thick 
When the horse was laus, he gynneth gon . . . 
Forth with " We hee " Oatrgh thikke aiul Uatrah therme. 
Chaucer, Kceve's Tale, 1. 146. 
Through thick and thin, through mountains and through 
playns, 
Those two great champions did attonco purscw 
The fearefull damzell. Spenser, F. Q., III. iv. 46. 
To lie daily, through thick and thin, and with every vari- 
ety of circumstance and detail which a genius fertile in 
fiction could suggest, such was the simple rule prescribed 
liy his [Alexander Farnese's] sovereign [1'hilip II.]. 
Motley, Hist. Netherlands, II. 311. 
To lay it on thick, to exaggerate ; be extravagant, es- 
pecially in laudation or flattery. [Colloq.] 
He had been giving the squire a full and particular ac- 
count k la Henslowe of my proceedings since I came. 
Henslowe lays it on thick paints with a will. 
Mrs. Humphry Ward, Robert Elsmere, xviii. 
II. . 1. The thickest part of anything, 
(a) That part which is of longest measurement across or 
through ; the bulkiest part. 
The freke . . . 
Braid out a big sword, bare to hym sone 
With a dedly dynt, & derit hym full euyll 
Throgh the thicke of the thegh. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 9021. 
An' blacksmith 'e strips me the thick ov 'is airm, an 'e 
sbaws it to me. Tennyson, Northern Cobbler. 
(6) The densest or most crowded part ; the place of great- 
est resort or abundance. 
Achimetes ... in the thick of the dust and smoke 
presently entered his men. Knolles. 
I am plain Elia no Selden, nor Archbishop Usher- 
though at present in the thick of their books. 
Lamb, Oxford In the Vacation. 
He has lived in the thick of people all his life. 
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 104. 
(c) The spot of greatest intensity or activity. 
He dressed as if life were a battle, and he were appointed 
to the thick of the fight. T. Winthrop, Cecil Dreeme, iv. 
2. The time when anything is thickest. 
In the thick of question and reply 
I fled the house. Tennyson, The Sisters. 
3. A thicket; a coppice. [Obsolete or prov. 
Eng.] 
They must in fine condemned be to dwell 
In thickes vnseene, in mewes for minyons made. 
Gascoigne, Philomene (Steele Glas, etc., ed. Arber, p. 118). 
Eft through the thicke they heard one rudely rush, 
With noyse whereof he from his loftie steed 
Downe fell to ground, and crept into a bush. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. iii. 21. 
4. A stupid person; a dullard; a blockhead; 
a numskull. [Colloq.] 
I told you how it would be. What a thick I was to come ! 
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, 1. 7. 
thick (thik), adv. [< ME. thicke, thikke, < AS. 
thicce, thick; from the adj.] In a thick man- 
ner, in any sense. 
Quo for thro may nojt thole, the thikker he sufferes. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), iii. 6. 
He bethought hym full thicke in his throo hert, 
And in his wit was he war of a wyle sone. 
Destruction of Troy(E. E. T. S.), 1. 147. 
The Tree is so thikke charged that it semethe that it 
wolde breke. Mandevitte, Travels, p. 168. 
Speaking thick, which nature made his blemish, 
Became the accents of the valiant. 
SAffl*.,2Hen.IV., ii. 3. 24. 
Plied thick and close as when the fight begun, 
Their huge unwieldy navy wastes away. 
Dryden, Annas Mirabilis, cxxv. 
Thick beats his heart, the troubled motions rise 
(So, ere a storm, the waters heave and roll). 
Pope, Iliad, xn. 648. 
So thick they died the people cried, 
"The gods are moved against the land." 
Tennyson, The Victim. 
Thick and threefold, in quick succession, or in great 
numbers. 
They came thick and threefold for a time, till an experi- 
enced stager discovered the plot. Sir R. L' Estrange. 
thick (thik), v. [< ME. thicken, thikken, < AS. 
thiccian, make thick, < thicce, thick: see thick, 
] I. trans. To make thick; thicken, (a) To 
make close, dense, or compact ; specifically, to make com- 
pact by fulling. 
You may not forget to send some Western karseis, to 
wit dozens, which be thicked well. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 358. 
That no cap should be thicked or fulled in any mill un- 
till the same had been well scoured and closed upon the 
bank, and half-footed at least upon the foot-stock. 
Fuller, Worthies, Monmouthshire. (Richardson.) 
(6) To increase in depth or girth ; swell the proportions 
of (a solid body); fatten. 
He [Pliny] writes also that caterpillars are bred by a 
dew, incrassated and thicked by the heat of the sun. 
Sec. T. Adams, Works, I. 79. 
(c) To give firmer consistency to ; inspissate. 
With sheeps milke thicked & salted they dresse and tan 
their hides. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 99. 
The Night-Mare Life-in-Death was she, 
Who thicks man's blood with cold. 
