Also 3–5 þrift(e, (4 þruft, þreft, þref), 4–5 þryft, 4–6 thryft(e (threft), 5–6 thrifte (6 thryfft). [f. THRIVE v. + -T suffix3 a: cf. drift, gift, rift, weft, etc.; also ON. þrift, occasional synonym of þrif thriving condition, well-doing, prosperity, which may have reinforced the word in the north of England.]
† 1. The fact or condition of thriving or prospering; prosperity, success, good luck; in early use sometimes = fortune (good or bad); luck: cf. THRIVE v. 1. Obs.
c. 1305. St. James, 70, in E. E. P. (1862), 59. Sorewe him mote bifalle And liþer þrift vpon his heued.
13[?]. Cursor M., 4439 (Cott.). He ferd ai wit so mikel thrift Þat al was don als he wald scift.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. X. 105. And men þat Cunne mony Craftes … Þruft or þeodam with hem selden is I-seye.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 2017. Mahoun ȝyue þe euele þref.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Reeve’s T., 129. By my thrift [v.rr. þreft, thryft], yet shal I blere hir eye.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 386. Now good thrifte come vn-to þe, sone dere!
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 490/1. Thedam (or thryfte), vigencia.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Phil., 5. The entrie vnto immortall thrifte is throughe losse of transitorie thynges.
a. 1625. Fletcher & Massinger, Laws of Candy, IV. i. I could wish All thrift to his affections.
1679. Bunyan, Fear of God, Wks. (ed. Offor), I. 485. Every grace is nourished by the Word, and without it there is no thrift in the soul.
b. Means of thriving; industry, labor; profitable occupation. Now dial.
c. 1580. Lodge, Reply Gosson’s Sch. Abuse (Hunter. Cl.), 3. You are … a man of the letter little sauoring of learning, your giddy brain made you leaue your thrift, and your abuses in London some part of your honestie.
1596. Spenser, State Irel., Wks. (Globe), 662/1. To fall to thrifte, as I have seene manye souldiours after the service to proove verye good husbandes.
1612. Dekker, If it be not Good, Wks. 1873, III. 270. Dread King of Ghosts, weele plye our thrift so well, Thou shalt be forc’d to enlarge thy Iayle of Hell.
1612. R. Churton (title), An Old Thrift newly Revived, wherein is declared the manner of Planting … and Husbanding Young Trees.
1721. Ramsay, Ode to Mr. F——, 17. Poor Vulcan hard at thrift, Gets mony a sair and heavy lift.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxvi. With her distaff … and her spindle … she plied … the old fashioned Scottish thrift, according to the old fashioned Scottish manner.
c. Prosperous growth, physical thriving.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 37. His waxunge se lat & se slaw his þrifti [? þrift; v.r. þriftre].
1615. W. Lawson, Country Housew. Gard. (1626), 22. Manie trees stand so thicke, that one could not thriue for the throng of his neighbours…. Hence small thrift, gals, wounds.
1857–8. Sears, Athan., viii. 66. The outward bark … scaling off that the tree may expand with more thrift and freedom.
d. Growing-pains. dial.
a. 1800. Pegge, Suppl. Grose, Thrif, the pain which young persons feel in growing. Lanc.
1886. Chester Gloss., s.v., What ails thee, pooin thi face? It’s nowt bu’ th’ thrift that tha’s getten.
1887. S. Chesh. Gloss., Thrift, ‘thriving’ or growing pains.
2. Savings, earnings, gains, profit; acquired wealth, estate, or substance. arch. (Cf. FRUGALITY c.)
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., xv. 47. In luthere lastes y am layn, That maketh myn thryftes thunne.
1436. Eng. Policy, in Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 174. They bere the golde owte of thys londe, And souketh the thryfte awey oute of oure honde.
1508. Kennedie, Flyting w. Dunbar, 443. Thou drank thy thrift, sald and wedsett thy clais.
1530. Palsgr., 280/2. Thrifte gayne, proufit.
1605. Play Stucley, in Simpson, Sch. Shaks. (1878), I. 195. He that drinks, or spends his thrift at dice.
1805. Holcroft, Bryan Perdue, III. 264. Our worldly thrift was more than equal to all our wants.
1893. Chr. G. Rossetti, Poems (1904), 223/2.
| If much were mine, then manifold | |
| Should be the offering of my thrift: | |
| I am but poor, yet love makes bold | |
| Me and my gift. |
† b. That which is saved (of something); savings. Obs.
