Forms: see below. [OE. þerscold, -wold, þerxold, -wold, þrexold, -wold = ON. þreskjǫldr, -kǫldr, nom. pl. þreskeldir, mod.Icel. þröskuldr, Norw., Sw. tröskel, Da. (dør)tærskel; cf. OHG. driscûfli neuter, MHG. drischuvel, durschufel, Ger. dial. drischaufel, etc. The first element is generally identified with THRESH v. (? in its original sense ‘to tread, trample’), the forms of which it generally follows; but the second is doubtful, and has in English, as in other langs., undergone many popular transformations.]
1. The piece of timber or stone that lies below the bottom of a door, and has to be crossed in entering a house; the sill of a doorway; hence, the entrance to a house or building.
α. 1 þresc-, þrex-, þerxold, 5 thresshhold, 6 threshould, thressald, threszsh-, tresholde, 6–7 thresholde, 6– threshold.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Exod. xii. 22. And dippað ysopan sceaft on þam blode, þe ys on þam þerxolde. Ibid., Deut. vi. 9. And write þa on þinum þrescolde.
c. 1000. Ðrexold [see β].
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VI. i. 100. To the dur thressald cumin ar thai.
1530. Palsgr., 280/2. Thresholde, seuil de luys [l’uis].
1535. Coverdale, 1 Sam. v. 5. They … trende not vpon the threszsholde of Dagon. Ibid., Prov. xxvi. 14. Like as the dore turneth aboute vpon the tresholde.
1553. Becon, Reliques of Rome (1563), 256 b. At euery time the bishop shal come vnto ye church dore & strike ye threshold thereof with his Crossier staffe.
1607. Shaks., Cor., IV. v. 124.
1727. Gay, Fables, xxiii. 30. The horse-shoe’s nail’d (each threshold’s guard).
1837. Lytton, E. Maltrav., I. i. A tall figure crossed the threshold.
β. 1 þrex-, þræx-, þreox-, ðærsc-, þersc-, þeorsc-, þercs-, þer(o)xwold, þrexwald, -weald, þersc-, þærsc-, þirscwald, 2 þreoxwold, 4 þrex-, thresshe-, thresh-, threswold, thers-, þreis-, thrys-, throssche-, treswald, 5 thrys-, threschwolde, thris-, thresche-, thryshwald, 6 threskwolde (9 dial. thresh-wood).
[c. 888. Þeorscwold: see sense 2.]
971. Blickl. Hom., 207. Of ðæs portices dura … ðærscwolde wæs ʓesyne þæt [etc.].
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gram., ix. (Z.) 40. Limen, ofersleʓe oððe þerexwold [v.rr. þræx-, þreox-, þerxwold, ðrexold].
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 142. Ofer þa duru, & under þone þerxwold.
c. 1000. Ags. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 280/15. Limen, þerscwald.
11[?]. Voc., ibid., 551/32. Limen, ofersleie, uel þreoxwold.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 170. La lyme, the therswald.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. V. 201. He þrompelde atte þrexwolde [v.rr. þresshewold, þreschfold, throschfold] and þreuh to þe grounde.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xviii. (Egipciane), 579. Quhen we come to þe thryswald. Ibid., 593. I …furth can gange to þe treswald.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Kings xiv. 17. Whanne she wente in the threshwold of the hows, the child dyede.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 232 (Lansd.). And as sche wolde ouer þe þresshewolde gon [Camb. throswald, Petw. thresshold, Ellesm., Heng., Corp. thresshfold, Harl. þreisshfold].
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 3222. He come to the thriswald.
14[?]. Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 733/8. Hoc limen, -nis, thryswold.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 492/2. Threschwolde, limen.
1444. in J. R. Boyle, Hedon (1875), App. 184. Thryshwald.
1483. Cath. Angl., 385/1. A Threschewalde, limen.
1511. Nottingham Rec., III. 333. Makyng ye seid doore and leyeng of ij. threskwoldes.
1825. J. Briggs, Rem., 215. (E.D.D.). Upon this thresh-wood … cross straws were laid.
γ. 4 þreschefolde, threshfoold, þreshe-, thressh-, þresch-, threissh-, threis-, throschfold, 5 thresh-, thresfold(e (9 dial. thresh-fod).
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. pr. i. 3 (Camb. MS.). They passeden sorwfully the thresshfold [B. M. MS. þreschefolde].
1382. Wyclif, Ezek. ix. 3. At the threshfoold [1388 threisfold] of the house.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. VII. 408. He thrumbled at þe þreshefold [v.rr. þresshfold, þrescwolde, treshfold].
1413. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), III. ix. 56. Not by the dore but vnder the threshfold drawen oute.
14[?]. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 592/47. Limen, a thresfolde.
1828. Craven Gloss., Thresh-fod, threshold.
δ. 6 thressholl, 7–8 threshal, 9 dial. threshel, thrashel (drashel).
