much Water passes thorow the three Spaces left for that purpose.1787 W. Taylor Scots Poems 22 A' those Wha pass the Parish thorow.1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems lxiii. 32 Cometh on Taborine behind him, Attis, thoro' leafy glooms a guide.1923 ‘H. MacDiarmid’ Braid Scots in Compl. Poems (1994) II. 1235 Great thochts, great dreams, my country tae has borne Thoro' the nicht o' Time.1964 Chicago Tribune 6 Sept. v. 3/3 What this place needs, Monsieur, is a thoro good scrubbing!

Origin: A variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymons: English þurh , through prep.

Etymology: Originally a (stressed) variant of Old English þurh through prep., with development of a velar glide vowel between the liquid and velar consonants (compare parallel disyllabic forms in continental Germanic languages listed at through prep. and adv.), subsequently distinguished in form chiefly in archaic and poetic use (except in sense B. 1, in which the word is now apprehended as < thorough adj.). With the development of the velar glide vowel in Old English þurh compare the parallel development of Old English burh borough n., furh furrow n., sorh sorrow n., mearh marrow n.¹, etc. Compare through prep. and adv. (and discussion of forms at that entry). Thorough is the reflex of Old English þuruh , a stressed form of þurh (preposition and adverb). As a preposition the word was chiefly unstressed (except when used emphatically), and consequently thorough prep. has always been much less common than through prep. (the usual modern reflex of Old English þurh ). The stressed form was used when the word occurred separately, i.e. as an adverb (thorough adv.), and its derived adjective and noun (thorough adj. and n.²), or as the stressed prefix (thorough- prefix) in certain compounds, as in e.g. thoroughfare n. However, given the inherent tendency for unstressed forms to be restressed and for (originally) stressed forms to be used in low-stress positions, the forms in effect became interchangeable in many cases. Until at least the end of the Middle English period forms of thorough prep. and adv. can be regarded as essentially variants of through prep. and adv.; the former were brought into sharper distinction in early modern English after the (unmetathesized) α. forms at through prep. and adv. had become obsolete. The usual form of through prep. was by this time through , which had in turn developed its own restressed (and lengthened) form with pronunciation /θruː/ (developed from Middle English (unstressed) þrŭ ). This form through (unstressed /θrʊ/, restressed /θruː/) ultimately superseded thorough as both preposition and adverb (although the latter form long survived in archaic and poetic use); likewise as prefix, except in fossilized forms. As adjective the two forms have diverged semantically, with thorough adj. now reserved for expressing notions of completeness and comprehensiveness, and through adj. for designating movement or extension through something. In adverbial use in sense B. 1 the word is now apprehended as < thorough adj.; the more usual word in this sense is now thoroughly adv. Forms ending in a dental (corresponding to through prep. and adv. Forms α(b)) are difficult to distinguish from forms of throughout prep., adv., and adj. (which shows considerable semantic overlap); all such forms have been assigned to that entry (see γ. forms at throughout prep., adv., and adj.), but some instances given there may instead show forms of this word. The forms throrough at α. forms and þrorow, þrorowe, and thrurowe at β. forms, if not simply scribal errors, may perhaps represent a hybrid type (compare ε. forms at through prep. and adv.).

A. prep.

I. Expressing movement or direction.

a. From end to end or side to side of; = through prep. 1a. Now rare (archaic and poetic in later use).

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > direction > specific directions > [preposition] > through

throughOE

thoroughOE

throughoutOE

athwart1713

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > sideways movement or a sideways movement > sideways [preposition] > across from side to side

thoroughOE

athwartc1470

across?1540

thwart1583

OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) anno 1016 Cnut..wende him ut þuruh Buccingahamscire into Bedanfordscire & ðanon to Huntadunscire.

OE Paris Psalter (1932) lxv.11 We þuruh fyr farað and þuruh floda þrym, and ðu us on colnesse clæne gelæddest.

a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 199 Oðer kinnes neddre..criepeð nedlinge þureh nerewe hole.

c1300 (?c1225) King Horn (Cambr.) (1901) l. 875 (MED) He smot him þureȝ þe herte.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 4277 He..mid is launce þoru þe þrote smot on.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 7809 Thoru his licam mi suerd i draif.

c1450 Med. Recipes (BL Add. 33996) in F. Heinrich Mittelengl. Medizinbuch (1896) 204 Let hyt renne þorow afayre cloþ.

a1540 R. Barnes Wks. (1573) 212/2 You ryde thorowe streetes, and townes.

1565 Earl of Bedford in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1824) 1st Ser. II. 210 David [Rizzio] was thruste owte of the Cabinet thorowe the bede chamber into the Chamber of Presens.

1653 Mercurius Democritus No. 77. 606 He grop'd his way quite thorow the Earth, and came up in to a Wine-Sellar under Pauls Church.

1684 R. Waller tr. Ess. Nat. Exper. Acad. del Cimento 121 An hole thorough the bottom of the Vessel.

1712 J. Browne tr. P. Pomet et al. Compl. Hist. Druggs I. vii. xlv. 149/2 Such as will pass thorow an Iron Ring.

1799 W. Roberts Let. 12 July in G. Washington Papers (1999) Retirement Ser. IV. 182 Sift it thorough a Sand Siv Or a Bean Siv to Git out all the Lumps.

1850 J. S. Blackie tr. Æschylus Lyrical Dramas I. 191 Thorough my heart, Thorough my liver, Keen as the cold ice Shot through the river.

1872 J. S. Blackie Lays of Highlands 70 He spoke, and oped the massy door, And led the way to me, Thorough a passage long and low.

1978 D. J. Enright Paradise Illustr. 18 In at his [sc. the serpent's] mouth the Enemy entered, Thorough his throat commodious Filtered our fatal Foe.

†b. With reference to the transmission of light or to sight; = through prep. 1b. Obsolete (archaic in later use).

ΚΠ

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 11229 (MED) Þe sun beme Gais thoru þe glas and cums again, Wit-vten brest.

c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 91 (MED) The bodi is a cloude and a lanterne bi smoked thoruh the whiche..the brightnesse with inne men seen.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Song of Sol. ii. 9 He..loketh in at the wyndowe, & pepeth thorow the grate.

1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie ii. iii. 33 I saw these bathes thorow a great hole.

a1636 H. Lynde Case for Spectacles (1638) 45 You begin to looke asquint thorow your Spectacles at the reformed Churches.

a1677 J. Taylor Contempl. State Man (1684) i. ii. 22 Those who work in Prospective, will so paint a Room, that the Light entring onely thorow some little hole, you shall perceive beautiful and perfect Figures and Shapes.

1705 G. Stanhope Paraphr. Epist. & Gospels II. 599 The Truth never shines so bright, as when the Oppositions, that strive to darken it, are plainly seen thorow.

1734 Weekly Amusement 1 Feb. 315/2 The fox saw thorough the compliment, and that it was, in truth, but an invitation of him to his own funeral.

1834 H. Taylor Philip Van Artevelde (ed. 2) II. iv. iv. 160 I..Descried the flickering of a cottage fire Thorough the casements.

†c. With reference to the piercing effect of sound; = through prep. 1c. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

a1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer Parl. Fowls (Tanner) (1871) 500 The goos the doke and the cokkow also So criden keek keek kokkow quek quek hie That thorough [c1430 Cambr. Gg.4.27 thourw, a1500 Harl. 7333 þorow, c1500 Trin. Cambr. thorowgh] myn eris the noyse went tho.

1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. (1586) ii. 58 b Those of Piemount, who with the shrilnesse of their wordes goe thorow ones eares.

†d. With reference to figurative barriers or obstructions; = through prep. 1f. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1647 T. May Hist. Parl. ii. vi. 127 Your Parliament, whose..undiscouraged endeavours..have passed thorow difficulties unheard of.

1680 Bp. G. Burnet Some Passages Life Rochester (1692) 127 Which the strength of his Mind would soon break thorough.

1728 M. Tindal Addr. Inhabiants London & Westm. 69 They..break thorow all the Obligations they owe their Fellow-Creatures.

†2. Over the whole extent of; in or to all or many parts of; throughout; = through prep. 4. Also sometimes in postmodifying position. Obsolete (archaic and poetic in later use).

ΚΠ

OE Homily: Apocalypse of Thomas (Corpus Cambr. 41) in Anglia (1955) 73 26 On Sæternesdæg to þære æfteran tide ðuruh feower hwommas weorolde.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 6901 (MED) Þoru al engelond þis word sone drou.

a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 1366 Fyges and many a date tree There wexen..Thorough the gardyn in length and brede.

1485 W. Caxton tr. Thystorye & Lyf Charles the Grete sig. biiij^v/2 Charles..sente oueral thorugh hys empyre hys messagers.

a1500 Gospel of Nicodemus (Harl. 149) (1974) 74 (MED) Derknes was made thorough the vnyuersal worlde vn-to the houre of noone.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Acts xiv. D Whan they had ordeyned them Elders by eleccion thorow all the congregacions.

a1617 S. Hieron Doctrines Triall in Wks. (1620) II. 16 Good points of doctrine runne thorow vs as thorow a pipe.

a1635 R. Corbet Poems (1807) 12 Send of this stuffe thy territories thorough To Ireland, Wales and Scottish Eddenborough.

1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 343 Which Supreme Incorporeal Deity, was..said to be All Things, because it diffused it self thorough All.

1750 Fisheries Revived 40 That there be only one Weight, and one Measure, for the Salt and Barrels thorough the whole Kingdom.

1807 W. Wordsworth Poems II. 33 O'er hilly path, and open Strath, We'll wander Scotland thorough.

1827 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd 64 ‘Let us march!’ was cry'd aloud, Thorough the wide-convulsit crowd, By monie a bellerin voice.

1893 G. Macdonald Poet. Wks. II. 51 A quivering fear thorough my heart did go.

a1924 M. Ghose Canto VI in Coll. Poems (1970) 68 All the dreadful furrow France ploughed, all that Spain Sowed sad Europe thoro' Big with mankind's pain.

†3. Between or among (the individual people or things in a group or mass); = through prep. 2. Obsolete (archaic and poetic in later use).

ΚΠ

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) v. l. 2492 (MED) Menalippus priked his courser..Þoruȝ þinne & þikke only to purswe.

1535 Bp. J. Fisher Wks. (1876) 365 He must..creepe thorowe the thicke bushes.

1573 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 20 So mutch the harder it is like to go with me when..I must run thorouh the pikes.

1625 K. Long tr. J. Barclay Argenis i. i. 3 I fled thorow the bushes.

1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. ii. 39 The man that cut his way thorough his Enemies.

1746 tr. C. P. Duclos Hist. Lewis XI II. viii. 211 The French..set fire to the city, and broke thorough the flames.

1886 ‘M. Field’ Brutus Ultor v. 65 Thorough the throngs of Hades we will pace.

†4. Expressing movement in a more or less continuous line within a large expanse (without implying passage all the way across): along within; = through prep. 3. Obsolete (archaic and poetic in later use).

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > [preposition] > here and there in

throughOE

aboutc1390

thoroughc1450

athwartc1550

c1450 (a1400) Chevalere Assigne l. 95 in W. H. French & C. B. Hale Middle Eng. Metrical Romances (1930) 863 He wente þorow a foreste fowre longe myle.

1569 R. Grafton Chron. I. vii. 186 She and her Gentlewoman..galoped thorough the Towne.

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica v. xvi. 257 The Picture of S^t Christopher..with a staff in his hand, wading thorow the water.

1684 T. Burnet Theory of Earth i. xii. 166 How were these great bodies slung thorough the Air from their respective Seas.

1724 P. Walker Some Remarkable Passages Life A. Peden 82 The Lord has letten me see the Frenches marching..thorow..the Land.

1751 J. Wheatley Lives, Tryals & Sufferings Holy Apostles 21 Hippolitus was drawn thorough the Fields with wild Horses till he died.

1851 M. F. Tupper Ballads for Times 313 The deep-dwelling ravenous shark Cleaving thorough the waters dark.

1893 J. A. Symonds tr. Sappho in Stud. Greek Poets (ed. 3) II. 416 Pinion on pinion, thorough middle ether Down from heaven hurried.

1916 P. Colum in Ireland 30 Sept. 1 Thorough waters, thorough nations I have come, To lay last offerings at your low abode.

†II. With reference to time, and in other extended uses.

5. During the whole period of, from the beginning to the end of; = through prep. 8. Also in postmodifying position (cf. through prep. 8a(b)). Obsolete (archaic and poetic in later use).