Coleridge, Ancient Mariner, iii. 
6288 
(dt) To make obscure or dark ; hence, to hide ; conceal. 
Hauing past three days and three nightes, forsaking all 
high wayes, thicked my self in the great desert, and being 
utterly tired, . , . and no lesse in feare of them that 
should seek mee, I conueyed my selfe into a great caue. 
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 144. 
II. intrans. To become thick. 
But see, the Welkin thicks apace, 
And stouping Phebus steepes his face. 
Spenser, Shep. Cal., March. 
thick-and-thin (thik'and-thin'), a. 1. Ready 
to go through thick and thin; thorough; de- 
voted : as, a thick-and-thin supporter ; a thick- 
and-thin advocate of a measure. 2. Having 
one sheave thicker than the other. Thick-and- 
thin blocks were formerly used as quarter- 
blocks under a yard. 
thickback (thik'bak), n. A kind of sole-fish, 
Solea variegata. [Local, Eng.] 
thickbill (thik'bil), n. The bullfinch, Pyrrhula 
vulgaris. See cut under bullfinch. [Prov. Eng.] 
thick-brained (thik'brand), a. Stupid ; thick- 
skulled ; thick-headed. 
The thick-brain'd audience lively to awake. 
Drayton, Sacrifice to Apollo. 
thick-coming (thik'kum"ing), a. Coming or 
following in close succession; crowding. 
She is troubled with thick-coming fancies, 
That keep her from her rest. 
ShaJc., Macbeth, v. 3. 38. 
thicken 1 (thik'n), v. [= Icel. thykkna = Sw. 
tjockna = Dan. tykne, become thick ; as thick 
+ -en 1 .] I. intrans. To become thick or 
thicker, (a) To grow dense. 
Through his young woods how pleased Sabinus stray'd, 
Or sate delighted in the thickening shade, 
With annual joy the reddening shoots to greet. 
Pope, Moral Essays, iv. 90. 
No swelling twig puts forth its thickening leaves. 
Jones Very, Poems, p. 105. 
(&) To become deeper or heavier ; gain bulk. 
The downy flakes, . . . 
Softly alighting upon all below, 
Assimilate all objects. Earth receives 
Gladly the thickening mantle. 
Cowper, Task, iv. 330. 
(c) Of a liquid, to approach more nearly a state of solidity ; 
gain firmer consistency; also, to become turbid or cloudy. 
(<f) To become dark or obscure ; specifically, of the wea- 
ther, etc., to become misty or foggy. 
Thy lustre thickens, 
When he shines by. Shak., A. and C., ii. 3. 27. 
The weather still thickening, and preventing a nearer 
approach to the land. Cook, Third Voyage, vi. 3. 
Through the thickening winter twilight, wide apart the 
battle rolled. W hittier, Angels of Bnena Vista. 
(e) To grow more intense, profound, animated, intricate, 
etc. ; become complicated. 
Bayes. Ay, now the Plot thickens very much upon us. 
Pret. What Oracle this darkness can evince? 
Sometimes a Fishers Son, sometimes a Prince. 
Buckingham, The Rehearsal, iii. 2. 
The combat thickens like the storm that flies. 
Dryden, JEneid, is. 908. 
A clamour thicken'd, mixt with inmost terms 
Of art and science. Tennyson, Princess, ii. 
(/) To gain in number or frequency ; hence, to crowd ; 
throng. 
The gath'ring murmur spreads, their trampling feet 
Beat the loose sands, and thicken to the fleet. 
Pope, Iliad, ii. 184. 
I have not time to write any longer to you ; but you 
may well expect our correspondence will thicken. 
Walpole, Letters, II. 245. 
The differences . . . became . . . numerous and com- 
plicated as the arrivals thickened. 
Dickens, Dombey and Son, xiv. 
(g) To become indistinct. 
Under the influence of which (port), . . . though the 
heart glows more and more, there comes a time when the 
brow clouds, and the speech thickens, and the tongue re- 
fuses to act. W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 121. 
II. trans. To make thick or thicker, (a) To 
make dense, close, or compact; specifically, to full, as 
cloth. 
About which a bright thickned bush of golden haire did 
play, 
Which Vulcan forg'd him for his plume. 
Chapman, Iliad, xix. 368. 
Youngest Autumn, in a bower < 
Qmpe-thicken'd from the light, and blinded 
With many a deep-hued bell-like flower. 
Tennyson, Eleanore. 
(!>) To increase in depth, or distance between opposite 
surfaces; hence, figuratively, to make stouter or more 
substantial ; strengthen. 
This may help to thicken other proofs 
That do demonstrate thinly. 
Shak., Othello, iii. 3. 430. 
Now god-like Hector . . . 
Squadrons on squadrons drives, and tills the fields 
With close-rang'd chariots, and with thicken'd shields. 