In quot. 1387 rendering L. nucleus; sense intended doubtful.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 15. Þe þrift of þe fatnesse drieþ himself þeryn.
1519. Horman, Vulg., 159. Mynse all the thryfte [L. compendium] of the flesshe: and mengle it with the spice.
3. Economical management, economy; sparing use or careful expenditure of means; frugality, saving; † euphemistically, parsimony, niggardliness (obs.).
1553. Respublica, V. iii. 1343. As … bodylye foode is never founde to bee so pleasaunte nor so goode As whan fretting hongre and thrift hathe pincht afore.
1570. Levins, Manip., 118/6. Thrift, frugalitas, atis.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, II. 58. These people are well given to thrift and good husbandry.
1608–11. Bp. Hall, Medit., 99. So devotion is counterfaited by superstition, good thrift by niggardliness.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 398. With all this thrift they thrive not.
1849. Longf., Kavanagh, 152. The air of comfort and plenty, of neatness, thrift, and equality, visible everywhere.
1876. Green, Stray Stud., 26. The true cure for pauperism lies in the growth of thrift among the poor.
4. A name given to various plants.
† a. Said by Turner to have been a name for the Stone Orpine (Sedum reflexum). Obs. rare.
1538. Turner, Libellus s.v. Sedum, Sedum minus puto esse herbam quam uulgus appellat Thryft; aut Stoncrop. Ibid. (1548), Names of Herbes (1881), 72. The seconde kynde is called in English thryft or stoncroppe. Ibid. (1562), Herbal, II. 133. The lesse Semperuiuum, that we call thrift or great stone crop, groweth in walles, rockes, mudwalles,… it hath manye stalkes comming from one root.
b. The plant Armeria maritima (vulgaris), a well-known sea-shore and alpine plant bearing rose-pink, white, or purple flowers on naked stems growing from a dense tuft of grass-like radical leaves. Also called sea-pink, sea gillyflower, sea-grass, and ladies’ cushion.
1592. Greene, Upst. Courtier (1871), 5. The weed they so wrangled for was a little dapper flower, like a ground honeysuckle, called thrift.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. clxxvii. 483. Called … in English Thrift, Sea grasse, and our Ladies Cushion.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 64/1. Thrift … is only set in Gardens to keep up Borders.
1814. Wordsw., Excursion, I. 722. Daisy-flowers and thrift Had … straggled O’er paths they used to deck.
1856. Delamer, Fl. Gard. (1861), 104. Thrift…. The English name is derived from its thriftiness in towns and confined situations, though its native home is on the grassy tops of cliffs whose base is washed by the waves.
1862. Baring-Gould, Iceland (1863), 242. The thrift with its rose coloured flower heads was very abundant.
c. Hence extended to other species of Armeria: e.g., Great Thrift, A. Cephalotes, of the Mediterranean region; Plantain Thrift, A. plantaginea, found in Jersey; also to plants of allied genera or similar habit, as Lavender Thrift, Statice Limonium; Prickly Thrift, Acantholimon glumaceum, a pretty garden rock-plant.
1776–96. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), II. 320. Lavender Thrift. Sea banks near Walton, Essex.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1147. Prickly Thrift, Acantholimon.
5. attrib. and Comb., as (in sense 3) thrift club, society, etc.; (in sense 4) thrift edging; thrift-box, -pot, a box or pot in which savings are put.
1777. Brand, Pop. Antiq., 164, note. A Thrift-Box … is put up against the Wall, and every Customer puts in something.
1786. Abercrombie, Gard. Assist., 95. Box and thrift edgings.
1835. Fair-Day, 82. You could break your thrift-pot … and get to the money.
1897. Daily News, 8 May, 7/4. It [a mission] has established thrift societies [etc.]. Ibid. (1899), 5 June, 4/3. Round these ‘schools’ have grown thrift clubs, and benevolent societies.
1902. Daily Chron., 27 March, 7/6. Unregulated shop clubs or thrift funds.