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > [preposition] > during

throughOE

amongOE

thoroughOE

among thatlOE

amidwarda1225

ofc1275

lengingc1400

hanginga1420

amongsta1450

depending1503

pendant1642

pending1642

OE Paris Psalter (1932) lxxxvii. 9 Ic me to wuldres gode þuruh ealne dæg elne clypige and mine handa to þe hebbe and ðenige.

c1300 St. Michael (Laud) l. 401 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 311 Þe heouene geth ene a-boute þoruȝ daiȝe and þoruȝ nyȝt.

c1400 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Trin. Cambr. R.3.14) (1960) A. viii. l. 127 (MED) Þe prest & perkyn aposid eiþer oþer, And þoruȝ here wordis I wok & waitide aboute.

a1425 (a1400) Titus & Vespasian l. 775 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1903) 111 296 (MED) Eueryche fryday..A fluxe of bloode comeþ hem on..Than þei haueþ hit þoruȝ þe ȝeere, And þat day dar þai noȝt outstere.

a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1905) i. 34 (MED) Huge, Abbot of Abendon..grauntyd to the Mynchons of Godstow..fowre burdyns of thornys of her wood of Cumnore, to be hadde euyry day thorow the yere by the syht of her forester.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms lxxvii. 14 All the night thorow with a light of fyre.

1582 G. Whetstone Heptameron Ciuill Disc. vi. sig. U.ij^v The order of Merchaunts, who at the latter ende of the yeare, suruey theyr accounts, to see what fortune and mischaunce they haue receyued thorough the whole yeare past.

1608 J. Dod & R. Cleaver Plaine Expos. Prov. ix–x. 7 Thorow the whole yeere.

1647 J. Angier Helpe to Better Hearts iiii. 278 The Sabbath comes seldome into their mindes the week thorow.

1777 Lett. Henrietta to Morvina I. xxiii. 171 My mind has known no rest; for I dream the night thorough of what I have seen the preceding day.

a1835 W. Motherwell Poet. Wks. (1849) 356 Thorough the night in the turret's height, The great church-bells are rung.

1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xvii. 24 Twice a week the winter thorough [rhyme sorrow] Here stood I.

1923 ‘H. MacDiarmid’ Braid Scots in Compl. Poems (1994) II. 1235 Great thochts, great dreams, my country tae has borne Thoro' the nicht o' Time.

a. All the way to the end of; = through prep. 9a. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > completeness > [preposition] > from beginning to end of

thorougha1325

through1494

a1325 Pilate (Corpus Cambr.) l. 212 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 705 Þou schelt passi þoru iugement vor þou toke on so.

1598 R. Grenewey tr. Tacitus Annales xi. iii. 143 Bardanes, who being a man of action and able to go thorow great enterprises, in two daies inuaded three thousand stadia, and chased out Gotarzes.

1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer 243 At the last God brought me thorow all My doubts and feares.

1632 R. Sanderson 12 Serm. 61 I foresaw we should not haue time to goe thorow all that was intended.

1703 Observator 1 Sept. Master Observator, Have you Read thorow that Three-penny touch of Slander and Calumny upon your Worship.

1748 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 16 Feb. in Lett. to Son (1774) I. 258 I have known many people, from laziness of mind, go thorough both pleasure and business, with equal inattention.

1872 Preston Chron. & Lancs. Advertiser 14 Sept. 3/4 Without reading thorough its [sc. the Ballot Act] numerous clauses,..I may say that the main principle in it is certainly this—that perfect secrecy will be preserved.

b. During the whole course of; at all or many stages of; = through prep. 10a. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

c1443 R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun (1927) 99 (MED) If, aftir þat alle þise skilis þoruȝ þis present chapiter..be diligently..examyned, it be founde..þat þilke porcioun of doctryne..be not to be leernyd of lay men in her modir langage, y wole..þat þilk porcioun be left out of þis book.

c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 7 Weelnyȝ thoruȝ al the chapiter, Poul meeneth that Cristen bileeuers ouȝten not recche of wisdom.

1533 T. More Let. Impugnynge J. Fryth sig. c.i^v So maye euery worde almoste thorowe the whole scrypture.

1612 T. Wilson Christian Dict. 431 By all which, we are sought vp and called to him, as thorough the whole Scripture manifestly appeareth.

1657 J. Davies tr. G. Naudé Hist. Magick xv. 196 He..does both there and all thorow his workes, excuse himself.

†III. Expressing agency, means, or cause.

a. By means of; by the intermediate agency of; with the aid of; via; = through prep. 12a. In early use also: by the primary agency or action of. Obsolete (archaic and poetic in later use).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > by the instrumentality of [preposition] > by intermediation of

thoroughOE

via1856

OE Paris Psalter (1932) lxx. 1 Þu me sniome alys þuruh þine þa swiþeran miht.

a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 33 Þe engel..seweð a whilche wise and þuregh hwam þis blisse cumen sholde.

c1300 St. Dunstan (Laud) l. 104 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 22 Þeos þreo Bischopes wenden a-boute..And euerech luþer person casten out..heore churchene..heom bi-nome And bi-setten as on guode men þoruȝ þe popes graunt of rome.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 7183 (MED) Þe quene vel bi him adoun & biclupte him..Vor to hete is colde limes..Þoru hete of ire owe bodi.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 1395 Thoro birth of a blisful child.

c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure l. 5 (MED) Godde..gyffe vs grace to..gouerne vs here In this wrechyde werlde thorowe vertous lywynge.

a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1908) II. 289 The blessyd babe..Thurrowe whom pece & tranquilite shall take þis reme on hand.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Josh. xxiv. C Not thorow thy swerde, ner thorow thy bowe.

1571 H. G. tr. G. Boccaccio Thirtene Plesant & Delectable Questions x. sig. I.v^v An vniust accusation was brought against hir,..& after by false euidence proued, thorow whiche vntrue processe she was condemned to the fire.

1627 C. Carter Christian Common Wealth xxiii. 206 Our affaires may prosper as Potiphers did thorough the seruice of good Ioseph.

1714 G. Lockhart Mem. Affairs Scotl. 400 Scotland has been on the decaying Hand, and England (and all the States of Europe) advancing thorough the Encouragement and Protection they met with in advancing and carrying on their Trade.

1752 H. Fielding Amelia IV. xii. vi. 256 If Repentance is sincere, cries the Doctor, I hope thorough the Mercies and Merits of our most powerful and benign Intercessor it will never come too late.

1847 R. W. Emerson Poems 6 Thorough a thousand voices Spoke the universal dame.

b. Introducing the agent after a passive verb; = through prep. 12b. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) anno 1009 Eal folc gearu wæs him on to fonne. Ac hit wæs þa ðuruh Eadric ealdorman gelet swa hit gyt æfre wæs.

a1250 Apostles' Creed (Nero) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 217 Þet was ikenned þuruh ðe holi goste, iboren was of ðe meidene marie.

a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 34 Þe world..was ibrot adun þuru adam & eue.

c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) 374 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 117 Þe churche..Þat..was..a-rerd þoruȝ henri þe oþur kingue.

a1325 Statutes of Realm (2011) xiii. 69 Hit is icomaunded þoru þe king, þat eche man habbe in house wepne.

?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 31 (MED) All is had þurowe grace of þe.

1542 A. Borde Compend. Regyment Helth Pref. sig. A.ii Conuocated thorowe the kynges goodnes to wayte on his prepotent mageste.

1573 in Court Minutes Surrey & Kent Sewer Comm. (London County Council) (1909) 163 These men..were extreamly hindred thorowe the extreamenes of the wetenesse of the wether.

1618 W. Attersoll Comm. Fourth Bk. Moses xxiii. 955/1 All our sinnes..are couered, healed, and released thorough the righteousnesse of Christ imputed vnto vs.

1698 F. Grant True Narr. of Sufferings of Young Girle p. xxiii The Witches had Importunately urged her to give them her Consent, to take away the Life of her young Sister, who was at that time upon her Mothers breast; which Tentation also she was enabled thorow the Grace of God to resist.

1807 Literal Rendering Gothic Gospel Matt. 33 in S. Henshall First No. Etymol. Org. Reasoner That up-filled that mentioned thorough Isaias the prophet, quothing, He unmightiness our unto-nim, yea sorrowness ours bore.

8. Expressing cause, reason, or motive: because of; in consequence of, on account of, owing to; = through prep. 13a. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > causation > cause or reason > [preposition] > because of

throughOE

thoroughOE

ofc1175

fornec1440

seen1485

about1600

froma1616

OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) anno 998 Man oft fyrde ongean hi gaderede, ac sona swa hi togædere gan sceoldan þonne wearð þær æfre ðuruh sum þing fleam astiht.

OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Corpus Cambr.) xxxvii. 5 He rehte þæt [sweuen] his gebroðrum, þuruh þæt hig hine hatedon þe swiðor.

a1225 ( Ælfric's Homily In Die Sancto Pentecosten (Lamb. 487) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 99 (MED) Þuruh [OE Royal þurh] cristes menniscnesse men weren alesde from deofles ðeowdome.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 11320 Þe king hadde þer to g[o]de wille þoru frerene rede.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. iii. 20 Adam clepide þe name of his wyf Eue, þoru þat þat sche was moder of all þingeȝ.

1419 Guildhall Let.-bk. in R. W. Chambers & M. Daunt Bk. London Eng. (1931) 78 (MED) And forasmoch as our aduerse partie..haue refused al meenes of pees, We be compelled ayein to werre thorough þair default.

a1450 (c1375) G. Chaucer Anelida & Arcite (Tanner 346) (1878) l. 271 The swerde of sorow byte Mi wofull herte thoro youre cruelte.

a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Gloucester) (1971) 759 (MED) Þe kynge sawȝe þis chylde and a hurte in his face & in his forhed Þorow þe bytynge of þe wolfe.

1596 T. Danett Svpply v, in tr. P. de Commynes Hist. vi. 258 He ended his life thorow a sicknes.

1608 G. Wilkins Painfull Adventures Pericles viii. sig. F4^v Then caused he the Chest to be thrown ouer-boorde into the Sea, thorow a superstitious opinion which the mariners beleeued.

1666 H. Stubbe Miraculous Conformist 3 His life seemed burthensome to him thorough the violence of the..temptation.

1738 J. Hort Sixteen Serm. ix. 288 Thorough Ignorance of the pure Nature of God, the Heathens have corrupted it [sc. worship] with many Superstitions and impious Rites.

1838 R. F. Williams Shakspeare & His Friends vii. 77 The..story..hath no existence save in his own imagination, and thorough vanity.

B. adv.

1. Modifying an adjective or past participle; = thoroughly adv. Cf. through adv. 2b. Now colloquial.In earlier use not clearly distinguishable from uses of thorough- prefix 1b; cf. e.g. thorough ripe adj., thorough wet adj., etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > completeness > [adverb] > entirely, altogether, or completely

righteOE

allingOE

outlyOE

allOE

throughoutlyc1175

allingsa1225

throughouta1225

thoroughc1225

albedenec1300

outc1300

quitelyc1330

all-whollya1375

most widelya1382

all wholea1393

all-thinga1398

algate?a1400

algatesc1405

thoroughly1442

mainly1550

outrighta1560

outrightly1642

solely1710

teetotally1832

bodaciously1833

teetotaciously1833

orl1864

the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > utterly

allOE

outlyOE

thwert-outc1175

skerea1225

thoroughc1225

downrightc1275

purec1300

purelyc1300

faira1325

finelyc1330

quitec1330

quitelyc1330

utterlyc1374

outerlya1382

plainlya1382

straighta1387

allutterly1389

starkc1390

oultrelya1393

plata1393

barec1400

outrightc1400

incomparablyc1422

absolutely?a1425

simpliciter?a1425

staringa1425

quitementa1450

properlyc1450

directly1455

merec1475

incomparable1482

preciselyc1503

clean?1515

cleara1522

plain1535

merely1546

stark1553

perfectly1555

right-down1566

simply1574

flat1577

flatly1577

skire1581

plumb1588

dead?1589

rankly1590

stark1593

sheera1600

start1599

handsmooth1600

peremptory1601

sheerly1601

rank1602

utter1619

point-blank1624

proofa1625

peremptorily1626

downrightly1632

right-down1646

solid1651

clever1664

just1668

hollow1671

entirely1673

blank1677

even down1677

cleverly1696

uncomparatively1702

subtly1733

point1762

cussed1779

regularly1789

unqualifiedly1789

irredeemably1790

positively1800

cussedly1802

heart1812

proper1816

slick1818

blankly1822

bang1828

smack1828

pluperfectly1831

unmitigatedly1832

bodaciously1833

unredeemedly1835

out of sight1839

bodacious1845

regular1846

thoroughly1846

ingrainedly1869

muckinga1880

fucking1893

motherless1898

self1907

stone1928

sideways1956

terminally1974

c1225 ( Ælfric Gloss. (Worcester) in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 541 Peruigil, þuruhwacol [OE St. John's Oxf. þurhwacol].

a1350 St. Brendan (Ashm.) l. 163 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1874) 53 22 [Þo] þis fur was þoruhot [c1300 Harl. þurf-hot, a1325 Corpus Cambr. þoru out hot], þe ile quakede anon.

c1450 Treat. Fishing in J. McDonald et al. Origins of Angling (1963) 149 (MED) Vn-bynde hym [sc. the rod] & let hym drye yn a smoke howse or in a howsroyf tyl hyt be thorow drye.

a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1908) II. 401 Þat it be thorough tannyd and thorowe Coryed.

