Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
THRIFT — THYROID
THRIFT, n. [from thrive.] Frugality; good husbandry; economical management in regard to property.
The rest--willing to fall to thrift; prove very good husbands.
1. Prosperity; success and advance in the acquisition of property; increase of worldly goods; gain.
I have a mind presages me such thrift.
2. Vigorous growth, as of a plant.
3. In botany, a plant of the genus Statice.
THRIFTILY, adv. Frugally; with parsimony.
1. With increase of worldly goods.
THRIFTINESS, n. Frugality; good husbandry; as thriftiness to save; thriftiness in preserving one’s own.
1. Prosperity in business; increase of property.
THRIFTLESS, a. Having no frugality or good management; profuse; extravagant; not thriving.
THRIFTY, a. Frugal; sparing; using economy and good management of property.
I am glad he has so much youth and vigor left, of which he has not been thrifty.
1. More generally, thriving by industry and frugality; prosperous in the acquisition of worldly goods; increasing in wealth; as a thrifty farmer or mechanic.
2. Thriving; growing rapidly or vigorously; as a plant.
3. Well husbanded.
I have five hundred crowns,
The thrifty hire I sav’d under your father.
THRILL, n. [See the Verb.] A drill.
1. A warbling. [See Trill.]
2. A breathing place or hole.
THRILL, v.t.
1. To bore; to drill; to perforate by turning a gimblet or other similar instrument. [But in the literal sense, drill is now chiefly or wholly used. Spenser used it literally in the clause, “with thrilling point of iron brand.”]
2. To pierce; to penetrate; as something sharp.
The cruel word her tender heart so thrill’d,
That sudden cold did run through every vein
A servant that he bred, thrill’d with remorse.
THRILL, v.i. To pierce; to penetrate; as something sharp; particularly, to cause a tingling sensation that runs through the system with a slight shivering; as, a sharp sound thrills through the whole frame.
A faint cold fear thrills through my veins.
1. To feel a sharp shivering sensation running through the body.
To seek sweet safety out
In vaults and prisons; and to thrill and shake--
THRILLED, pp. Penetrated; pierced.
THRILLING, ppr. Perforating; drilling.
1. Piercing; penetrating; having the quality of penetrating; passing with a tingling, shivering sensation.
2. Feeling a tingling, shivering sensation running through the system.
THRING, v.t. To press, crowd or throng. [Not used.]
THRISSA, n. A fish of the herring kind.
THRIVE, v.i.
1. To prosper by industry, economy and good management of property; to increase in goods and estate. A farmer thrives by good husbandry. When the body of laboring men thrive, we pronounce the state prosperous.
Diligence and humility is the way to thrive in the riches of the understanding, as well as in gold.
2. To prosper in any business; to have increase or success.
O son, why sit we here, each other viewing
Idly, while Satan our great author thrives?
They by vices thrive.
3. To grow; to increase in bulk or stature; to flourish. Young cattle thrive in rich pastures; and trees thrive in a good soil.
4. To grow; to advance; to increase or advance in any thing valuable.
THRIVER, n. One that prospers in the acquisition of property.
THRIVING, ppr. Prospering in worldly goods.
1. a. Being prosperous or successful; advancing in wealth; increasing; growing; as a thriving mechanic; a thriving trader.
THRIVINGLY, adv. In a prosperous way.
THRIVINGNESS, THRIVING, n. Prosperity; growth; increase.
THRO, a contraction of through, not now used.
THROAT, n.
1. The anterior part of the neck of an animal, in which are the gullet and windpipe, or the passages for the food and breath.
In medicine, the fauces; all that hollow or cavity which may be seen when the mouth is wide open.
2. In seamen’s language, that end of a gaff which is next the mast.
3. In ship-building, the inside of the knee-timber at the middle or turns of the arms; also, the inner part of the arms of an anchor where they join the shank; and the middle part of a floor-timber.
Throat-brails, brails attached to the gaff, close to the mast.
Throat-halliards, are those that raise the throat of the gaff.
THROAT, v.t. To mow beans in a direction against their bending. [Local.]
THROAT-PIPE, n. [throat and pipe.] The windpipe or weasand.
THROAT-WORT, n. [throat and wort.] A plant of the genus Campanula, a perennial weed common in pasture-ground; also, a plant of the genus Trachelium.
THROATY, a. Guttural.
THROB, v.i. [perhaps allied to drive and to drub; at least its elements and signification coincide.] To beat, as the heart or pulse, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate. The heart throbs with joy, desire of fear; the violent action of the heart is perceived by a throbbing pulse.
