Forms: (1 þrum), 4–6 throm(e, 5 thrum(e, thrwme, 5–6 thromm(e, 5–7 thrumm(e, 6–7 thrumbe, (6 Sc. throomb), 6–9 thrumb, 6– thrum. [OE. þrum (in comb. in tungeþrum ligament of the tongue), ME. thrum, throm, = MDu. drom, Du. dial. drom, drum (in mod.Du. dreum m. ‘thrum’), OHG., MHG. drum end-piece, remnant (in mod.G. trumm ‘thrum,’ pl. trümmer remnants, ruins); cf. ON. þrǫmr edge, brim (Norw. tröm, trumm, tram edge, brim, Sw. dial. tröm, trumm, trom stump); formed, with various suffixes, from OTeut. ablaut-stem *þrum-, *þram-,:—Indo-Eur. *trmo-; cf. L. term-inus, Gr. τέρμ-α end.
a. 1000. Lorica Gloss., in Sax. Leechd., I. Pref. 70. Sublinguæ, tungeðrum [Harl. MS. ibid. 74 undertungeðrum].)
1. Weaving. Each of the ends of the warp-threads left unwoven and remaining attached to the loom when the web is cut off; usually in pl. (also collect. sing.) the row or fringe of such threads.
1429. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 360/2. The Weyvers … have taken … in common usage,… what tyme yat yei have wroght a Clothe almost to ye end, to kitte away to yair singuler avauntage ye yere yat leveth unwoven, and callen hit Thrommes [cf. Act 8 Hen. VI., c. 23 § 1].
14[?]. Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 728/17. Hoc licium, a throm.
1449. Maldon, Essex, Crt. Rolls (Bundle 29, No. 3). Ricardus Vyce petit xxd. pro xx lb. de Thromes empt.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., V. i. 291. O Fates! come, come: Cut thred and thrum.
1591. R. Bruce, Serm., I j b. The Webster doth cut off the web from the throombs of his beam.
1611. Bible, Isa. xxxvii. 12. He will cut mee off with pining sicknesse [marg. from the thrum].
1649. Roberts, Clavis Bibl., 447. A weavers web brought unto the thrum, and ready to be cut off.
1725. Bradley’s Fam. Dict., s.v. Wound, If the Shot be quite thorough the Wound, then take a few Weavers Linnen Thrums … and dipping ’em first in Varnish, draw ’em through the Wound.
1847–78. Halliwell, Thrum, the extremity of a weaver’s warp, often about nine inches long, which cannot be woven.
2. A short piece of waste thread or yarn (including the unwoven ends of the warp = 1); pl. or collect. sing. odds and ends of thread; also, a short or loose end of thread projecting from the surface of a woven fabric; a tuft, tassel, or fringe of threads at the edge of a piece of cloth, etc.
(In early quots. barely distinguishable from 1.)
1346. Litt. Red Bk. Bristol (1900), II. 5. Drap … estre fait de fil de lein appele thromes.
1439. Deed (Westm. Chapter Archives). Qui tunc dedit predicto Johanni Kirkeby capellum de thrummes fact[um] quod tunc temporis erat de noua coniectura.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 493/1. Thrvmm, of a clothe, filamen,… villus fractillus.
1519. Horman, Vulg., 167 b. The baudy thrummys of the carpettis toke me faste by the feete.
1530. Palsgr., 158. Vng payné, a thrumme of a hatte or suche lyke.
1541–2. Act 33 Hen. VIII., c. 18 § 3. They … shall … [not] make … any manner Kerseyes with flockis, thrummes or other deceivable thinge or thingis.
1555. W. Watreman, Fardle Facions, II. x. 215. Thei [Tartars] make … litle pupettes of silke or of felte, or of thrumme.
1611. Cotgr., Pesles, thrummes; or that which hangs at the end of a peece of cloth like fringe.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1650), III. 33. The wrong side of a Turky carpet, which useth to be full of thrums and knots, and nothing so even as the right side.