1531 W. Tyndale Expos. 1 John (1538) i. 14 b Yet is it neuer thorow whole vntyll the houre of death.

1594 H. Plat Diuers Chimicall Concl. Distillation 38 in Jewell House When it is thorough hot.

1622 J. Mabbe tr. M. Alemán Rogue i. 37 When he [the patient] saw that he was thorow well.

1631 T. Fuller Heavie Punishment xxxv, in Davids Sinne sig. D6 Thou art not yet so thorough worne with age.

1692 R. L'Estrange Fables ccii. 173 The Lyon Himself was not Thorough-Proof against This Fantastical Alarum.

1702 C. Mather Magnalia Christi iii. iii. iii. 193/1 They had thorow-good Reasons for doing so.

1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. vii. 123 A thorough honest Man would..have repeated his former Answer.

1774 O. Goldsmith Grecian Hist. II. ii. 112 He had a thorough good opinion of himself.

1796 C. Marshall Introd. Knowl. & Pract. Gardening xiv. 249 Keep the glasses close, till the earth is got thorough warm again.

1853 C. M. Yonge Heir of Redclyffe II. xxii. 357 He is a thorough great man.

1876 Brit. & Foreign Evangelical Rev. Apr. 313 Mr Mill's theory of morals, though an improvement on Bentham's, is a thorough selfish one.

1903 H. G. Wells 12 Stories 293 ‘Jane was a nice girl,’ he said, ‘a thorough nice girl mind you.’

1925 V. Woolf Mrs. Dalloway 114 He was a thorough good sort; a bit limited; a bit thick in the head; yes; but a thorough good sort.

2012 A. L. Berridge Into Valley of Death (Electronic ed.) Ryder was a thorough bad influence.

†2.

a. From end to end, side to side, or surface to surface; so as to pass all the way across; so as to pierce or penetrate; = through adv. 1a. Also: (with reference to the transmission of light) = through adv. 1b. Obsolete (archaic and poetic in later use).In some early uses alternatively analysable as showing compound verbs with thorough- prefix 1a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > direction > specific directions > [adverb] > in the direction of thickness > through thickness

throughoutOE

wherethorough?c1225

wherethrough1297

thorougha1387

thoroughlya1500

throughly1541

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 207 (MED) Iulius come to þe Capitoil, and was i-stiked þoruȝ, and hadde þre and twenty woundes, and deyde.

1496 Epit. Iaspar Late Duke of Beddeforde (Pynson) sig. aiv^v Thorow thrylled & persyd with payne.

a1500 in A. Zettersten Middle Eng. Lapidary (1968) 26 (MED) Whoo fyndeth here [sc. chrysolite] & persith an hole in the myddes of hir & putteth thorow an here of an asse, he may with here make enchauntemente þe devell.

1638 F. Junius Painting of Ancients 227 We doe not make our plate so thinne as to..cut it quite thorough with engraving.

1672 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd i. 42 If he meet them in the dark, he runs them thorow.

a1713 T. Ellwood Hist. Life (1765) 184 I walked it thorow in a Day.

1720 T. Boston Human Nature ii. 62 Some are running after their Covetousness, till they be pierced thorow with many Sorrows.

1782 J. Logan Poems 7 They sought him all the Forrest thorough.

1846 T. Cooper Baron's Yule Feast 33 Some with sighs expressed what pain Had pierced their simple bosoms thorow.

1883 A. C. Swinburne Sorrow in Cent. Roundels 76 One thought lies close in her heart gnawn thorough [rhyme furrow] With pain.

a1891 R. W. Barbour Lett., Poems & Pensées (1893) 107 But heaven grew bright as earth grew dim, And the sun came shining thorough.

b. With reference to travel or transport: along the whole distance; all the way to the destination; = through adv. 1c. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > aspects of travel > a journey > [adverb] > to the end of a journey

each footc1300

throughc1450

thorougha1475

a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1905) i. 215 (MED) Robert of aumery..warantisyd the seyd londe & pasture, & the seyd goynge in & thorowe..to the seyd holy mynchons.

a1500 Gospel of Nicodemus (Harl. 149) (1974) 67 (MED) Youre God..delyuered you oute of the bonde of Egypcyens, and drowned hem yn the deepe see, and made you passe thorough as and ye had ben on drye londe.

1578 G. Best True Disc. Passage to Cathaya iii. 23 Wherevppon he sente the Gabriell the one and twentith of Iuly, to proue whether they mighte go thorowe and meete againe with him in the straites.

1649 C. Dore Just Vindic. Reputation Mr. White 3 Not being able (after tryall) to get horses to carry us thorow to London, my Master was necessitated to put himselfe into an Hampton Waggon.

1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. ii. 73 You should have begged me of him to have gon quite thorough with you.

1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. ii. 176 How he got thorow to whither he intended.

†3. With reference to a period of time, course of action, task, book, etc.: from beginning to end; for the whole duration or extent; = through adv. 4a. Obsolete (archaic and poetic in later use).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > completeness > [adverb] > fully or to full extent or in full > from beginning to end

througha1225

overc1400

throughoutc1450

thoroughc1475

throughly1531

straight1756

c1475 Mankind (1969) l. 500 (MED) I know full well what Mankynde dyde to yow; Myschyff hat informyde of all þe matere thorow.

a1500 (?a1400) Firumbras (1935) l. 1566 (MED) The sunne schon Bryȝt, Tyl hyt was passed myd-day and thoruȝ to the nyȝt.

1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Pref. sig. ❧.i They were onely begon, and neuer read thorow.

1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 777 Sithence he had once begonne, he would stoutly go thorowe.

1653 Z. Bogan View Threats & Punishments Recorded in Script. To Rdr. sig. A4^v If thou hast not the patience to read thorow; passe to the next Chapter.

1671 A. Marvell Let. 9 Feb. in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 131 The Committee of Conventicles haue..gone thorow with their bill.

1728 ‘I. Dandridge’ Worse & Worse ix. 26 He imagin'd those Friends, for whose sake chiefly the Matter was undertook, and who had promis'd to go thorough with it, would perform that Engagement.

1843 T. Carlyle tr. J. W. von Goethe in Past & Present iii. xv. 318 The Future hides in it Good hap and sorrow; We press still thorow.

1883 J. Albee Poems 104 Long nights ago was spent my urn, But yet I struggle thorough.

†4. Following a modal auxiliary verb, with main verb (as get, go, pass, etc.) implied; = through adv. 4c. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry f. 12^v Trench redge & forough, that water may thorough.

1611 R. Bolton Disc. State True Happinesse 120 Rather then they will be defeated and disappointed in the pursuit of worldly happinesse, they will thorow.

1648 R. Younge Cause & Cure Ignorance 74 Ulysses may contrive, but Diomedes must thorow with it.

1670 C. Cotton tr. G. Girard Hist. Life Duke of Espernon ii. vii. 339 We are now come too far..to return.., we must either thorow, or dye.

Phrases

†P1. thorough all thing: in all respects; thoroughly; = through all thing at through prep. and adv. Phrases 1. Obsolete.Originally with thing as (unchanged) plural.

ΚΠ

OE Vitellius Psalter: Canticles xv. 27 Ita ut per omnia sicut iam supra dictum est et unitas in trinitate et trinitas in unitate ueneranda sit : swaswa þæt þuruh ealla þing swa nu ic [read io] bufan gecweden is & anes on þrynnesse & þrynnes on annesse to arweorþinne si.

c1300 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Cambr.) (1966) l. 667 Hit is riȝt þureȝ alle þing Felons inome hond habbing, For to suffre jugement Biþute ansuere oþer acupement.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 7549 Þis noble duc willam him let crouny king At londone amidwinter day, nobliche þoru alle þing.

a1450 Seven Sages (Cambr. Dd.1.17) (1845) l. 112 (MED) Thay thanked..the emperour That grauntyd hem that honour, To have in hare kepyng That he loved thorou al thyng.

†P2. thorough and thorough.

a. All the way through or repeatedly through; = through and through prep. Obsolete.In quot. c1300 the second instance of the word probably shows a form of through prep.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [adverb] > through > right through

throughoutOE

throughOE

through and throughc1225

thorough and thoroughc1300

out-througha1325

thoroughlya1500

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [preposition] > through > completely

throughoutOE

thorough and thoroughc1300

through and througha1325

utouthc1480

c1300 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 83 (MED) Hise wundes sore and smerte stungen þureu and þurw þi herte.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 24381 A squorde sulde stike ouerthwert þorou & þorou [Gött. Toru and thoru] þine awen hert.

1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) i. 56 He shoued hym thorughe and thorughe his body.

a1500 (?a1475) Guy of Warwick (Cambr. Ff.2.38) l. 7394 (MED) All þat yere Gye can gone Þorow kyngys landys many oon; All he wente thorow and thorow [c1475 Caius thorrow and thorrowe] Ryght vnto Jerusalem þe borowe.

1573 tr. True Rehersall Victory againste Albanists sig. A.vi They ranne thorowe and thorowe the wood, hither and thyther.

a1634 W. Austin Devotionis Augustinianæ Flamma (1635) 281 At every change the Shittle flyes thorow and thorow it [sc. the web].

a1892 Ld. Tennyson Poems (2004) 182 A melody Manycircled, overflowing thorough and thorough the flowery level of unbuilt Ilion.

†b. With repeated or complete penetration; right through; = through and through adv. 1a; (also) outright, altogether, completely. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) l. 3873 (MED) And ȝut he shal haue þerto Cristallyne, my douȝtter floure, And þorouȝ and þorouȝ half my tresoure.

a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 33 With hys swerde he broched the horse..thorow and thorow.

1526 Bible (Tyndale) John xix. f. cxlix^v The coote was with out seme woven vppon thorowe and thorowe.

c1571 E. Campion Two Bks. Hist. Ireland (1963) i. xv. 57 He subdued the land thoro and thorow, ever as he went pyling uppe castles and fortresses.

1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. xiii. 60 Wee are shot thorow and thorow, and betweene wind and water.

a1658 J. Cleveland Rustick Rampant in Wks. (1687) 446 Richard might have been struck thorough and thorough.

1739 ‘J. Philander’ Vitulus Aureus vi. 77 I look'd at My Gentleman with an Eye that might have pierced him thorough and thorough; but he was so full of himself, it made no Impression on him.

1885 J. Ingelow Poems: Third Series 20 They..poured great store Of ordnance at our ships, though many of theirs, Shot thorow and thorow, scarce might keep afloat.

†P3. to be thorough with (someone): to have reached an agreement or settlement with (someone). Cf. to be through with at through prep. and adv. Phrases 2. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1467 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 534 He is owtlawyd at Syr John Fastolfys swte..not wythstandyng he is thorow wyth Syr T. Howys for Syr J. F.

1482 R. Cely Let. 29 Mar. in Cely Lett. (1975) 134 I gawhe the Exchetter xl s. for ws bothe, and so whe be thorow wyth hym for aull matters.

†P4. thorough a person's hands (also hand): so as to be handled or dealt with by the specified person; = through a person's hands (also †hand) at through prep. and adv. Phrases 3a. Obsolete.In quot. 1877 perhaps a typographical error for through.

ΚΠ

?1496 W. Caxton in Earl Rivers tr. Cordyal (de Worde) f. lxxxvii^v/2 Amonge other passyd thorugh myn honde the booke of the wyse sayenges or dyctes of phylosophers.

1547 tr. A. de Marcourt Bk. Marchauntes (new ed.) sig. d.i^v Boystously they constrayne the people will they or not to passe thorough theyr cruell handes, and without respite, to bye theyr fals marchandises.

1584 J. Rainolds & J. Hart Summe of Conf. v. 205 Counterfeites are counterfeites, though they go thorough twenty hands.

1613 W. Adams Let. 12 Jan. in A. Farrington Eng. Factory in Japan (1991) I. 77 The Spaynard so well as the Hollanders must have all theer negosshes..go thorough my hand.

1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed 19 The Jewes..are such cheates, they sophisticate all that comes thorough their hands [Fr. par leurs mains].

1710 H. Prideaux Orig. & Right Tithes v. 268 Lawyers, whose hands it passed thorough.

1743 Farther Vindic. Case Hanover Troops 79 Indeed our Administration, at first, pretended, that this whole Negotiation went thorough their Hands.

