subs. (colloquial).—1. Generic for obtuseness: e.g., as subs. = stupid fellow; a blockhead: also THICK-HEAD, THICK-SKULL, THICK-PATE, THICK SCONCE, THICK-SKIN, THICK-WITS, etc. The corresponding adjectival forms = dull, stupid, hidebound.
1582. STANYHURST, Æneis, Dedication [ARBER], 9. What thinck you of thee THICK SKYN, that made this …
1592. SHAKESPEARE, Midsummer Night’s Dream, iii. 2. 13. The shallowest THICK-SKIN of that barren sort. Ibid. (1598), 2 Henry IV., ii. 4. 262. He a good wit? hang him, baboon! his wit’s as THICK as Tewkesbury mustard.
1599. JOSEPH HALL, Satires, i. 8. For THICK-SKIN ears, and undiscerning eyne.
1603. J. HAYWARD, The Right of Succession (1683), iv. I omit your THICK errour in putting no difference between a Magistrate and a King.
c. 1616. DRAYTON, The Sacrifice to Apollo. The THICK-BRAIN’D audience lively to awake.
1678. DRYDEN, All for Love, iii. 1.
| Alex. This downright fighting fool, this THICK-SCULL’D hero | |
| This blunt unthinking instrument of death | |
| With plain dull virtue, has out-gone my wit. | |
| Ibid. (1679), Persius, i. 166. | |
| Pleased to hear their THICK-SKULLED judges cry, | |
| Well moved, oh finely said, and decently! |
d. 1718. PENN, Liberty of Conscience, v. What if you think our reasons THICK, and our ground of separation mistaken.
1857. T. HUGHES, Tom Brown’s School-days, I. vii. I told you how it would be. What a THICK I was to come!
1897. MARSHALL, Pomes, 75. She was THICK … fairly sosselled on beer.
2. (common).—Porter: ironically said to be ‘a decoction of brewers’ aprons.’
3. (streets’).—Cocoa.
Adj. (colloquial).—1. Intimate or (Scots’) ‘chief’: e.g., ‘As THICK AS THIEVES,’ ‘as THICK AS INKLE-WEAVERS,’ q.v. (GROSE).
1525–37. ELLIS, Letters [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 475. We see the expression] the THICKEST OF THE THEVES.
1835. R. H. DANA, Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, 68. I told the second mate, with whom I had been pretty THICK when he was before the mast, that I would do it.
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, i. 270, ‘The Tragedy.’ He … was thought to be THICK with the Man in the Moon.
1854–5. THACKERAY, The Newcomes, xxiv. Newcome and I are not very THICK together.
1860. G. ELIOT, The Mill on the Floss, ii. 6. Don’t you be getting too THICK with him—he’s got his father’s blood in him too.
Adv. (colloquial).—Out of the common; extraordinary; a general intensive (in quot. 1563 = solid). Hence TO LAY IT ON THICK = to exaggerate; to surfeit with praise: also TO LAY IT ON WITH A TROWEL: cf. WIDE; GOT ’EM THICK = very drunk: see SCREWED; A BIT THICK = rather indecent.
1563. FOXE, Acts and Monuments [CATTLEY], viii. 260. [Something] cost the university a hundred pounds THICK.
1655. FULLER, The Church History of Britain, III., iv. 24. His reign was not onely long for continuance, fifty-six years, but also THICK for remarkable mutations happening therein.
1874. BEETON, The Siliad, 204. He complains I LAY IT ON TOO THICK.
1885. New York Herald, 22 June. The Know-Nothings were … LAYING IT ON THICK that ‘Americans shall rule America.’
1888. M. A. WARD, Robert Elsmere, xviii. He had been giving the squire a full and particular account…. Henslowe LAYS IT ON THICK—paints with a will.
1893. P. H. EMERSON, Signor Lippo, xvi. She knew all the cant, and used to palaver THICK to the slaveys.
1897. MARSHALL, Pomes, 63. The exercise required of him was THICK. Ibid., 76. The fun … was the THICKEST I’ve met. Ibid., 95. I’ve got ’em THICK he said … And … went upstairs to bed.
THROUGH THICK AND THIN, phr. (colloquial).—Thoroughly; steadily; at all costs. Hence THICK-AND-THIN (adj.) = sincere, OUT-AND-OUT (q.v.). [Orig. over rough or smooth places; i.e., through coppice or sparse land.]
1359. GAYTRIGG, Religious Pieces [E.E.T.S.], 99. [Fiends will not cease] FOR THIN NE THIK.
1380. The Kyng and the Hermyt [HAZLITT, Remains of the Early Popular Poetry of England, I. 15].
| And chasyd hym ryght fast, | |
| Both THOROW THYKE AND THINE. |
1383. CHAUCER, The Canterbury Tales, ‘Reeves Tale,’ 146. Forth with ‘Wehee!’ THURGH THIKKE AND THURGH THENNE.
1590. SPENSER, The Fairie Queene, III. iv. 46.
| THROUGH THICK AND THIN, through mountaines and through plains, | |
| Those two great champions did attonce pursew | |
| The fearefull damzell, with incessant paines. |
1621. BURTON, The Anatomy of Melancholy, III. II. iii. 1. If once enamoured … THROUGH THICK AND THIN he will go to her.
1678. COTTON, Scarronides, or Virgile Travestie (1770), 5.
| Long wandred he THROUGH THICK AND THIN; | |
| Half-roasted now, now wet to th’ Skin. |
1774. BRIDGES, A Burlesque Translation of Homer, 7. THROUGH THICK AND THIN he swore he’d dash on.
c. 1786. CAPTAIN MORRIS, The Plenipotentiary. THROUGH THICK AND THROUGH THIN he bored his way in.
1809. MALKIN, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 237. One of those spoiled actors who are applauded THROUGH THICK AND THIN.
1838. WILLIAM WATTS (‘Lucian Redivivus’), Paradise Lost, 10. Yet swear THROUGH THICK AND THIN they hate Thee.
1860–5. MOTLEY, History of the United Netherlands, II. 311. To lie daily, THROUGH THICK AND THIN … was the simple rule prescribed by his sovereign.
1887. St. James’s Gazette, 26 May. We again see that he is one of the most THICK-AND-THIN adherents of the neo-French technique.