My heart throbs to know one thing.
We apply the word also the breast.
Here may his head live on my throbbing breast.
THROB, n. A beat or strong pulsation; a violent beating of the heart and arteries; a palpitation.
Thou talk’st like one who never felt
Th’ impatient throbs and longings of a soul
That pants and reaches after distant good.
THROBBING, ppr. Beating with unusual force, as the heart and pulse; palpitating.
THROBBING, n. The act of beating with unusual force, as the heart and pulse; palpitation.
THRODDEN, v.i. To grow; to thrive. [Not in use or local.]
THROE, n. Extreme pain; violent pang; anguish; agony. It is particularly applied to the anguish of travail in child-birth.
My throes came thicker, and my cries increas’d.
THROE, v.i. To agonize; to struggle in extreme pain.
THROE, v.t. To put in agony.
THRONE, n. [L. thronus.]
1. A royal seat; a chair of state. The throne is sometimes an elegant chair richly ornamented with sculpture and gilding, raised a step above the floor, and covered with a canopy.
2. The seat of a bishop.
3. In Scripture, sovereign power and dignity.
Only in the throne will I be greater than thou. Genesis 41:40.
Thy throne, O God, is forever. Psalm 45:6.
4. Angels. Colossians 1:16.
5. The place where God peculiarly manifests his power and glory.
The heaven is my throne, and the earth my footstool. Isaiah 66:1.
THRONE, v.t. To place on a royal seat; to enthrone.
1. To place in an elevated position; to give an elevated place to; to exalt.
True image of the Father, whether thron’d
In the bosom of bliss and light of light.
THRONED, pp. Placed on a royal seat, or on an elevated seat; exalted.
THRONG, n.
1. A crowd; a multitude of persons or of living beings pressing or pressed into a close body or assemblage; as a throng of people at a play-house.
2. A great multitude; as the heavenly throng.
THRONG, v.i. To crowd together; to press into a close body, as a multitude of persons; to come in multitudes.
I have seen
The dumb men throng to see him.
THRONG, v.t. To crowd or press, as persons; to oppress or annoy with a crowd of living beings.
Much people followed him, and thronged him. Mark 5:24.
THRONGED, pp. Crowded or pressed by a multitude of persons.
THRONGING, ppr. Crowding together; pressing with a multitude of persons.
THRONGING, n. The act of crowding together.
THRONGLY, adv. In crowds. [Not in use.]
THROPPLE, n. The windpipe of a horse. [Local.]
THROSTLE, n. thros’l. A bird of the genus Turdus, the song-thrush.
THROSTLING, n. A disease of cattle of the ox kind, occasioned by a swelling under their throats, which unless checked, will choke them.
THROTTLE, n. [from throat.] The windpipe or larynx.
THROTTLE, v.i. To choke; to suffocate; or to obstruct so as to endanger suffocation.
1. To breathe hard, as when nearly suffocated.
THROTTLE, v.t. To utter with breaks and interruptions, as a person half suffocated.
Throttle their practic’d accents in their fears.
THROUGH, prep. thru.
1. From end to end, or from side to side; from one surface or limit to the opposite; as, to bore through a piece of timber, or through a board; a ball passes through the side of a ship.
2. Noting passage; as, to pass through a gate or avenue.
Through the gates of iv’ry he dismiss’d
His valiant offspring.
3. By transmission, noting the means of conveyance.
Through these hands this science has passed with great applause.
Material things are presented only through their senses.
4. By means of; by the agency of; noting instrumentality. This signification is a derivative of the last.
Through the scent of water it will bud. Job 14:9.
Some through ambition, or through thirst of gold,
Have slain their brothers, and their country sold.
Sanctify them through thy truth. John 17:17.
The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23.
5. Over the whole surface or extent; as, to ride through the country.
Their tongue walketh through the earth. Psalm 73:9.
6. Noting passage among or in the midst of; as, to move through water, as a fish; to run through a thicket, as a deer.
THROUGH, adv. thru. From one end or side to the other; as, to pierce a thing through.
1. From beginning to end; as, to read a letter through.
2. To the end; to the ultimate purpose; as, to carry a project through.
To carry through, to complete; to accomplish.
To go through, to prosecute a scheme to the end.
1. To undergo; to sustain; as, to go through hardships.
THROUGH-BRED, should be thorough-bred.
THROUGH-LIGHTED, should be thorough-lighted. [Not used.]
THROUGHLY, adv. thru’ly. Completely; fully; wholly.
1. Without reserve; sincerely.
[For this, thoroughly is now used.]