1877 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 24 Jan. The brokers make it a point to have all stock passing thorough their hands issued in their names.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	thorough
释义	thoroughn.¹ Brit. /ˈθʌrəʊ/, /ˈθʌrə/, U.S. /ˈθəroʊ/, /ˈθərə/ Forms: 1500s thorowe, 1700s thorow, 1700s– thorough; English regional 1800s thurrar, 1800s thurrough, 1800s– thurrow. Origin: Probably a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: furrow n. Etymology: Probably a variant of furrow n. (with substitution of initial th- for f- : see discussion at th n.¹), reinforced by folk-etymological association with thorough adv. and thorough prep. (compare e.g. quot. 1961 at sense 1, and later through n.³ 2 and thorough drain n.; with sense 2 compare also thoroughing n.). Surv. Eng. Dial. records pronunciations of this type (in sense 2) from Staffordshire and several counties in the east midlands; compare quot. 1969 at sense 2. Now rare. 1. An artificially cut or dug channel for water; a trench; Agriculture a trench made for draining a field; = through n.³ 2. Cf. thorough drain n. Now historical. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > ditching or drainage > [noun] > ditch dikec893 gripa1000 ditch1045 fosselOE water-furrowlOE sow1316 furrowc1330 rick1332 sewer1402 gripplec1440 soughc1440 grindle1463 sheugh1513 syre1513 rain?1523 trench1523 slough1532 drain1552 fowsie?1553 thorougha1555 rean1591 potting1592 trink1592 syver1606 graft1644 work1649 by-ditch1650 water fence1651 master drain1652 rode1662 pudge1671 gripe1673 sulcus1676 rhine1698 rilling1725 mine1743 foot trench1765 through1777 trench drain1779 trenchlet1782 sunk fence1786 float1790 foot drain1795 tail-drain1805 flow-dike1812 groopa1825 holla1825 thorough drain1824 yawner1832 acequia madre1835 drove1844 leader1844 furrow-drain1858 a1555 J. Bradford Writings (1848) (modernized text) I. 303 If any man would alter the natural course of any water to run a contrary way, he shall never be able to do it with dams... Therefore the alteration must be from the head, by making other thoroughs and devices. 1581 Coventry Leet Bk. 824 Vp a thorowe betwene two Landes in the middes of the feild by certain meare-stones there sett. 1727 R. Bradley tr. Xenophon Sci. Good Husbandry 120 If the Ground be too wet to sow upon,..we may drain it by Ditches or Thorows. 1745 London Evening-Post 3 Jan. (advt.) To be Sold in Fee, A New-built Water-Grist Mill..with two Thoroughs. 1779 G. Boswell Treat. on watering Meadows ii. 20 A Ware is an erection across a river, brook, rivulet, main, &c., with from two to eight, or ten thoroughs (openings) to let the water through. 1834 Jackson's Oxf. Jrnls. 10 May (advt.) A most capital water corn mill, possessing a constant and powerful stream,..with..substantial brick thoroughs. 1884 Rep. Select Comm. Thames River Preserv. 257 in Parl. Papers (H.C. 321) XVI. 1 There are three mills now, namely, the old corn mill and two mill thoroughs in the paper mill. 1961 Encycl. Brit. VII. 572/2 The method is to cut channels (formerly called ‘thoroughs,’ meaning ‘through ways,’ hence the name ‘thorough drainage’) into which the water can seep, and to link them with an exit into a ditch that will carry the water into the arterial system. 2. English regional (chiefly east midlands). A furrow. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > breaking up land > ploughing > [noun] > furrow furrowc888 vorec1380 scratching1548 henting?a1605 voor1669 thorough1732 gaw1793 dead furrow1838 sheugh1844 mould furrow1851 back-furrow1855 1732 W. Ellis Pract. Farmer 162 Four-thoroughing of Land, is not clean Ploughing, but running up four Thoroughs close together with the Plough. 1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farming 5 The Ignorance and Idleness of the Plowman, who either goes so shallow, or plows his Thoroughs so wide, or misses Part of the Ground. 1790 W. Marshall Agric. Provincialisms in Rural Econ. Midland Counties II. 444 Thorough, an interfurrow between two ridges. 1842 Archæologist Apr. 84 For straight—proper straight uns—they spied all his thurrars wor. 1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words I. 383 A land is an arable division of a furlong in an open field; the top of the land is called the ridge or rig, and the sides the furrow or thurrow. 1888 S. O. Addy Gloss. Words Sheffield Thurrow, a furrow of land. 1969 H. Orton & P. M. Tilling Surv. Eng. Dial. III. i. 183 Furrow, [Leicestershire] θɷɹə, [Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex] θʌɹə, [Buckinghamshire] θəɹə, [etc.]. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022). thoroughadj.n.² Brit. /ˈθʌrə/, U.S. /ˈθəroʊ/, /ˈθərə/ Forms: see thorough prep. and adv.; also Scottish 1900s– thoara, 1900s– thorie, 1900s– thorra. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: thorough adv. Etymology: < thorough adv. Compare through adj.It is unclear whether the following textual cruces show earlier instances of the word. In quot. c1250 the word þurue has been glossed as ‘assiduous’, but such a meaning for thorough adj. is not found until very much later (compare sense A. 3); the form would also be unique. In quot. a1350 on þoro lay has been explained as ‘in perfect light’ (compare sense A. 2, and see leye n.), although the latter noun usually means ‘fire, blaze’, and in any case makes an unusual referent for this sense of thorough adj.; for a discussion of alternative (and less likely) explanations see G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 86.c1250 in Englische Studien (1935) 70 231 Ful þurue heo [sc. Lucifer's companions] beoit abuten hore mesterre To makin us..of blisse to ben sære.a1350 in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 66 Þat oþer ioie..wes o Cristesmasse day, when God wes bore on þoro lay. A. adj. †1. That goes, passes, or extends through something. Cf. through adj. 3. Obsolete.In earlier use, attributive use of the adjective is not always clearly distinguishable from thorough- prefix 2, for early instances of which see e.g. thoroughwax n., thoroughleaf n., and β. forms at thoroughfare n.Not in predicative use after the 15th cent. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > [adjective] > progressing or going through thorough?a1425 through1836 society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, passage, or means of access to a place > [adjective] > through thorough?a1425 throughgang1523 ?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 135, in Middle Eng. Dict. at Thurgh Summe men wete þe þrede wiþ a corrosiue water and bynde it newe euerye daye to þat it be þoruȝ, & summe men keruen. c1450 Treat. Fishing in J. McDonald et al. Origins of Angling (1963) 149 Pers þe stafe þer with thorow þe pith of the seyd stafe. ffyrste at þe oon ende & sithen at þe other tyll hyt be thorow. c1475 tr. Henri de Mondeville Surgery (Wellcome) f. 162 (MED) If..þe wounde passe þe brayn panne, þer schal be sum moiste nes þat schal passe out, And if þe wounde be not þoruȝ, þer schal no moistnesse come out. 1602 S. Patrick tr. J. de Hainault Estate of Church 649 This Deputie..thought it best to bring the whole land into shyre grounds, whereby the lawes of England, might haue a thorough course, and passage. 1738 G. Smith tr. Laboratory iii. 92 Give it by degrees a thorough Heat. 1776 G. Semple Treat. Building in Water 47 Very large Stones carefully bedded.., to guard the thorough Foundation between the Piers from..being displaced. 1803 W. O. Pughe Geiriadur Cynmraeg a Saesoneg: Welsh & Eng. Dict. II Tryliv, a thorough flow. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. v. 62 The bed-room..should be well aired, but without what is termed thorough air. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxi. 251 The patient caught a fresh cold from being exposed to the thorough air of our too well ventilated ward. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (new ed.) 101 The holes for the train pivots are termed ‘thorough holes’. 2. Of an action, treatment, etc.: applied to or affecting every part or detail; fully executed; thoroughgoing. Hence also: that is fully what is expressed by the noun; complete, perfect, downright, entire. Cf. through adj. 6.In early attributive use not always clearly distinguishable from thorough- prefix 2. In later use usually distinguishable by whether the stronger stress falls on the adjective or the noun.In quot. a1586: †completely apt or suitable.In the 16th and 17th centuries very frequently collocated with reformation. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > [adjective] > thoroughgoing thorough1566 thoroughgoing1719 whole hog1829 full-blooded1832 whole-hogging1904 saturation1942 the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > [adjective] > thorough or exhaustive goodeOE thorough1566 exhaustive1786 ingoing1928 the world > relative properties > wholeness > completeness > [adjective] > complete or thorough through1458 thorough1566 intimea1618 radical1648 radicative1657 full-scale1939 the world > relative properties > wholeness > completeness > [adjective] > that is completely what is specified perfectc1387 just?1537 full-fledged1579 thorough1719 1566 R. Crowley Briefe Disc. Outwarde Apparell sig. C.vii^v To worke the thorow reformation of oure state generally, and of eche one of vs particularlye. a1586 Sir P. Sidney Astrophel & Stella lvii, in Arcadia (1599) 264 He forst them out to find The thorowest [earlier throwest] words, fit for woes selfe to grone. c1613 (a1501) in T. Stapleton Plumpton Corr. (1839) 63 To make a thorow search for my matter. 1614 S. Latham Falconry ii. v. 92 To giue her a thorough scowring. a1617 S. Hieron Penance for Sinne in Wks. (1620) II. 110 To bring vs to this thorow and effectuall vnderstanding. 1642 T. Hill Trade of Truth 54 This is the best way to make the Reformation thorow and lasting. 1709 Ld. Shaftesbury Sensus Communis: Ess. Freedom of Wit 94 A Man of thorow Good-Breeding..is incapable of doing a rude or brutal Action. 1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 214 In the Morning, even before it was thorow Day-light. 1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield II. vi. 94 A thorough knowledge of the world. 1780 J. Warner in J. H. Jesse G. Selwyn & his Contemp. (1844) IV. 383 Mr. Mathews..proposed a thorough resolution..to stand by you. 1862 J. H. Burton Book-hunter 102 The thoroughest test of active scholarship. 1869 W. G. T. Shedd Homiletics iii. 85 Unity that is thorough and perfusive, and moulds the multitudes of materials. 1893 W. Lewin in Bookman June 85/2 His knowledge of English literature is extensive and thorough. 1948 ‘N. Shute’ No Highway 111 He had made a thorough inspection and had found everything correct. 2013 Sunday Express (Nexis) 6 Oct. 37 It is vital the inspectors do a thorough job. 3. Of a person. a. Chiefly in predicative use. That carries out or promotes something thoroughly; taking pains to do something carefully and completely. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > completeness > [adjective] > that is completely what is specified > specifically of a person thorough1625 double-dyed1667 through1697 thoroughgoing1719 full-blooded1784 the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adjective] > utter or absolute > of a person or his character utterc1420 complete1526 entirea1533 throughout1532 in grain?1577 consummate1603 essential1604 perfecta1616 thorough1625 thorough-paceda1628 thoroughbred1701 throughgoing1830 through and through1831 thorough-souled1842 ingrained1851 ingrain1865 1625 R. Montagu Appello Cæsarem 71 The then Professor, a thorough man everie way upon Your Side, and an earnest Promoter of the novell opinions against other learned Divines. 1642 W. Carter Israels Peace with God 27 Least it should be done to halves, God will be put upon some such device, whereby to make you thorow in his worke. 1643 N. Lockyer Baulme for Bleeding Eng. & Ireland 305 The Divell is a thorough worke-man; where hee layes a foundation he raises up the building till all be fit for himselfe... Christ is a thorough workeman; hee doth throughly purge his floore, and so takes Wheat into his barne. 1687 in J. H. Trumbull Public Rec. Colony Connecticut (1859) III. 396 I propownd Sarj^t Zachary Sandford to be a suitable person to look after it: he will be a man that will be thorow in it. 1768 C. Chauncy Appeal to Public Answered 129 It is heartily wished this Society would..engage in the affair of Gospelising the Indians, and that they would be thorow in it. 1831 Lady's Mag. July 330 The Author has been thorough in his investigations. 1889 F. Davenport-Hill Children of State (ed. 2) viii. 271 The authorities in New Zealand are thorough in the discharge of parental duties towards their State children. 1907 ‘N. Blanchan’ Birds Every Child should Know v. 69 Dame Nature, the most thorough of housekeepers, gave to the birds the task of restraining insects within bounds. 1955 Science 15 July 122/1 It would not be excessive to demand that the thorough scholar check all papers that have cited or criticized such papers. 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File xxiv. 156 The film lab had been very thorough, they had spliced on to the end of the film the incident of my arrest. 