the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > in/into one place, company, or mass [phrase] > crowded together (2)
in press: in a crowd, crowded together; in the thick of a fight, etc. Now archaic and poetic.
as thick as hops (? referring to the plants when grown in rows, or to the crowded catkins of flowers); also as fast as hops, as mad as hops (?…