THROUGHOUT, prep. thruout’. [through and out.] Quite through; in every part; from one extremity to the other. This is the practice throughout Ireland. A general opinion prevails throughout England. Throughout the whole course of his life, he avoided every species of vice.
THROUGHOUT, adv. throut’. In every part. The cloth was of a piece throughout.
THROUGH-PACED. [Not used.] [See Thorough-paced.]
THROVE, old pret. of thrive.
THROW, v.t. pret. threw; pp. thrown. [Gr. to run; L. trochilus.]
1. Properly, to hurl; to whirl; to fling or cast in a winding direction.
2. To fling or cast in any manner; to propel; to send; to drive to a distance from the hand or from an engine. Thus we throw stones or dust with the hand; a cannon throws a ball; a bomb throws a shell. The Roman balista threw various weapons. A fire engine throws water to extinguish flames.
3. To wind; as, to throw silk.
4. To turn; as, to throw balls in a lathe.
[Not in general use.]
5. To venture at dice.
Set less than thou throwest.
6. To cast; to divest or strip one’s self of; to put off; as, a serpent throws his skin.
7. To cast; to send.
I have thrown
A brave defiance in king Henry’s teeth.
8. To put on; to spread carelessly.
O’er his fair limbs a flow’ry vest he threw.
9. To overturn; to prostrate in wrestling; as, a man throws his antagonist.
10. To cast; to drive by violence; as a vessel or sailors thrown upon a rock.
To throw away, to lose by neglect or folly; to spend in vain; as, to throw away time; to throw away money.
1. To bestow without a compensation.
2. To reject; as, to throw away a good book, or a good offer.
To throw by, to lay aside or neglect as useless; as, to throw by a garment.
To throw down, to subvert; to overthrow; to destroy; as, to throw down a fence or wall.
1. To bring down from a high station; to depress.
To throw in, to inject.
1. To put in; to deposit with others; also, to give up or relinquish.
To throw off, to expel; to clear from; as, to throw off a disease.
1. To reject; to discard; as, to throw off all sense of shame; to throw off a dependent.
To throw on, to cast on; to load.
To throw out, to cast out; to reject or discard; to expel.
1. To utter carelessly; to speak; as, to throw out insinuations or observations.
2. To exert; to bring forth into act.
She throws out thrilling shrieks.
3. To distance; to leave behind.
4. To exclude; to reject. The bill was thrown out on the second reading.
To throw up, to resign; as, to throw up a commission.
1. To resign angrily.
Bad games are thrown up too soon.
2. To discharge from the stomach.
To throw one’s self down, to lie down.
To throw one’s self on, to resign one’s self to the favor, clemency or sustaining power of another; to repose.
THROW, v.i. To perform the act of throwing.
1. To cast dice.
To throw about, to cast about; to try expedients. [Not much used.]
THROW, n. The act of hurling or flinging; a cast; a driving or propelling from the hand or from an engine.
He heav’d a stone, and rising to the throw,
He sent it in a whirlwind at the foe.
1. A cast of dice; and the manner in which dice fall when cast; as a good throw. None but a fool hazards all upon one throw.
2. The distance which a missile is or may be thrown; as a stone’s throw.
3. A stroke; a blow.
Nor shield defend the thunder of his throws.
4. Effort; violent sally.
Your youth admires
The throws and swellings of a Roman soul.
5. The agony of travail. [See Throe.]
6. A turner’s lathe. [Local.]
THROWER, n. One that throws; one that twists or winds silk; a throwster.
THROWN, pp. of throw. Cast; hurled; wound or twisted.
THROWSTER, n. One that twists or winds silk.
THRUM, n. [Gr. a fragment; to break.] The ends of weaver’s threads.
1. Any coarse yarn.
2. Thrums, among gardeners, the thread-like internal bushy parts of flowers; the stamens.
THRUM, v.i. To play coarsely on an instrument with the fingers.
THRUM, v.t. To weave; to know; to twist; to fringe.
1. Among seamen, to insert short pieces of rope-yard or spun yard in a sail or mat.
THRUSH, n.
1. A bird, a species of Turdus, the largest of the genus; the Turdus viscivorus or missel-bird.
2. An affection of the inflammatory and suppurating kind, in the feet of the horse and some other animals. In the horse it is in the frog.
3. In medicine, (L. apthoe,) ulcers in the mouth and fauces.
THRUST, v.t. pret. and pp. thrust. [L. trudo, trusum, trusito.]