2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane vii. 160 A thorough inquisitor, Aktar spent the next hour and a half asking the girls about every aspect of their lives. b. attributive. Chiefly British. That is fully the kind of person indicated by the noun; absolute, complete, out-and-out. ΚΠ 1643 F. Cheynell Rise, Growth, & Danger Socinianisme iv. 46 Any Liturgy which will please one that is a thorow Socinian, will please Turkes, and Jewes also. 1661 W. Gurnall Christian in Armour: 1st Pt. (new ed.) 373 The soul effectually brought out of the love of sin as sin, will never be thorow-friends [1655 through friends] with it again. 1685 J. Dryden Sylvæ Pref. sig. A4^v A thorow Translatour..must be a thorow Poet. 1691 J. Norris Pract. Disc. Divine Subj. 1 The thorough Fool is not nigh so great a Prodigy as the Half-wise Man. 1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Architecture II. 96/2 He is a thorow master of those elements of Painting. a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. iv. 203 I am apt to think there never yet has really been such a monster in the world as a thorough sceptic. 1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Disowned II. xx. 263 He was the finest and most thorough gentleman I ever saw. 1877 ‘Rita’ Vivienne I. iii. 44 Blanche de Verdreuil was a thorough coquette. 1909 ‘P. Craven’ Pride of Graftons ix. 113 I'm a thorough rotter, and I always have been. 1987 A. Djoleto Hurricane of Dust xv. 69 He was..probably of Fulani-Hausa ancestry though a thorough Ghanaian by any consideration. 2010 P. Frank Know when someone lies to You ix. 130 I know you to be a thorough gentleman and a person with integrity. c. Designating a servant who undertakes all kinds of domestic work. Now rare. ΚΠ 1708 R. Steele Let. 13 Oct. in Corr. (1968) 239 The bearer is one I propose to be our Footman. He is..fitt for what I often heard You call it, a Thorow Servant. 1743 E. Purefoy Let. 12 Feb. in R. Foster & E. Foster European Society 18th Cent. (1969) vii. 296 I want a maid in her place. She must be a thorough servant & capable of seeing the sending in of 5 or 10 dishes of meat upon occasion. 1762 Public Advertiser 5 June 1/2 (advt.) Wanted a thorough Maid Servant of all Work. 1822 M. Edgeworth Let. 26 Feb. (1971) 359 I have engaged a ladys maid..and a thorough maid for cooking and brooming. 1883 Letts's Illustr. Househ. Mag. 160/1 ‘I want a general.’ ‘A general?’ ‘Yes, a thorough servant for a small house, you know.’ 1941 Times 28 Jan. 1/2 (advt.) Cook-general, 21.., tall, neat, thorough maid; good cooking: understands war-time economy. B. n.² English History. Chiefly with capital initial. The thoroughgoing action or policy of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and of Archbishop William Laud in the reign of Charles I with regard to the strengthening of the king's authority in church and state; (sometimes also) a thoroughgoing application of the policies of Cromwell as Lord Protector.With allusion to the (elliptical) use in quot. 1633, and in other letters of Laud's. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > [noun] > specific principles or policies thorough1849 Manchester policy1851 tariff-reform1859 Manchesterdom1882 Manchesterism1883 Little Englandism1887 Manchesterianism1897 Poplarism1922 Euroscepticism1988 1633 Abp. Laud Let. 9 Sept. in W. Knowler Earl of Strafforde's Lett. & Disp. (1739) I. 111 And for the State, indeed, my lord, I am for Thorough, but I see that both thick and thin stays somebody, where I conceive it should not; and it is impossible for me to go thorough alone. 1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. I. viii. 501 The system which Laud was longing to pursue in England, and which Strafford approved, is frequently hinted at by the word Thorough. 1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. I. viii. 502 But it is more difficult to perceive in what respects the Thorough system was disregarded.] 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. i. 92 And now Wentworth exulted in the near prospect of Thorough. 1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People viii. §5. 505 The dark gloomy countenance, the full heavy eye, which meet us in Strafford's portrait are the best commentary on his policy of ‘Thorough’. 1900 J. Morley Cromwell iv. vi. 354 They had set up the Commonwealth without lords or monarch. They were deep in all the proceedings of Cromwellian Thorough. 1996 C. McAlister in D. F. Rutledge Ceremony & Text in Renaissance iii. 55 Laud also succeeded Archbishop Abbott and began systematically to impose what he called ‘thorough’, a program of unity and conformity of outward worship. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022). † thoroughv. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: thorough n.¹ Etymology: < thorough n.¹ (compare sense 2 at that entry). Compare thoroughed adj., thoroughing n. Agriculture. Obsolete. transitive. To make furrows in. Also intransitive with object implied. Cf. thorough n.¹ 2. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > breaking up land > ploughing > plough (land) [verb (transitive)] eareOE till1377 plough1423 break1499 sheugh1513 ayrec1540 to break up1557 furrow1576 spit1648 whelm1652 manage1655 hack1732 thorough1733 to plough in1764 rout1836 1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farming 28 Plough them in very shallow,..thorough and harrow well. 1742 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Aug. xvii. 87 That Land..should be back-bouted or what we call thoroughed down. 1797 J. Johnstone Acct. most Approved Mode Draining Land App. 172 The mode of ridging and cross thoroughing (furrowing) land in the Carse of Gowrie, Perthshire. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022). thoroughprep.adv. Brit. /ˈθʌrə/, U.S. /ˈθərə/, /ˈθəroʊ/ Forms: α. Old English ðuruh, Old English–Middle English þuruh, Middle English doruȝ, Middle English ȝoruȝ, Middle English þoreȝ, Middle English þorewȝ, Middle English thorog, Middle English þoroȝ, Middle English thoroȝ, Middle English þorogh, Middle English thorogh, Middle English þoroghe, Middle English thoroghe, Middle English thorohe, Middle English þorough, Middle English þorouȝ, Middle English thorouȝ, Middle English þorouȝe, Middle English thorouȝe, Middle English þorouȝh, Middle English thorouȝh, Middle English þorouh, Middle English thorouh, Middle English þorouhg, Middle English þorour (perhaps transmission error), Middle English thorowg, Middle English þorowgh, Middle English þorowghe, Middle English þorowȝ, Middle English thorowȝ, Middle English þorowh, Middle English þorrughe, Middle English þorug, Middle English thorug, Middle English þorugh, Middle English thorughe, Middle English þorugȝ, Middle English þoruȝ, Middle English thoruȝ, Middle English þoruȝe, Middle English thoruȝe, Middle English þoruȝh, Middle English thoruȝh, Middle English þoruh, Middle English thoruh, Middle English þoruhe, Middle English þoruhg, Middle English þorul (transmission error), Middle English thorur (perhaps transmission error), Middle English þouȝ (transmission error), Middle English thouroughe, Middle English þouruȝ, Middle English throrough, Middle English þureȝ, Middle English þuregh, Middle English þureh, Middle English ðureh, Middle English þureþ, Middle English þureu, Middle English thurew, Middle English þuroȝ, Middle English thurogh, Middle English thurough, Middle English þuroughe, Middle English þuruch, Middle English þurugh, Middle English thurugh, Middle English þurughe, Middle English þuruȝ, Middle English thuruȝ, Middle English yorough, Middle English yorouȝ, Middle English yorour (perhaps transmission error), Middle English yorugh, Middle English yoruȝ, Middle English yoruh, Middle English–1500s thorowghe, Middle English–1500s thorowh, Middle English–1500s thorugh, Middle English–1600s thoroughe, Middle English–1600s thorowgh, Middle English– thorough (archaic and poetic in later use, except in sense B. 1), late Middle English (in a late copy) 1500s–1600s thourough, 1500s thurrough; also Scottish pre-1700 thorowch, pre-1700 thorycht. OE Paris Psalter (1932) lxv. 11 We þuruh fyr farað and þuruh floda þrym.a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 199 Oðer kinnes neddre..criepeð nedlinge þureh nerewe hole.a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 33 Þe engel..seweð a whilche wise and þuregh hwam þis blisse cumen sholde.c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xi. l. 81 A baptized man may..Þorough contricioun come to þe heigh heuene.a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 142 As þe sunne comeþ þorouȝ þe glas. ▸ c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 7 Weelnyȝ thoruȝ al the chapiter.1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope (1967) i. xiv. 83 Deceyued thorugh fals counceylle.a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1908) II. 401 Þat it be thorough tannyd and thorowe Coryed.1593 W. Raleigh Let. 8 Mar. (1999) 92 Being as yet left poureless, ether thorugh myne own ill desteny or the strenght of counterworkinge.1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream ii. i. 3 Ouer hill, ouer dale, thorough [1623 through] bush, thorough brier.1645 E. Reyner Rule New Creature 10 You are thourough Christ more then Conquerors over all the world of Creatures.1725 New Canting Dict. (at cited word) Snuffle, to speak thorough the Nose from a Cold, or worse.1825 J. Jennings Observ. Dial. W. Eng. 75 Thorough, through.1850 J. S. Blackie tr. Æschylus Lyrical Dramas I. 191 Thorough my heart, Thorough my liver, Keen as the cold ice Shot through the river.1932 P. Colum Coll. Poems (1953) 184 Thorough waters, thorough nations I have come To lay last offerings at your low abode.1978 D. J. Enright Paradise Illustr. in Coll. Poems (1998) 242 In at his [sc. the serpent's] mouth the Enemy entered, Thorough his throat commodious Filtered our fatal Foe. β. Middle English ȝoru, Middle English þerew, Middle English þerow, Middle English þerue, Middle English þoovrow, Middle English þoreu, Middle English þorew, Middle English þorewe, Middle English þoro, Middle English thoroo, Middle English þorou, Middle English thorou, Middle English þoroue, Middle English þorow, Middle English þhorow, Middle English þorowe, Middle English thorrou, Middle English þorrow, Middle English thorrow, Middle English thorrowe, Middle English þoru, Middle English ðoru, Middle English thoru, Middle English þorue, Middle English thorue, Middle English þorv, Middle English thorv, Middle English toru, Middle English þouȝrou, Middle English þouȝrow, Middle English thouroo, Middle English þourow, Middle English thourow, Middle English þouru, Middle English thowrow, Middle English þrorow, Middle English þrorowe, Middle English thrurowe, Middle English þureu, Middle English thurew, Middle English þurew, Middle English þuri, Middle English þuro, Middle English thuro, Middle English þurow, Middle English thurow, Middle English þurowe, Middle English thurowe, Middle English thurrowe, Middle English þurru, Middle English þuru, Middle English thuru, Middle English thurv, Middle English yerowe, Middle English yhoru, Middle English yora, Middle English yoreu, Middle English yoro, Middle English yorou, Middle English yoroue, Middle English yorow, Middle English yorowe, Middle English yoru, Middle English yoȝou, Middle English youreu, Middle English youru, Middle English yourue, Middle English yurowe, Middle English yuru, Middle English (1900s– in sense B. 1) thoro, Middle English–1500s dorow, Middle English–1600s thorowe, Middle English–1700s thorow, Middle English–1700s thorrow, 1500s thorro, 1500s thurrou, 1700s– thoro' (archaic and poetic in later use, except in sense B. 1); Scottish pre-1700 thoro, pre-1700 thorowe, pre-1700 thurow, pre-1700 thurrow, pre-1700 1700s thorow, pre-1700 1700s thorrow, 1900s thoro' (poetic). a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 32 Glade us maiden, moder milde, þurru þin herre þu were wid childe.c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 8513 Þoru godes wille.a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 151 How crist com thoro [Fairf. þorow, Gött. thoru, Trin. Cambr. þourȝe] propheci.1482 R. Cely Let. 29 Mar. in Cely Lett. (1975) 134 I gawhe the Exchetter xl s. for ws bothe, and so whe be thorow wyth hym for aull matters.a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1908) II. 289 The blessyd babe..Thurrowe whom pece & tranquilite shall take þis reme on hand.?a1556 Grey Friars Chron. anno 1537 in R. Howlett Monumenta Franciscana (1882) II. 199 Browte..to the Tower thurow Smythfelde and in at Newgat, rydynge soo thorrow Chepe-sydy.?a1556 Grey Friars Chron. anno 1548 in R. Howlett Monumenta Franciscana (1882) II. 217 Prechynge thorro alle Ynglonde a-gayne the sacrament of the auter.1647 Araignm. & Impeachm. Major Gen. Massie 4 Was it not Massey whose thunderbolt did breake the ice of Winters frozen fury in the Danish forests; that guard great Gorings body thorrow and thorrow?1678 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Prov. (ed. 2) 339 Pendle, Penigent and Ingleborough, Are the three highest hills all England thorow.1725 S. Sewall Diary 17 Mar. (1973) II. 1028 Much Water passes thorow the three Spaces left for that purpose.1787 W. Taylor Scots Poems 22 A' those Wha pass the Parish thorow.1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems lxiii. 