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Last modified on 10 February 2015, at 13:57

thick

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English thicke, from Old English þicce (“thick, dense”), from Proto-Germanic *þikkuz, *þikkwiz (“thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *tegus (“thick”). Cognate with Dutch dik (“thick”), German dick (“thick”), Swedish tjock (“thick”), Albanian thuk (“I press, thicken, make dense”), Old Irish tiug (“thick”) and Welsh tew (“thick”).

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

thick (comparative thicker, superlative thickest)

  1. Relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, The China Governess[1]:
      The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […].
  2. Measuring a certain number of units in this dimension.
    I want some planks that are two inches thick.
  3. Heavy in build; thickset.
    • 2007, James T. Knight, Queen of the Hustle
      As she twirled around in front of the mirror admiring how the dress showed off her thick booty, she felt like a princess in a children's storybook.
    He had such a thick neck that he had to turn his body to look to the side.
  4. Densely crowded or packed.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 3, Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.
    We walked through thick undergrowth.
  5. Having a viscous consistency.
    My mum’s gravy was thick but at least it moved about.
  6. Abounding in number.
    The room was thick with reporters.
  7. Impenetrable to sight.
    We drove through thick fog.
  8. Difficult to understand, or poorly articulated.
    We had difficulty understanding him with his thick accent.
  9. (informal) Stupid.
    He was as thick as two short planks.
  10. (informal) Friendly or intimate.
    They were as thick as thieves.
    • T. Hughes
      We have been thick ever since.
  11. Deep, intense, or profound.
    Thick darkness.
    • Shakespeare
      thick sleep

SynonymsEdit

AntonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

terms derived from thick (adjective)

TranslationsEdit

AdverbEdit

thick (comparative thicker, superlative thickest)

  1. In a thick manner.
    Snow lay thick on the ground.
  2. Thickly.
    Bread should be sliced thick to make toast.
  3. Frequently; in great numbers.
    The arrows flew thick and fast around us.

TranslationsEdit

NounEdit

thick (uncountable)

  1. The thickest, or most active or intense, part of something.
    It was mayhem in the thick of battle.
    • Dryden
      He through a little window cast his sight / Through thick of bars, that gave a scanty light.
  2. A thicket.
    • Drayton
      gloomy thicks
    • Spenser
      Through the thick they heard one rudely rush.
  3. (slang) A stupid person; a fool.
    • 2014, Joseph O'Connor, The Thrill of It All (page 100)
      If there was doctorates in bollocksology and scratching yourself in bed, the two of you'd be professors by now. Pair of loafing, idle thicks.

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

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Translations to be checked

VerbEdit

thick (third-person singular simple present thicks, present participle thicking, simple past and past participle thicked)

  1. (archaic, transitive) To thicken.
    The nightmare Life-in-death was she, / Who thicks man's blood with cold. — Coleridge.
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