Pope, Iliad, viii. 261. 
thick-legged 
(c) Of liquids, to increase the consistency of; inspissate: 
as, to thicken gravy with flour ; also, to render turbid or 
cloudy. 
Whilst others thicken all the slimy dews, 
And into purest honey work the juice. 
Addison, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, IT. 
Water stop'd gives Birth 
To Grass and Plants, and thickens into Earth. 
Prior. Solomon, i. 
(d) To obscure with clouds or mist; befog. 
Now the thicken'd sky 
Like a dark ceiling stood ; down rush'd the rain. 
Milton, P. L., xi. 742. 
(e) To make more numerous or frequent; redouble: as, 
to thicken blows. 
thicken 2 (thik'en), w. A spelling of thick 'mi 
(which see, under thick, a.). 
thickener (thik'ner), n. [< thicken^ + -cr 1 .] 
One who or that which thickens; specifically, 
in calico-printing, a substance used to give to 
the mordant or the dye such consistency as 
will prevent it from spreading too much, or to 
add to the weight of the fabric in the process 
of dyeing. Various materials are used, as gum arabic, 
gum Senegal, gum tragacanth, jalap, pipe-clay, dextrine, 
potato- and rice-starch, sulphate of lead, sugar, and mo- 
lasses, but wheat-starch and flour are the best. 
thickening (thik'ning), n. [Verbal n. of thick- 
en, ).] 1. The act or process of making or 
becoming thick. 
The patient, as years pass on, shows other evidences of 
the gouty diathesis, such as ... gouty thickenings of the 
cartilages of the pinna. Lancet, 1890, II. 116. 
2. A substance used in making thick ; specifi- 
cally, in dyeing and calico-printing, same as 
thickener. 
Only two mineral thickenings are at present employed : 
namely, kaolin and pipe-clay. 
W. Crookes, Dyeing and Calico-printing, p. 17. 
3. That which has become thick. 
Many small miliary deposits existed all over the peri- 
toneum, resembling the whitish-yellow thickenings often 
found on the capsule of the spleen. Lancet, 1890, I. 403. 
thicket (thik'et), n. [< ME. "thicket,. < AS. 
thiccet (pi. thiccelu), a thicket, < thicce, thick: 
see thick.] A number of shrubs, bushes, or 
trees set and growing close together ; a thick 
coppice, grove, or the like. 
As when a lion in a thicket pent, 
Spying the boar all bent to combat him, 
Makes through the shrubs and thunders as he goes. 
Peele, Polyhymnia, 1. 124 (Works, ed. BuUen, II. 293). 
thicketed (thik'et-ed), a. [< thicket + -ecft.'} 
Abounding in thickets ; covered with thick 
bushes or trees. 
These fields sloped down to a tiny streamlet with densely 
thicketed banks. H. Hayes, Sons and Daughters, xviii. 
thickety (thik'et -i), a. [< thicket + -yi.] 
Abounding in thickets. [Rare.] 
thick-eyed (thik'Id), a. Dim -eyed; weak- 
sighted. 
Thick-eyed musing and cursed melancholy. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 3. 49. 
thickhead (thik'hed), n. 1. A stupid fellow; 
a blockhead; a numskull. 2. laornith.: (a) 
A shrike-like bird of the subfamily Pachyce- 
phalinee. See cut under Pachycephala. (ft) A 
scansorial barbet of the subfamily Capitoninee. 
Coues. See cut under Capita White-throated 
thickhead. Same as thunder-bird, 1. 
thick-headed (thik'hed"ed), . 1. Having a 
thick or bushy head. 
Bring it near some thick-headed tree. 
Mortimer, Husbandry. (Latham.) 
2. Having a thick skull ; dull ; stupid ; dolt- 
ish. 3. In Crustacea, pachycephalous ; of or 
pertaining to the Pachycephala Thick-headed 
mullet, shrike, etc. See the nouns. 
thickknee (thik'ne), n. A bird of the family 
(Edicnemidx; a thick-kneed plover, or stone- 
plover. The common thickknee of European countries 
is (Edicnemus crepitans, also called Norfolk plover and by 
other names. See stone-plover, and cut under (Edicne- 
mus. 
thick-kneed (thik'ned), a. Having thick knees 
that is, haying the tibiotarsal articulation 
swollen or thickened, as the young of many 
wading birds: specifically noting the birds of 
, the family (Edicnemidx. See cut under CEdic- 
ncinits. Thick-kneed bustard, a thickknee: it is not 
a bustard. 
thickleaf (thik'lef), . A plant of the genus 
thick-leaved (thik'levd), a. Having thick 
leaves; also, thickly set with leaves. 
The nightingale, among the thick-leac'd spring 
That sits alone in sorrow. 
Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, v. 8. 
thick-legged (tliik'leg // fd or -logtl), a. Having 
thick legs, as an insect. Thick-legged lily-bee- 
tles, the Layriidse, as distinguished from the Crioceridx. 