32 Cometh on Taborine behind him, Attis, thoro' leafy glooms a guide.1923 ‘H. MacDiarmid’ Braid Scots in Compl. Poems (1994) II. 1235 Great thochts, great dreams, my country tae has borne Thoro' the nicht o' Time.1964 Chicago Tribune 6 Sept. v. 3/3 What this place needs, Monsieur, is a thoro good scrubbing! Origin: A variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymons: English þurh , through prep. Etymology: Originally a (stressed) variant of Old English þurh through prep., with development of a velar glide vowel between the liquid and velar consonants (compare parallel disyllabic forms in continental Germanic languages listed at through prep. and adv.), subsequently distinguished in form chiefly in archaic and poetic use (except in sense B. 1, in which the word is now apprehended as < thorough adj.). With the development of the velar glide vowel in Old English þurh compare the parallel development of Old English burh borough n., furh furrow n., sorh sorrow n., mearh marrow n.¹, etc. Compare through prep. and adv. (and discussion of forms at that entry). Thorough is the reflex of Old English þuruh , a stressed form of þurh (preposition and adverb). As a preposition the word was chiefly unstressed (except when used emphatically), and consequently thorough prep. has always been much less common than through prep. (the usual modern reflex of Old English þurh ). The stressed form was used when the word occurred separately, i.e. as an adverb (thorough adv.), and its derived adjective and noun (thorough adj. and n.²), or as the stressed prefix (thorough- prefix) in certain compounds, as in e.g. thoroughfare n. However, given the inherent tendency for unstressed forms to be restressed and for (originally) stressed forms to be used in low-stress positions, the forms in effect became interchangeable in many cases. Until at least the end of the Middle English period forms of thorough prep. and adv. can be regarded as essentially variants of through prep. and adv.; the former were brought into sharper distinction in early modern English after the (unmetathesized) α. forms at through prep. and adv. had become obsolete. The usual form of through prep. was by this time through , which had in turn developed its own restressed (and lengthened) form with pronunciation /θruː/ (developed from Middle English (unstressed) þrŭ ). This form through (unstressed /θrʊ/, restressed /θruː/) ultimately superseded thorough as both preposition and adverb (although the latter form long survived in archaic and poetic use); likewise as prefix, except in fossilized forms. As adjective the two forms have diverged semantically, with thorough adj. now reserved for expressing notions of completeness and comprehensiveness, and through adj. for designating movement or extension through something. In adverbial use in sense B. 1 the word is now apprehended as < thorough adj.; the more usual word in this sense is now thoroughly adv. Forms ending in a dental (corresponding to through prep. and adv. Forms α(b)) are difficult to distinguish from forms of throughout prep., adv., and adj. (which shows considerable semantic overlap); all such forms have been assigned to that entry (see γ. forms at throughout prep., adv., and adj.), but some instances given there may instead show forms of this word. The forms throrough at α. forms and þrorow, þrorowe, and thrurowe at β. forms, if not simply scribal errors, may perhaps represent a hybrid type (compare ε. forms at through prep. and adv.). A. prep. I. Expressing movement or direction. 1. a. From end to end or side to side of; = through prep. 1a. Now rare (archaic and poetic in later use). ΘΚΠ the world > space > direction > specific directions > [preposition] > through throughOE thoroughOE throughoutOE athwart1713 the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > sideways movement or a sideways movement > sideways [preposition] > across from side to side thoroughOE athwartc1470 across?1540 thwart1583 OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) anno 1016 Cnut..wende him ut þuruh Buccingahamscire into Bedanfordscire & ðanon to Huntadunscire. OE Paris Psalter (1932) lxv.11 We þuruh fyr farað and þuruh floda þrym, and ðu us on colnesse clæne gelæddest. a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 199 Oðer kinnes neddre..criepeð nedlinge þureh nerewe hole. c1300 (?c1225) King Horn (Cambr.) (1901) l. 875 (MED) He smot him þureȝ þe herte. c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 4277 He..mid is launce þoru þe þrote smot on. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 7809 Thoru his licam mi suerd i draif. c1450 Med. Recipes (BL Add. 33996) in F. Heinrich Mittelengl. Medizinbuch (1896) 204 Let hyt renne þorow afayre cloþ. a1540 R. Barnes Wks. (1573) 212/2 You ryde thorowe streetes, and townes. 1565 Earl of Bedford in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1824) 1st Ser. II. 210 David [Rizzio] was thruste owte of the Cabinet thorowe the bede chamber into the Chamber of Presens. 1653 Mercurius Democritus No. 77. 606 He grop'd his way quite thorow the Earth, and came up in to a Wine-Sellar under Pauls Church. 1684 R. Waller tr. Ess. Nat. Exper. Acad. del Cimento 121 An hole thorough the bottom of the Vessel. 1712 J. Browne tr. P. Pomet et al. Compl. Hist. Druggs I. vii. xlv. 149/2 Such as will pass thorow an Iron Ring. 1799 W. Roberts Let. 12 July in G. Washington Papers (1999) Retirement Ser. IV. 182 Sift it thorough a Sand Siv Or a Bean Siv to Git out all the Lumps. 1850 J. S. Blackie tr. Æschylus Lyrical Dramas I. 191 Thorough my heart, Thorough my liver, Keen as the cold ice Shot through the river. 1872 J. S. Blackie Lays of Highlands 70 He spoke, and oped the massy door, And led the way to me, Thorough a passage long and low. 1978 D. J. Enright Paradise Illustr. 18 In at his [sc. the serpent's] mouth the Enemy entered, Thorough his throat commodious Filtered our fatal Foe. †b. With reference to the transmission of light or to sight; = through prep. 1b. Obsolete (archaic in later use). ΚΠ a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 11229 (MED) Þe sun beme Gais thoru þe glas and cums again, Wit-vten brest. c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 91 (MED) The bodi is a cloude and a lanterne bi smoked thoruh the whiche..the brightnesse with inne men seen. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Song of Sol. ii. 9 He..loketh in at the wyndowe, & pepeth thorow the grate. 1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie ii. iii. 33 I saw these bathes thorow a great hole. a1636 H. Lynde Case for Spectacles (1638) 45 You begin to looke asquint thorow your Spectacles at the reformed Churches. a1677 J. Taylor Contempl. State Man (1684) i. ii. 22 Those who work in Prospective, will so paint a Room, that the Light entring onely thorow some little hole, you shall perceive beautiful and perfect Figures and Shapes. 1705 G. Stanhope Paraphr. Epist. & Gospels II. 599 The Truth never shines so bright, as when the Oppositions, that strive to darken it, are plainly seen thorow. 1734 Weekly Amusement 1 Feb. 315/2 The fox saw thorough the compliment, and that it was, in truth, but an invitation of him to his own funeral. 1834 H. Taylor Philip Van Artevelde (ed. 2) II. iv. iv. 160 I..Descried the flickering of a cottage fire Thorough the casements. †c. With reference to the piercing effect of sound; = through prep. 1c. Obsolete. ΚΠ a1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer Parl. Fowls (Tanner) (1871) 500 The goos the doke and the cokkow also So criden keek keek kokkow quek quek hie That thorough [c1430 Cambr. Gg.4.27 thourw, a1500 Harl. 7333 þorow, c1500 Trin. Cambr. thorowgh] myn eris the noyse went tho. 1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. (1586) ii. 58 b Those of Piemount, who with the shrilnesse of their wordes goe thorow ones eares. †d. With reference to figurative barriers or obstructions; = through prep. 1f. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1647 T. May Hist. Parl. ii. vi. 127 Your Parliament, whose..undiscouraged endeavours..have passed thorow difficulties unheard of. 1680 Bp. G. Burnet Some Passages Life Rochester (1692) 127 Which the strength of his Mind would soon break thorough. 1728 M. Tindal Addr. Inhabiants London & Westm. 69 They..break thorow all the Obligations they owe their Fellow-Creatures. †2. Over the whole extent of; in or to all or many parts of; throughout; = through prep. 4. Also sometimes in postmodifying position. Obsolete (archaic and poetic in later use). ΚΠ OE Homily: Apocalypse of Thomas (Corpus Cambr. 41) in Anglia (1955) 73 26 On Sæternesdæg to þære æfteran tide ðuruh feower hwommas weorolde. c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 6901 (MED) Þoru al engelond þis word sone drou. a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 1366 Fyges and many a date tree There wexen..Thorough the gardyn in length and brede. 1485 W. Caxton tr. Thystorye & Lyf Charles the Grete sig. biiij^v/2 Charles..sente oueral thorugh hys empyre hys messagers. a1500 Gospel of Nicodemus (Harl. 149) (1974) 74 (MED) Derknes was made thorough the vnyuersal worlde vn-to the houre of noone. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Acts xiv. D Whan they had ordeyned them Elders by eleccion thorow all the congregacions. a1617 S. Hieron Doctrines Triall in Wks. (1620) II. 16 Good points of doctrine runne thorow vs as thorow a pipe. a1635 R. Corbet Poems (1807) 12 Send of this stuffe thy territories thorough To Ireland, Wales and Scottish Eddenborough. 1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 343 Which Supreme Incorporeal Deity, was..said to be All Things, because it diffused it self thorough All. 1750 Fisheries Revived 40 That there be only one Weight, and one Measure, for the Salt and Barrels thorough the whole Kingdom. 1807 W. Wordsworth Poems II. 33 O'er hilly path, and open Strath, We'll wander Scotland thorough. 1827 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd 64 ‘Let us march!’ was cry'd aloud, Thorough the wide-convulsit crowd, By monie a bellerin voice. 1893 G. Macdonald Poet. Wks. II. 51 A quivering fear thorough my heart did go. a1924 M. Ghose Canto VI in Coll. Poems (1970) 68 All the dreadful furrow France ploughed, all that Spain Sowed sad Europe thoro' Big with mankind's pain. †3. Between or among (the individual people or things in a group or mass); = through prep. 2. Obsolete (archaic and poetic in later use). ΚΠ c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) v. l. 2492 (MED) Menalippus priked his courser..Þoruȝ þinne & þikke only to purswe. 1535 Bp. J. Fisher Wks. (1876) 365 He must..creepe thorowe the thicke bushes. 1573 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 20 So mutch the harder it is like to go with me when..I must run thorouh the pikes. 1625 K. Long tr. J. Barclay Argenis i. i. 3 I fled thorow the bushes. 1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. ii. 39 The man that cut his way thorough his Enemies. View more context for this quotation 1746 tr. C. P. Duclos Hist. Lewis XI II. viii. 211 The French..set fire to the city, and broke thorough the flames. 1886 ‘M. Field’ Brutus Ultor v. 65 Thorough the throngs of Hades we will pace. †4. Expressing movement in a more or less continuous line within a large expanse (without implying passage all the way across): along within; = through prep. 3. Obsolete (archaic and poetic in later use). ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > [preposition] > here and there in throughOE aboutc1390 thoroughc1450 athwartc1550 c1450 (a1400) Chevalere Assigne l. 95 in W. H. French & C. B. Hale Middle Eng. Metrical Romances (1930) 863 He wente þorow a foreste fowre longe myle. 1569 R. Grafton Chron. I. vii. 186 She and her Gentlewoman..galoped thorough the Towne. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica v. xvi. 257 The Picture of S^t Christopher..with a staff in his hand, wading thorow the water. View more context for this quotation 1684 T. Burnet Theory of Earth i. xii. 166 How were these great bodies slung thorough the Air from their respective Seas. 1724 P. Walker Some Remarkable Passages Life A. Peden 82 The Lord has letten me see the Frenches marching..thorow..the Land. 1751 J. Wheatley Lives, Tryals & Sufferings Holy Apostles 21 Hippolitus was drawn thorough the Fields with wild Horses till he died. 1851 M. F. Tupper Ballads for Times 313 The deep-dwelling ravenous shark Cleaving thorough the waters dark. 1893 J. A. Symonds tr. Sappho in Stud. Greek Poets (ed. 3) II. 416 Pinion on pinion, thorough middle ether Down from heaven hurried. 1916 P. Colum in Ireland 30 Sept. 1 Thorough waters, thorough nations I have come, To lay last offerings at your low abode. †II. With reference to time, and in other extended uses. 5. During the whole period of, from the beginning to the end of; = through prep. 8. Also in postmodifying position (cf. through prep. 8a(b)). Obsolete (archaic and poetic in later use). ΘΚΠ the world > time > [preposition] > during throughOE amongOE thoroughOE among thatlOE amidwarda1225 ofc1275 lengingc1400 hanginga1420 amongsta1450 depending1503 pendant1642 pending1642 OE Paris Psalter (1932) lxxxvii. 