1. To push or drive with force; as, to thrust any thing with the hand or foot, or with an instrument.
Neither shall one thrust another. Joel 2:8; John 20:25.
2. To drive; to force; to impel.
To thrust away or from, to push away; to reject. Acts 7:27.
To thrust in, to push or drive in.
Thrust in thy sickle and reap. Revelation 14:15.
To thrust on, to impel; to urge.
To thrust off, to push away.
To thrust through, to pierce; to stab. Numbers 25:8; 2 Samuel 18:14.
To thrust out, to drive out or away; to expel. Exodus 12:39.
To thrust one’s self, to obtrude; to intrude; to enter where one is not invited or not welcome.
To thrust together, to compress.
THRUST, v.i. To make a push; to attack with a pointed weapon; as, a fencer thrusts at his antagonist.
1. To enter by pushing; to squeeze in.
And thrust between my father and the god.
2. To intrude.
3. To push forward; to come with force; to press on.
Young, old, thrust there
In mighty concourse.
THRUST, n. A violent push or driving, as with a pointed weapon, or with the hand or foot, or with any instrument; a word much used in fencing.
Polites Pyrrhus with his lance pursues,
And often reaches, and his thrusts renews.
1. Attack; assault.
There is one thrust at your pure, pretended mechanism.
[Note. Push and shove do not exactly express the sense of thrust. The two former imply the application of force by one body already in contact with the body to be impelled. Thrust on the contrary, often implies the impulse or application of force by a moving body, a body in motion before it reaches the body to be impelled. This distinction does not extend to every case.]
THRUSTER, n. One who thrusts or stabs.
THRUSTING, ppr. Pushing with force; driving; impelling; pressing.
THRUSTING, n. The act of pushing with force.
1. In dairies, the act of squeezing curd with the hand, to expel the whey. [Local.]
THRUSTINGS, n. In cheese-making, the white whey, or that which is last pressed out of the curd by the hand, and of which butter is sometimes made.
[The application of this word to cheese-making, is, I believe, entirely unknown in New England.]
THRUSTING-SCREW, n. A screw for pressing curd in cheese-making. [Local.]
THRUSTLE, n. The thrust. [See Throstle.]
THRY-FALLOW, v.t. [thrice and fallow.] To give the third plowing in summer.
THULITE, n. A rare mineral of a peach blossom color, found in Norway.
THUMB, THUM, n. The short thick finger of the human hand, or the corresponding member of other animals. [The common orthography is corrupt. The real word is thum.]
THUMB, THUM, v.t. To handle awkwardly; to play with the fingers; as, to thum over a tune.
1. To soil with the fingers.
THUMB, THUM, v.i. To play on with the fingers.
THUMB-BAND, THUM-BAND, n. [thum and band.] A twist of any thing as thick as the thum.
THUMBED, THUMMED, a. Having thumbs.
THUMERSTONE, n. A mineral so called from Thus, in Saxony, where it was found. It is called also axinite, from the resemblance of its flat sharp edges to that of an ax. It is either massive or crystallized; its crystals are in the form of a compressed oblique rhomboidal prism. It is of the silicious kind, and of a brown gray or violet color.
THUMMIM, n. plu. A Hebrew word denoting perfections. The Urim and Thummim were worn in the breastplate of the high priest, but what they were, has never been satisfactorily ascertained.
THUMP, n. A heavy blow given with any thing that is thick, as with a club or the fist, or with a heavy hammer, or with the britch of a gun.
The watchman gave so great a thump at my door, that I awaked at the knock.
THUMP, v.t. To strike or beat with something thick or heavy.
THUMP, v.i. To strike or fall on with a heavy blow.
A watchman at night thumps with his pole.
THUMPER, n. The person or thing that thumps.
THUMPING, ppr. Striking or beating with something thick or blunt.
1. a. Heavy.
2. Vulgarly, stout; fat; large.
THUM-RING, n. A ring worn on the thum.
THUM-STALL, n. [thum and stall.] A kind of thimble or ferule of iron, horn or leather, with the edges turned up to receive the thread in making sails. It is worn on the thum to tighten the stitches.
THUNDER, n. [L. tonitru, from tono, to sound.]
1. The sound which follows an explosion of electricity or lightning; the report of a discharge of electrical fluid, that is, of its passage from one cloud to another, or from a cloud to the earth, or from the earth to a cloud. When this explosion is near to a person, the thunder is a rattling or clattering sound, and when distant, the sound is heavy and rumbling. The fact is in some degree the same with the report of a cannon. This sharpness or acuteness of the sound when near, and the rumbling murmur when distant, are the principal distinctions in thunder. [Thunder is not lightning, but the effect of it. See Johnson’s Dictionary, under thunder.]
