Forms: 4 thril, 4–5 þrill(e, þrulle(ü), 4–6 thrille, 5 thryl(le, 5–6 thryll, 4– thrill. [A metathetic form of THIRL v.1]
I. Of the action of material bodies.
† 1. trans. To pierce, bore, penetrate; THIRL v.1 1. Also intr. with through (quot. 13871).
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11824. Þe fester thrild his bodi thurgh.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 39. & scharp lance þat thrilled Ihesu side.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter iii. 4. Þe fors of fire of luf … þat makis his prayere to thrill heuen.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 339. A torf … i-doo aboute a worme sleeþ hym oþer makeþ hym þrulle þoruȝ þe erþe [terram penetrare] for to scape a way. Ibid., VII. 349. A grym strook of liȝtnynge … þrulled þe wal.
1530. Palsgr., 755/2. I thrill, I perce or bore thorowe a thyng…. This terme is olde and nowe lytell used.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. 1. Vocation, 115. Through Corslets, Rivets, Jacks, and Shirts of Mail His shaft shall thrill the Foes that him assail.
1634. A. Rhead, Descr. Body Man, C vj/2. A roughnesse where there is a hole, but not thrilled through.
1661. Merry Drollery, 13. The sword … doth nimbly come to the point…, Thrilling, and drilling, And killing, and spilling.
† b. To break or penetrate through (an enemy’s line). Also intr. with through. Obs.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XVI. 430. [Thai] thrillit thame [the ynglis rout] weill neir throu-out.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, IX. iv. 343. Thorou the thyckest prees he thrulled thorou them.
† 2. intr. To penetrate or pass through, proceed (into or to a place); = THIRL v.1 6. Obs. rare.
13[?]. Cursor M., 21098 (Edin.). Thomas … he soȝte þat estern thede, And þrillid [v.rr. þirled, thirlid] intil haiþinhede.
† 3. trans. To cause (a lance, dart, or the like) to pass; to dart, hurl (a piercing weapon). Obs.
(Perhaps sometimes including a notion of the quivering motion of the missile.)
1609. Heywood, Brit. Troy, XII. lxx. He thrild a Iavelin at the Dardans brest.
1624. Quarles, Sion’s Elegies, ii. 4. Darts, thrill’d from heaven, transfixe my bleeding hart.
1637. Heywood, Dial., Pelopæa & Alope, Wks. 1874, VI. 301. Our well-tride Nymphs,… thrild their arrowie Iavelins after him.
1646. G. Daniel, Poems, Wks. (Grosart), I. 77. I am … deeply strucke, and beare The fatall Iaveline, with me everie where; Into the Marrow thrill’d.
† b. To hurl, to send (persons) flying. Obs. rare. (Cf. THIRL v.3 1, quot. 1587.)
1606. Warner, Alb. Eng., XIV. lxxxv. (1612), 353. But leauing Romaines thrilled thence, and Brutes by Rome opprest, What hapt meane while betwixt the Picts and Scots shall be digest.
II. Of the action of non-material forces.
† 4. fig. from 1: To pierce, penetrate (as a sound, or an emotion). Obs. (passing into 5).
a. 1300. Cursor M., 17738. Or his ded als þe sorful ord Sal thril þin hert thoru als a suord.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxvi. (Baptista), 131. Þi word thrillit myn ere.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., xlv. 177 (Harl MS.). Synne in twynkelynge of an ye þrillithe alle the erþe.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. viii. 39. With percing point Of pitty deare his hart was thrilled sore.
1629. Milton, Ode Nativity, Hymn, x. Such sound … the Airy region thrilling.
1642. H. More, Song Soul, I. I. vi. Which in their sprights, may cause sweet agony, And thrill their bodies through with pleasing dart.
† b. intr. with through. Obs. (passing into 5 b).
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 258 b. Many moo sorowes dyd teare & thryll thorowe her herte.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. viii. 6. Eger greedinesse through every member thrild.
1592. [see 5 b].
trans. To affect or move with a sudden wave of emotion.
1605. Shaks., Lear, IV. ii. 73. A Seruant that he bred, thrill’d with remorse, Oppos’d against the act.
1718. Pope, Iliad, XIX. 266. Greece around sat thrill’d with sacred awe.
1791. Mrs. Radcliffe, Rom. Forest, ii. A kind of pleasing dread thrilled her bosom.
1805. Wordsw., Waggoner, II. 34. His ears are by the music thrilled.
1842. Tennyson, Sir Galahad, ii. Me mightier transports move and thrill.
b. intr. To produce a thrill, as an emotion, or anything causing emotion; to pass with a thrill through.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., IV. iii. 15. I haue a faint cold feare thrills through my veines.
a. 1719. Addison, Milton’s Style Imitated, 124. A sudden horror … Ran through each nerve, and thrill’d in ev’ry vein.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xii. When some peculiar feeling of hope, or perhaps of remorse, happened to thrill across his mind.
1854. J. S. C. Abbott, Napoleon (1855), II. xx. 356. In tones which thrilled upon every heart.
1874. Green, Short Hist., viii. § 5. 513. The news of Hampden’s resistance thrilled through England.
c. intr. (? for pass.) To feel, or be moved by, a thrill of emotion. Often const. at, with.
1595. Shaks., John, V. ii. 143. To thrill and shake, Euen at the crying of your Nations crow, Thinking this voyce an armed Englishman. Ibid. (1596), 1 Hen. IV., II. iv. 407. Art not thou horrible afraid? Both not thy blood thrill at it?
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Passion & Princ., x. III. 179. He … read over … the ‘last words’ of his adored Fanny, till the blood thrilled in his veins.
1874. Green, Short Hist., viii. § 3. 488. England was thrilling with excitement at the thought that her own hour of deadly peril might come again.
6. intr. To move tremulously or with vibration; to quiver, vibrate. (Said esp. of sound or light.)
1776. Mickle, trans. Camoens’ Lusiad, IX. 396. Here … The solemn harp’s melodious warblings thrill.
1816. Scott, Bl. Dwarf, iii. Exhausting his voice in shrieks and imprecations, that thrilled wildly along the waste heath.
1827–35. Willis, Absalom, 79. My pulses thrill, Like a rich harp-string.
1862. Tyndall, Mountaineer., i. 8. Watching the lightning thrilling behind the clouds.
1878. T. Hardy, Ret. Native, IV. vi. The great valley of purple heath thrilling silently in the sun.
b. trans. To send forth or utter tremulously.
1647. Crashaw, Music’s Duel, 57. Her supple breast thrills out Sharp airs.
1868. Farrar, Silence & V., ii. (1875), 35. The spirit within us thrills its glad response to the noble utterance.
c. To cause to quiver; to throw into vibration.
1800. Moore, Anacreon, lviii. Sweet [are] the sighs that thrill the lyre.
1860. Farrar, Orig. Lang., i. 12. The air is thrilled with the voice of birds.
1872. O. W. Holmes, Poet Breakf.-t., v. (1885), 124. An earthquake thrills the planet.