9 Ic me to wuldres gode þuruh ealne dæg elne clypige and mine handa to þe hebbe and ðenige. c1300 St. Michael (Laud) l. 401 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 311 Þe heouene geth ene a-boute þoruȝ daiȝe and þoruȝ nyȝt. c1400 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Trin. Cambr. R.3.14) (1960) A. viii. l. 127 (MED) Þe prest & perkyn aposid eiþer oþer, And þoruȝ here wordis I wok & waitide aboute. a1425 (a1400) Titus & Vespasian l. 775 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1903) 111 296 (MED) Eueryche fryday..A fluxe of bloode comeþ hem on..Than þei haueþ hit þoruȝ þe ȝeere, And þat day dar þai noȝt outstere. a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1905) i. 34 (MED) Huge, Abbot of Abendon..grauntyd to the Mynchons of Godstow..fowre burdyns of thornys of her wood of Cumnore, to be hadde euyry day thorow the yere by the syht of her forester. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms lxxvii. 14 All the night thorow with a light of fyre. 1582 G. Whetstone Heptameron Ciuill Disc. vi. sig. U.ij^v The order of Merchaunts, who at the latter ende of the yeare, suruey theyr accounts, to see what fortune and mischaunce they haue receyued thorough the whole yeare past. 1608 J. Dod & R. Cleaver Plaine Expos. Prov. ix–x. 7 Thorow the whole yeere. 1647 J. Angier Helpe to Better Hearts iiii. 278 The Sabbath comes seldome into their mindes the week thorow. 1777 Lett. Henrietta to Morvina I. xxiii. 171 My mind has known no rest; for I dream the night thorough of what I have seen the preceding day. a1835 W. Motherwell Poet. Wks. (1849) 356 Thorough the night in the turret's height, The great church-bells are rung. 1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xvii. 24 Twice a week the winter thorough [rhyme sorrow] Here stood I. 1923 ‘H. MacDiarmid’ Braid Scots in Compl. Poems (1994) II. 1235 Great thochts, great dreams, my country tae has borne Thoro' the nicht o' Time. 6. a. All the way to the end of; = through prep. 9a. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > completeness > [preposition] > from beginning to end of thorougha1325 through1494 a1325 Pilate (Corpus Cambr.) l. 212 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 705 Þou schelt passi þoru iugement vor þou toke on so. 1598 R. Grenewey tr. Tacitus Annales xi. iii. 143 Bardanes, who being a man of action and able to go thorow great enterprises, in two daies inuaded three thousand stadia, and chased out Gotarzes. 1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer 243 At the last God brought me thorow all My doubts and feares. 1632 R. Sanderson 12 Serm. 61 I foresaw we should not haue time to goe thorow all that was intended. 1703 Observator 1 Sept. Master Observator, Have you Read thorow that Three-penny touch of Slander and Calumny upon your Worship. 1748 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 16 Feb. in Lett. to Son (1774) I. 258 I have known many people, from laziness of mind, go thorough both pleasure and business, with equal inattention. 1872 Preston Chron. & Lancs. Advertiser 14 Sept. 3/4 Without reading thorough its [sc. the Ballot Act] numerous clauses,..I may say that the main principle in it is certainly this—that perfect secrecy will be preserved. b. During the whole course of; at all or many stages of; = through prep. 10a. Obsolete. ΚΠ c1443 R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun (1927) 99 (MED) If, aftir þat alle þise skilis þoruȝ þis present chapiter..be diligently..examyned, it be founde..þat þilke porcioun of doctryne..be not to be leernyd of lay men in her modir langage, y wole..þat þilk porcioun be left out of þis book. c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 7 Weelnyȝ thoruȝ al the chapiter, Poul meeneth that Cristen bileeuers ouȝten not recche of wisdom. 1533 T. More Let. Impugnynge J. Fryth sig. c.i^v So maye euery worde almoste thorowe the whole scrypture. 1612 T. Wilson Christian Dict. 431 By all which, we are sought vp and called to him, as thorough the whole Scripture manifestly appeareth. 1657 J. Davies tr. G. Naudé Hist. Magick xv. 196 He..does both there and all thorow his workes, excuse himself. †III. Expressing agency, means, or cause. 7. a. By means of; by the intermediate agency of; with the aid of; via; = through prep. 12a. In early use also: by the primary agency or action of. Obsolete (archaic and poetic in later use). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > by the instrumentality of [preposition] > by intermediation of thoroughOE via1856 OE Paris Psalter (1932) lxx. 1 Þu me sniome alys þuruh þine þa swiþeran miht. a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 33 Þe engel..seweð a whilche wise and þuregh hwam þis blisse cumen sholde. c1300 St. Dunstan (Laud) l. 104 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 22 Þeos þreo Bischopes wenden a-boute..And euerech luþer person casten out..heore churchene..heom bi-nome And bi-setten as on guode men þoruȝ þe popes graunt of rome. c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 7183 (MED) Þe quene vel bi him adoun & biclupte him..Vor to hete is colde limes..Þoru hete of ire owe bodi. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 1395 Thoro birth of a blisful child. c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure l. 5 (MED) Godde..gyffe vs grace to..gouerne vs here In this wrechyde werlde thorowe vertous lywynge. a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1908) II. 289 The blessyd babe..Thurrowe whom pece & tranquilite shall take þis reme on hand. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Josh. xxiv. C Not thorow thy swerde, ner thorow thy bowe. 1571 H. G. tr. G. Boccaccio Thirtene Plesant & Delectable Questions x. sig. I.v^v An vniust accusation was brought against hir,..& after by false euidence proued, thorow whiche vntrue processe she was condemned to the fire. 1627 C. Carter Christian Common Wealth xxiii. 206 Our affaires may prosper as Potiphers did thorough the seruice of good Ioseph. 1714 G. Lockhart Mem. Affairs Scotl. 400 Scotland has been on the decaying Hand, and England (and all the States of Europe) advancing thorough the Encouragement and Protection they met with in advancing and carrying on their Trade. 1752 H. Fielding Amelia IV. xii. vi. 256 If Repentance is sincere, cries the Doctor, I hope thorough the Mercies and Merits of our most powerful and benign Intercessor it will never come too late. 1847 R. W. Emerson Poems 6 Thorough a thousand voices Spoke the universal dame. b. Introducing the agent after a passive verb; = through prep. 12b. Obsolete. ΚΠ OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) anno 1009 Eal folc gearu wæs him on to fonne. Ac hit wæs þa ðuruh Eadric ealdorman gelet swa hit gyt æfre wæs. a1250 Apostles' Creed (Nero) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 217 Þet was ikenned þuruh ðe holi goste, iboren was of ðe meidene marie. a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 34 Þe world..was ibrot adun þuru adam & eue. c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) 374 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 117 Þe churche..Þat..was..a-rerd þoruȝ henri þe oþur kingue. a1325 Statutes of Realm (2011) xiii. 69 Hit is icomaunded þoru þe king, þat eche man habbe in house wepne. ?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 31 (MED) All is had þurowe grace of þe. 1542 A. Borde Compend. Regyment Helth Pref. sig. A.ii Conuocated thorowe the kynges goodnes to wayte on his prepotent mageste. 1573 in Court Minutes Surrey & Kent Sewer Comm. (London County Council) (1909) 163 These men..were extreamly hindred thorowe the extreamenes of the wetenesse of the wether. 1618 W. Attersoll Comm. Fourth Bk. Moses xxiii. 955/1 All our sinnes..are couered, healed, and released thorough the righteousnesse of Christ imputed vnto vs. 1698 F. Grant True Narr. of Sufferings of Young Girle p. xxiii The Witches had Importunately urged her to give them her Consent, to take away the Life of her young Sister, who was at that time upon her Mothers breast; which Tentation also she was enabled thorow the Grace of God to resist. 1807 Literal Rendering Gothic Gospel Matt. 33 in S. Henshall First No. Etymol. Org. Reasoner That up-filled that mentioned thorough Isaias the prophet, quothing, He unmightiness our unto-nim, yea sorrowness ours bore. 8. Expressing cause, reason, or motive: because of; in consequence of, on account of, owing to; = through prep. 13a. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > causation > cause or reason > [preposition] > because of throughOE thoroughOE ofc1175 fornec1440 seen1485 about1600 froma1616 OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) anno 998 Man oft fyrde ongean hi gaderede, ac sona swa hi togædere gan sceoldan þonne wearð þær æfre ðuruh sum þing fleam astiht. OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Corpus Cambr.) xxxvii. 5 He rehte þæt [sweuen] his gebroðrum, þuruh þæt hig hine hatedon þe swiðor. a1225 ( Ælfric's Homily In Die Sancto Pentecosten (Lamb. 487) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 99 (MED) Þuruh [OE Royal þurh] cristes menniscnesse men weren alesde from deofles ðeowdome. c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 11320 Þe king hadde þer to g[o]de wille þoru frerene rede. a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. iii. 20 Adam clepide þe name of his wyf Eue, þoru þat þat sche was moder of all þingeȝ. 1419 Guildhall Let.-bk. in R. W. Chambers & M. Daunt Bk. London Eng. (1931) 78 (MED) And forasmoch as our aduerse partie..haue refused al meenes of pees, We be compelled ayein to werre thorough þair default. a1450 (c1375) G. Chaucer Anelida & Arcite (Tanner 346) (1878) l. 271 The swerde of sorow byte Mi wofull herte thoro youre cruelte. a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Gloucester) (1971) 759 (MED) Þe kynge sawȝe þis chylde and a hurte in his face & in his forhed Þorow þe bytynge of þe wolfe. 1596 T. Danett Svpply v, in tr. P. de Commynes Hist. vi. 258 He ended his life thorow a sicknes. 1608 G. Wilkins Painfull Adventures Pericles viii. sig. F4^v Then caused he the Chest to be thrown ouer-boorde into the Sea, thorow a superstitious opinion which the mariners beleeued. 1666 H. Stubbe Miraculous Conformist 3 His life seemed burthensome to him thorough the violence of the..temptation. 1738 J. Hort Sixteen Serm. ix. 288 Thorough Ignorance of the pure Nature of God, the Heathens have corrupted it [sc. worship] with many Superstitions and impious Rites. 1838 R. F. Williams Shakspeare & His Friends vii. 77 The..story..hath no existence save in his own imagination, and thorough vanity. B. adv. 1. Modifying an adjective or past participle; = thoroughly adv. Cf. through adv. 2b. Now colloquial.In earlier use not clearly distinguishable from uses of thorough- prefix 1b; cf. e.g. thorough ripe adj., thorough wet adj., etc. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > completeness > [adverb] > entirely, altogether, or completely righteOE allingOE outlyOE allOE throughoutlyc1175 allingsa1225 throughouta1225 thoroughc1225 albedenec1300 outc1300 quitelyc1330 all-whollya1375 most widelya1382 all wholea1393 all-thinga1398 algate?a1400 algatesc1405 thoroughly1442 mainly1550 outrighta1560 outrightly1642 solely1710 teetotally1832 bodaciously1833 teetotaciously1833 orl1864 the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > utterly allOE allOE outlyOE thwert-outc1175 skerea1225 thoroughc1225 downrightc1275 purec1300 purelyc1300 faira1325 finelyc1330 quitec1330 quitelyc1330 utterlyc1374 outerlya1382 plainlya1382 straighta1387 allutterly1389 starkc1390 oultrelya1393 plata1393 barec1400 outrightc1400 incomparablyc1422 absolutely?a1425 simpliciter?a1425 staringa1425 quitementa1450 properlyc1450 directly1455 merec1475 incomparable1482 preciselyc1503 clean?1515 cleara1522 plain1535 merely1546 stark1553 perfectly1555 right-down1566 simply1574 flat1577 flatly1577 skire1581 plumb1588 dead?1589 rankly1590 stark1593 sheera1600 start1599 handsmooth1600 peremptory1601 sheerly1601 rank1602 utter1619 point-blank1624 proofa1625 peremptorily1626 downrightly1632 right-down1646 solid1651 clever1664 just1668 hollow1671 entirely1673 blank1677 even down1677 cleverly1696 uncomparatively1702 subtly1733 point1762 cussed1779 regularly1789 unqualifiedly1789 irredeemably1790 positively1800 cussedly1802 heart1812 proper1816 slick1818 blankly1822 bang1828 smack1828 pluperfectly1831 unmitigatedly1832 bodaciously1833 unredeemedly1835 out of sight1839 bodacious1845 regular1846 thoroughly1846 ingrainedly1869 muckinga1880 fucking1893 motherless1898 self1907 stone1928 sideways1956 terminally1974 c1225 ( Ælfric Gloss. (Worcester) in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 541 Peruigil, þuruhwacol [OE St. John's Oxf. þurhwacol]. a1350 St. Brendan (Ashm.) l. 163 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1874) 53 22 [Þo] þis fur was þoruhot [c1300 Harl. þurf-hot, a1325 Corpus Cambr. þoru out hot], þe ile quakede anon. c1450 Treat. Fishing in J. McDonald et al. Origins of Angling (1963) 149 (MED) Vn-bynde hym [sc. the rod] & let hym drye yn a smoke howse or in a howsroyf tyl hyt be thorow drye. a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1908) II. 401 Þat it be thorough tannyd and thorowe Coryed. 