1675. V. Alsop, Anti-Sozzo, 302. Tying both the Ends so handsomely together, that it may not Ravel out into Thrums.
1681. Colvil, Whigs Supplic. (1751), 4. Like pictures on the wrong side of Arras hangings, spoiled with thrumbs and threads.
1878. Pater, Child in House, Misc. Stud. (1895), 174. Childish treasures, glass beads, empty scent-bottles still sweet, thrum of coloured silks.
b. Naut. (pl., also collect, sing.) Short pieces of coarse woollen or hempen yarn, used for mops, etc.: cf. Thrum v.2 e, and THRUMMED1 c.
1466. Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.), 346. Thrommes for pyche mapoltes.
1623. Whitbourne, Newfoundland, 75. Thrummes for Pitch mabs.
1848. [see THRUM v.2 e].
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Thrum, any coarse woollen or hempen yarn. It is used for mops, &c., in the cabins.
c. fig.: pl. (or collect. sing.) Odds and ends, scraps.
1648–1833. Thread and thrum, Threads and thrums [see THREAD sb. 2 c].
a. 1653. G. Daniel, Idyll., v. 180. Arguments For you to ravell; Thrumbs of Discontents: From the large Webbe of Care.
1872. Morley, Voltaire, III. (ed. 2), 147. It is this, which … makes life a whole instead of a parcel of thrums bound together by an accident.
† 3. Short for thrum cap (see 7). Obs. rare–1.
1719. D’Urfey, Pills, IV. 158. The Monmouth Cap, the Sailor’s Thrumb. Ibid. The Sea-man with his Thrumb.
† 4. Applied to various structures in plants or animals resembling small threads, or a tuft of these. a. pl. The florets of the disk in a composite flower, or the stamens in a simple flower; also, sing. the disk, the central petals of a double flower, or the stamens collectively. Obs. (exc. in comb. thrum-eyed: see 7).
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. xxxii. 189. Or Buphthalmos, or Oxe eye…. The floure is of a fayre bright yellow colour, and large, with many small thrommes or yellow thredes in the middle, almost like to the floures of Marigoldes.
1657. W. Coles, Adam in Eden, ii. 4. Fair large red flours [of peony] … having … in the midst, yellow Threds or Thrums.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., II. iv. § 4. 81. Consisting of … a circle of Leaves, and a Thrumm of short stamina, close set together.
1671. Grew, Anat. Plants, v. § 17. The Florid Attire, is commonly known by the blind and rude Name of Thrums.
1694. Westmacott, Script. Herb. (1695), 99. The Water-Lillies … bearing a white flower, with yellow thrums in the middle.
1726. Flower Gard. Displ. (ed. 2), Introd. Thrums, Apices or Chives, when a great Number of them grow together in a Flower.
1812. New Bot. Gard., I. 33. The … cutting winds in March will often cause them [double Anemones] to blow single, by destroying the thrum that is in the middle of the flower.
† b. A tuft, bundle, or fringe of any threadlike structures, as hairs on a leaf, fibers of a root, etc.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, IV. lxvii. 529. Of Carline Thistel…. Upon [the] stemme groweth a round flat head,… thromde like Ueluet, and round about that Ueluet throm, or Crowne, standeth a pale or inclosure, of … small white leaues, whiche is the flower.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, I. xxxvi. § 1. 51. A fringe or thrum downe the middle of the lower leaues. Ibid., II. xvii. § 3. 200. The roote is nothing else but as it were a thrum or bundell of threedes.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 61/2. Three [leaves] … each having a yellow freez, or thrum near the bottome.
† c. A bundle of minute blood-vessels, a plexus.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 431. A thrumbe of crisped vessels called Plexus Choroides..., wherein the Animal spirits receiue their preparation.
5. Brewing. (See quots.) dial.
1828. Craven Gloss., Thrum, a bundle of birch or twigs in a mash tub, to prevent the malt from escaping and through which the liquor percolates.
1877. N. W. Linc. Gloss., Thrum, a small utensil of wicker-work affixed to the hole in a mash-tub in brewing, to hinder the malt from escaping when the wort is run off.