1593. Thressholl [see 2 b].
1607. Chapman, Bussy d’Ambois, IV. G ij b. Ile make th’ inspired threshals of his Court Sweat with the weather of my horrid steps Before I enter.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1688), IV. 494. He dragg’d her Body to the Threshal of the Door.
1787. in Coll. Sc. Poems, 12 (E.D.D.). Luckie out o’er the threshal goes.
1898. Macmanus, Bend of Road, 90. The house crammed … from the threshel to the backstone.
1900. G. Williams, Fairmner’s Tint Laddies, iv. (E.D.D.). To cross the thrashel o’ oor hoose.
ε. dial. 7 treshwart, 9 threshwort, threshut; 9 freshwood: cf. TH (6).
1608. Vestry Bks. (Surtees), 151. Pd to John Lamb for mendinge of the treshwart of the portch, iiijd.
18[?]. Brierley, Out of Work, x. (E.D.D.). Mind thou doesno’ tumble o’er that threshut.
1888. W. Dickinson, Lit. Rem., 234 (E.D.D.). The threshwort’s worn quite hollow down.
1825. J. Briggs, Rem., 201 (E.D.D.). The entrance from the front door was called the freshwood.
1879. Simmons, Lay Folks Mass Bk., Notes 399. I bids thee … never again set thy foot over my freshwood.
1892. Heslop, Northumbld. Gloss., Fresh-wood, the threshold, or foot-beam of the front door.
¶ b. (erron.) The upper horizontal part of a door-case; the lintel. rare.
[Cf. c. 1000 in 1 α, 1 β.
1382: see OVERTHRESHOLD.]
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 11. The rural sports of May, When each cot-threshold mounts its hailing bough.
1834. Ht. Martineau, Demerara, iv. 52. Cassius stood, leaning his forehead against his low threshold.
2. transf. and fig. a. Border, limit (of a region); the line which one crosses in entering.
c. 883. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxi. Se ilca [sc. Godes miht] forwyrnð þæræ sæ þæt heo ne mot þone þeorscwold oferstæppan þære eorþan.
a. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., V. vi. (1890), 398. Forðon þe he mæc … from deaðes þirscwalde wæs aceʓende.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., III. iv. 159. Know most of the rooms of thy native countrey before thou goest over the threshold thereof.
a. 1863. Faber, Hymn, ‘The happy Gate of Heaven,’ ii. Fair are the thresholds of blue sea.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 2 Sept., 2/1. On what is known as ‘the threshold of England,’ the Sussex coast.
b. In reference to entrance, the beginning of a state or action, outset, opening. (In quot. 1659, in reference to going out or leaving, close, end.)
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. (1823), cxix. R. i. Right wonderfull thy testimonies be,… Their very threshold gives men light.
1593. Q. Eliz., Boeth., II. pr. iv. 28. The thressholl of thy felicitie.
1659. Clarke Papers (Camden), IV. 297. I … shall be moste glad to heare that you are gott over the thresholde of your present troublesome stay in London, the country being the most proper place for [etc.].
1834. L. Ritchie, Wand. by Seine, 8. The youth, stepping proudly upon the threshold of manhood.
1877. Foster, Phys., III. i. (1878), 389. We are … met on the very threshold of every enquiry [etc.].
c. Psychol.: esp. in phr. threshold of consciousness: see quots., and cf. LIMEN, SUBLIMINAL.
1874. Sully, Sensation & Intuition, 47. There is a certain limit below which our several sensibilities are unable to discriminate. This boundary … Fechner calls the ‘threshold’ (die Schwelle).
1886. Gurney, etc., Phantasms of Living, I. 453. A telepathic disturbance may take place below the threshold of consciousness.
1886. Ward, in Encycl. Brit., XX. 47/2. We do not distinguish or attend separately, to presentations of less than a certain assignable intensity. On attaining this intensity presentations are said to pass over the threshold of consciousness, to use Herbart’s now classic phrase [‘Schwelle des Bewusstseins’ (Psychol. als Wissenschaft (1824), § 47)].
† d. An obstacle, stumbling-block. Obs.
1601. Sir W. Cornwallis, Ess., iv. Makes his imagination build blockes and thresholds, in the plainest and most beaten way.
1705. Hickeringill, Priest-cr., II. vii. 70. I hope it was left by chance, and not on purpose to be a Threshold, or Stumbling-block at the Church Door. Ibid., viii. 91.
3. attrib. and Comb.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Kings xxii. 5. The money that is brought vnto ye house of ye Lorde (which the tresholde kepers haue gathered).
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal, vi. (1673), 95. The hangings too, and threshold-boughs yet green.
1678. Otway, Friendship in F., V. i. Let all the Doors be barr’d…, and Gunpowder under each Threshold-place.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, I. i. No living wight, save the Ladye alone, Had dared to cross the threshold stone.
1842. Tennyson, St. Simeon Styl., 188. His footsteps smite the threshold stairs Of life.