1531 W. Tyndale Expos. 1 John (1538) i. 14 b Yet is it neuer thorow whole vntyll the houre of death. 1594 H. Plat Diuers Chimicall Concl. Distillation 38 in Jewell House When it is thorough hot. 1622 J. Mabbe tr. M. Alemán Rogue i. 37 When he [the patient] saw that he was thorow well. 1631 T. Fuller Heavie Punishment xxxv, in Davids Sinne sig. D6 Thou art not yet so thorough worne with age. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables ccii. 173 The Lyon Himself was not Thorough-Proof against This Fantastical Alarum. 1702 C. Mather Magnalia Christi iii. iii. iii. 193/1 They had thorow-good Reasons for doing so. 1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. vii. 123 A thorough honest Man would..have repeated his former Answer. 1774 O. Goldsmith Grecian Hist. II. ii. 112 He had a thorough good opinion of himself. 1796 C. Marshall Introd. Knowl. & Pract. Gardening xiv. 249 Keep the glasses close, till the earth is got thorough warm again. 1853 C. M. Yonge Heir of Redclyffe II. xxii. 357 He is a thorough great man. 1876 Brit. & Foreign Evangelical Rev. Apr. 313 Mr Mill's theory of morals, though an improvement on Bentham's, is a thorough selfish one. 1903 H. G. Wells 12 Stories 293 ‘Jane was a nice girl,’ he said, ‘a thorough nice girl mind you.’ 1925 V. Woolf Mrs. Dalloway 114 He was a thorough good sort; a bit limited; a bit thick in the head; yes; but a thorough good sort. 2012 A. L. Berridge Into Valley of Death (Electronic ed.) Ryder was a thorough bad influence. †2. a. From end to end, side to side, or surface to surface; so as to pass all the way across; so as to pierce or penetrate; = through adv. 1a. Also: (with reference to the transmission of light) = through adv. 1b. Obsolete (archaic and poetic in later use).In some early uses alternatively analysable as showing compound verbs with thorough- prefix 1a. ΘΚΠ the world > space > direction > specific directions > [adverb] > in the direction of thickness > through thickness throughoutOE wherethorough?c1225 wherethrough1297 thorougha1387 thoroughlya1500 throughly1541 a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 207 (MED) Iulius come to þe Capitoil, and was i-stiked þoruȝ, and hadde þre and twenty woundes, and deyde. 1496 Epit. Iaspar Late Duke of Beddeforde (Pynson) sig. aiv^v Thorow thrylled & persyd with payne. a1500 in A. Zettersten Middle Eng. Lapidary (1968) 26 (MED) Whoo fyndeth here [sc. chrysolite] & persith an hole in the myddes of hir & putteth thorow an here of an asse, he may with here make enchauntemente þe devell. 1638 F. Junius Painting of Ancients 227 We doe not make our plate so thinne as to..cut it quite thorough with engraving. 1672 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd i. 42 If he meet them in the dark, he runs them thorow. a1713 T. Ellwood Hist. Life (1765) 184 I walked it thorow in a Day. 1720 T. Boston Human Nature ii. 62 Some are running after their Covetousness, till they be pierced thorow with many Sorrows. 1782 J. Logan Poems 7 They sought him all the Forrest thorough. 1846 T. Cooper Baron's Yule Feast 33 Some with sighs expressed what pain Had pierced their simple bosoms thorow. 1883 A. C. Swinburne Sorrow in Cent. Roundels 76 One thought lies close in her heart gnawn thorough [rhyme furrow] With pain. a1891 R. W. Barbour Lett., Poems & Pensées (1893) 107 But heaven grew bright as earth grew dim, And the sun came shining thorough. b. With reference to travel or transport: along the whole distance; all the way to the destination; = through adv. 1c. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > travel > aspects of travel > a journey > [adverb] > to the end of a journey each footc1300 throughc1450 thorougha1475 a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1905) i. 215 (MED) Robert of aumery..warantisyd the seyd londe & pasture, & the seyd goynge in & thorowe..to the seyd holy mynchons. a1500 Gospel of Nicodemus (Harl. 149) (1974) 67 (MED) Youre God..delyuered you oute of the bonde of Egypcyens, and drowned hem yn the deepe see, and made you passe thorough as and ye had ben on drye londe. 1578 G. Best True Disc. Passage to Cathaya iii. 23 Wherevppon he sente the Gabriell the one and twentith of Iuly, to proue whether they mighte go thorowe and meete againe with him in the straites. 1649 C. Dore Just Vindic. Reputation Mr. White 3 Not being able (after tryall) to get horses to carry us thorow to London, my Master was necessitated to put himselfe into an Hampton Waggon. 1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. ii. 73 You should have begged me of him to have gon quite thorough with you. View more context for this quotation 1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. ii. 176 How he got thorow to whither he intended. View more context for this quotation †3. With reference to a period of time, course of action, task, book, etc.: from beginning to end; for the whole duration or extent; = through adv. 4a. Obsolete (archaic and poetic in later use). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > completeness > [adverb] > fully or to full extent or in full > from beginning to end througha1225 overc1400 throughoutc1450 thoroughc1475 throughly1531 straight1756 c1475 Mankind (1969) l. 500 (MED) I know full well what Mankynde dyde to yow; Myschyff hat informyde of all þe matere thorow. a1500 (?a1400) Firumbras (1935) l. 1566 (MED) The sunne schon Bryȝt, Tyl hyt was passed myd-day and thoruȝ to the nyȝt. 1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Pref. sig. ❧.i They were onely begon, and neuer read thorow. 1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 777 Sithence he had once begonne, he would stoutly go thorowe. 1653 Z. Bogan View Threats & Punishments Recorded in Script. To Rdr. sig. A4^v If thou hast not the patience to read thorow; passe to the next Chapter. 1671 A. Marvell Let. 9 Feb. in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 131 The Committee of Conventicles haue..gone thorow with their bill. 1728 ‘I. Dandridge’ Worse & Worse ix. 26 He imagin'd those Friends, for whose sake chiefly the Matter was undertook, and who had promis'd to go thorough with it, would perform that Engagement. 1843 T. Carlyle tr. J. W. von Goethe in Past & Present iii. xv. 318 The Future hides in it Good hap and sorrow; We press still thorow. 1883 J. Albee Poems 104 Long nights ago was spent my urn, But yet I struggle thorough. †4. Following a modal auxiliary verb, with main verb (as get, go, pass, etc.) implied; = through adv. 4c. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry f. 12^v Trench redge & forough, that water may thorough. 1611 R. Bolton Disc. State True Happinesse 120 Rather then they will be defeated and disappointed in the pursuit of worldly happinesse, they will thorow. 1648 R. Younge Cause & Cure Ignorance 74 Ulysses may contrive, but Diomedes must thorow with it. 1670 C. Cotton tr. G. Girard Hist. Life Duke of Espernon ii. vii. 339 We are now come too far..to return.., we must either thorow, or dye. Phrases †P1. thorough all thing: in all respects; thoroughly; = through all thing at through prep. and adv. Phrases 1. Obsolete.Originally with thing as (unchanged) plural. ΚΠ OE Vitellius Psalter: Canticles xv. 27 Ita ut per omnia sicut iam supra dictum est et unitas in trinitate et trinitas in unitate ueneranda sit : swaswa þæt þuruh ealla þing swa nu ic [read io] bufan gecweden is & anes on þrynnesse & þrynnes on annesse to arweorþinne si. c1300 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Cambr.) (1966) l. 667 Hit is riȝt þureȝ alle þing Felons inome hond habbing, For to suffre jugement Biþute ansuere oþer acupement. c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 7549 Þis noble duc willam him let crouny king At londone amidwinter day, nobliche þoru alle þing. a1450 Seven Sages (Cambr. Dd.1.17) (1845) l. 112 (MED) Thay thanked..the emperour That grauntyd hem that honour, To have in hare kepyng That he loved thorou al thyng. †P2. thorough and thorough. a. All the way through or repeatedly through; = through and through prep. Obsolete.In quot. c1300 the second instance of the word probably shows a form of through prep. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [adverb] > through > right through throughoutOE throughOE through and throughc1225 thorough and thoroughc1300 out-througha1325 thoroughlya1500 the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [preposition] > through > completely throughoutOE thorough and thoroughc1300 through and througha1325 utouthc1480 c1300 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 83 (MED) Hise wundes sore and smerte stungen þureu and þurw þi herte. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 24381 A squorde sulde stike ouerthwert þorou & þorou [Gött. Toru and thoru] þine awen hert. 1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) i. 56 He shoued hym thorughe and thorughe his body. a1500 (?a1475) Guy of Warwick (Cambr. Ff.2.38) l. 7394 (MED) All þat yere Gye can gone Þorow kyngys landys many oon; All he wente thorow and thorow [c1475 Caius thorrow and thorrowe] Ryght vnto Jerusalem þe borowe. 1573 tr. True Rehersall Victory againste Albanists sig. A.vi They ranne thorowe and thorowe the wood, hither and thyther. a1634 W. Austin Devotionis Augustinianæ Flamma (1635) 281 At every change the Shittle flyes thorow and thorow it [sc. the web]. a1892 Ld. Tennyson Poems (2004) 182 A melody Manycircled, overflowing thorough and thorough the flowery level of unbuilt Ilion. †b. With repeated or complete penetration; right through; = through and through adv. 1a; (also) outright, altogether, completely. Obsolete. ΚΠ c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) l. 3873 (MED) And ȝut he shal haue þerto Cristallyne, my douȝtter floure, And þorouȝ and þorouȝ half my tresoure. a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 33 With hys swerde he broched the horse..thorow and thorow. 1526 Bible (Tyndale) John xix. f. cxlix^v The coote was with out seme woven vppon thorowe and thorowe. c1571 E. Campion Two Bks. Hist. Ireland (1963) i. xv. 57 He subdued the land thoro and thorow, ever as he went pyling uppe castles and fortresses. 1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. xiii. 60 Wee are shot thorow and thorow, and betweene wind and water. a1658 J. Cleveland Rustick Rampant in Wks. (1687) 446 Richard might have been struck thorough and thorough. 1739 ‘J. Philander’ Vitulus Aureus vi. 77 I look'd at My Gentleman with an Eye that might have pierced him thorough and thorough; but he was so full of himself, it made no Impression on him. 1885 J. Ingelow Poems: Third Series 20 They..poured great store Of ordnance at our ships, though many of theirs, Shot thorow and thorow, scarce might keep afloat. †P3. to be thorough with (someone): to have reached an agreement or settlement with (someone). Cf. to be through with at through prep. and adv. Phrases 2. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1467 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 534 He is owtlawyd at Syr John Fastolfys swte..not wythstandyng he is thorow wyth Syr T. Howys for Syr J. F. 1482 R. Cely Let. 29 Mar. in Cely Lett. (1975) 134 I gawhe the Exchetter xl s. for ws bothe, and so whe be thorow wyth hym for aull matters. †P4. thorough a person's hands (also hand): so as to be handled or dealt with by the specified person; = through a person's hands (also †hand) at through prep. and adv. Phrases 3a. Obsolete.In quot. 1877 perhaps a typographical error for through. ΚΠ ?1496 W. Caxton in Earl Rivers tr. Cordyal (de Worde) f. lxxxvii^v/2 Amonge other passyd thorugh myn honde the booke of the wyse sayenges or dyctes of phylosophers. 1547 tr. A. de Marcourt Bk. Marchauntes (new ed.) sig. d.i^v Boystously they constrayne the people will they or not to passe thorough theyr cruell handes, and without respite, to bye theyr fals marchandises. 1584 J. Rainolds & J. Hart Summe of Conf. v. 205 Counterfeites are counterfeites, though they go thorough twenty hands. 1613 W. Adams Let. 12 Jan. in A. Farrington Eng. Factory in Japan (1991) I. 77 The Spaynard so well as the Hollanders must have all theer negosshes..go thorough my hand. 1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed 19 The Jewes..are such cheates, they sophisticate all that comes thorough their hands [Fr. par leurs mains]. 1710 H. Prideaux Orig. & Right Tithes v. 268 Lawyers, whose hands it passed thorough. 1743 Farther Vindic. Case Hanover Troops 79 Indeed our Administration, at first, pretended, that this whole Negotiation went thorough their Hands. 1877 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 24 Jan. The brokers make it a point to have all stock passing thorough their hands issued in their names. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022). > see also also refers to : thorough-prefix < n.¹a1555adj.n.²?a1425v.1733prep.adv.OE see also
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thoroughn.1

thoroughadj.n.2

† thoroughv.

thoroughprep.adv.

Phrases

> see also

thoroughn.¹

thoroughadj.n.²