† 6. Applied jocularly or contemptuously to a person (? one meanly or raggedly dressed). Obs.
1610. B. Jonson, Alch., I. i. You were once … the good, Honest, plaine, liuery-three-pound-thrum; that kept Your masters worships house … For the vacations.
1705. Elstob, in Hearne, Collect., 30 Nov. (O.H.S.), I. 108. He eyes ye greasy Rout, Of gaping thrums, stand listning round about.
1727. Somerville, Canidia’s Epithal., 9. Each sprightly soph, each brawny thrum, Spent his first runnings here.
7. attrib. and Comb. a. attrib. Made or consisting of thrums or waste threads of yarn (or something resembling it), or having thrums inserted in or projecting from it (cf. THBUM v.2, THRUMMED1): as thrum beard, bonnet, hat, mat, mop, night-cap; pertaining to or dealing in thrums, as thrum shop. b. Comb.: † thrum cap, a cap made of thrums; transf. a person wearing a thrum cap; hence † thrum-capped a., wearing a thrum cap; thrum-chinned a. (jocular), bearded; thrum-eyed a., applied by florists to the short-styled form of a flower (esp. of the genus Primula), which shows the boss of ‘thrums’ or anthers (cf. 4 a) at the top of the corolla-tube (opp. to PIN-EYED); so thrum eye; † thrum-flower, (of Petiver) Astrocarpus Clusii, a native of the western Mediterranean region; † thrum-stone, Grew’s name for asbestos, as being a fibrous mineral. See also THRUMWORT.
1577. Hanmer, Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619), 307. A long *thrum beard.
1827. Scott, Highl. Widow, i. Duncan with the *thrum bonnet, and the other lords of the … towers of Kilchurn. [*Thrum cap: cf. quot. 1439 in 2.]
1624. Massinger, Renegado, I. iii. A witch with a thrum cap, That sells ale underground.
1676. Lady Fanshawe, in Mem., Feb. an. 1650 (1829), 93. I … desired him [the cabin-boy] to be so good as to give me his blue thrum cap he wore, and his tarred coat … and putting them on … I … stood upon the deck by my husband’s side.
1690. Dryden, Don Sebastian, I. i. Hold, my dear Thrum-cap: I obey thee cheerfully.
1720. Strype, Stow’s Surv. (1754), I. I. xxvi. 196/1 (The Blue Coat Hospital). Their habit being now … a round thrum Cap tied with a red band, yellow Stockings.
1708. W. King, Art Cookery (1807), 73. Would our *thrum-cappd ancestors find fault, For want of sugartongs, or spoons for salt?
1608. Middleton, Trick to Catch Old One, IV. iii. [Widows] that will marry unfledged boys before comely *thrum-chinned gentlemen.
1888. Pall Mall G., 19 May, 6/1. Auriculas … with their characters of grey or green edge, pin or *thrum eye, &c.
1861. Darwin, in Jrnl. of Linnæan Soc., Botany, VI. 77. Florists who cultivate the Polyanthus and Auricula … call those which display the globular stigma at the mouth of the corolla ‘pin-headed’ or ‘pin-eyed,’ and those which display the stamens *thrum-eyed.
c. 1711. Petiver, Gazophyl., VI. lii. Small Spanish Purple *thrum-flower,… Grows a Span high on the stony Hills of Salamanca.
1543. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., VIII. 180. Twa *thrum hattis of silk, price of the pece xiiij s.
1590. [Tarlton], News Purgat. (1844), 120. A thrumbe hat she had of red.
1770. Cook, Voy. round World, II. ix. (1773), 453. Ends … hanging out … like the shag or *thrumb matts which [etc.].
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, vi. 74. The inelegant and inanimate figure of a *thrum mop or muff.
1768. Sterne, Sent. Journ., The Husband. He sits … in his *thrum nightcap.
1796. Colquhoun, Police Metropolis, p. viii. Petty Pilferers at Old Iron Shops,… Rag and *Thrum Shops.
1681. Grew, Musæum, III. I. v. 313. *Thrum-Stone, as I call it. Amianthus Lapis & Asbestinus.
