throngnessn.
/ˈθrɒŋnəs/, U.S. /ˈθrɔŋnəs/, /ˈθrɑŋnəs/, Scottish English /ˈθrɔŋnəs/, Irish English /ˈθrɒːŋnəs/ Scottish, Irish English (northern), and English regional (northern). Now rare.† 1. The state or condition of being crowded. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > [noun] > crowded condition or crowding
press?c1225
thronga1400
frequence1535
thrust1565
frequency1570
throngness1691
squeeze1802
crush1806
crowdedness1823
condensation1828
density1851
1691 in Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1970) 3rd Ser. XVI. 213 By reasone of the throngness of the prisone and want of the frie ayre some of the petitioners are become very unwell.
1727 P. Walker Some Remarkable Passages Semple, Welwood & Cameron 130 When Prisons were more throng than ever, even in Dunnottar-Castle, where Eight-score and eight of us were driven into one Vault; and yet I never saw Throngness nor Irons marr any from writing.
2. The state or condition of being full of work, business, or activity; great busyness.
ΚΠ
1701 in Christian Moderator (1826) Nov. 246/1 Several absent by reason of the throngness of the good tyme.
1773 A. Thomson Let. 16 Aug. in Pennsylvania Mag. Hist. & Biogr. (1884) 8 324 By the throngness we have been in, my sons have seldom, hitherto, had leisure to partake of that diversion [sc. shooting].
1843 Children's Employm. Comm.: 2nd Rep.: Trades & Manuf. I 28 in Parl. Papers XIII. 307 The business [sc. calico-printing] is necessarily of a fluctuating nature, subject to great ‘throngness’ at one time and a corresponding slackness at others.
a1919 F. W. Moorman Tales of Ridings (1920) 37 But the Heavy Woollen District was far too thrang itself to take interest in anybody else's thrangness.
2005 Ann. Rep. & Accts. (Waterways Ireland) 6 We'r leukkin tae aise lifie Wattèrweys yaised nae mair nor the'r fit tae haud oot tae—wi thrangness an kines o uise.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1691