There were thunders and lightnings. Exodus 19:16.
2. Thunder is used for lightning, or for a thunderbolt, either originally through ignorance, or by way of metaphor, or because the lightning and thunder are closely united.
The revenging gods
‘Gainst parricides all the thunder bend.
3. Any loud noise; as the thunder of cannon.
Sons of thunder. Mark 3:17.
4. Denunciation published; as the thunders of the Vatican.
THUNDER, v.i. To sound, rattle or roar, as an explosion of electricity.
Canst thou thunder with a voice like him? Job 40:9.
1. To make a loud noise, particularly a heavy sound of some continuance.
His dreadful voice no more
Would thunder in my ears.
2. To rattle, or give a heavy rattling sound.
And roll the thund’ring chariot o’er the ground.
THUNDER, v.t. To emit with noise and terror.
Oracles severe
Were daily thunder’d in our gen’ral’s ear.
1. To publish any denunciation or threat.
An archdeacon, as being a prelate, may thunder out an ecclesiastical censure.
THUNDERBOLT, n. [thunder and bolt.]
1. A shaft of lightning; a brilliant stream of the electrical fluid, passing from one part of the heavens to another, and particularly from the clouds to the earth. Psalm 78:48.
2. Figuratively, a daring or irresistible hero; as the Scipios, those thunderbolts of war.
3. Fulmination; ecclesiastical denunciation.
He severely threatens such with the thunderbolt of excommunication.
4. In mineralogy, thunder-stone.
THUNDER-CLAP, n. [thunder and clap.] A burst of thunder; sudden report of an explosion of electricity.
When suddenly the thunder-clap was heard.
THUNDER-CLOUD, n. [thunder and cloud.] A cloud that produces lightning and thunder.
THUNDERER, n. He that thunders.
THUNDER-HORSE, n. An instrument for illustrating the manner in which buildings receive damage by lightning.
THUNDERING, ppr. Making the noise of an electrical explosion; uttering a loud sound; fulminating denunciations.
THUNDERING, n. The report of an electrical explosion; thunder.
Entreat the Lord that there by no more mighty thunderings and hail. Exodus 9:28.
THUNDROUS, a. Producing thunder.
How he before the thunderous throne doth lie. [Little used.]
THUNDER-SHOWER, n. [thunder and shower.] A shower accompanied with thunder.
THUNDER-STONE, n. A stone, otherwise called brontia.
THUNDER-STORM, n. [thunder and storm.] A storm accompanied with lightning and thunder. Thunder clouds are often driven by violent winds. In America, the violence of the wind at the commencement, is sometimes equal to that of a hurricane, and at this time the explosions of electricity are the most terrible. This violence of the wind seldom continues longer than a few minutes, and after this subsides, the rain continues, but the peals of thunder are less frequent. These violent showers sometimes continue for hours; more generally, they are of shorter duration.
THUNDER-STORM, v.t. [thunder and strike.]
1. To strike, blast or injure by lightning. [Little used in its literal sense.]
2. To astonish or strike dumb, as with something terrible. [Little used except in the participle.]
THUNDER-STRUCK, pp. or a. Astonished; amazed; struck dumb by something surprising or terrible suddenly presented to the mind or view. [This is a word in common use.]
THURIBLE, n. [L. thuribulum, from thus, thuris, frankincense.]
A censer; a pan for incense. [Not in use.]
THURIFEROUS, a. [L. thurifer; thus and fero, to bear.]
Producing or bearing frankincense.
THURIFICATION, n. [L. thus, thuris, and facio, to make.]
The act of fuming with incense; or the act of burning incense.
THURSDAY, n. [The god of thunder, answering to the Jove of the Greeks and Romans, L. dies Jovis.]
The fifth day of the week.
THUS, adv. In this or that manner; on this wise; as, thus saith the Lord; the Pharisee prayed thus.
Thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded him. Genesis 6:22.
1. To this degree or extent; as thus wise; thus peaceable.
Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds--
2. In the phrase, thus much, it seems to be an adjective, equivalent to this much.
THWACK, v.t. To strike with something flat or heavy; to bang; to beat or thrash.
THWACK, n. A heavy blow with something flat or heavy.
THWACKING, ppr. Striking with a heavy blow.
THWAITE, n. A fish, a variety of the shad.
1. A plain parcel of ground, cleared of wood and stumps, inclosed and converted to tillage. [Local.]
THWART, a. thwort. [L. verto, versus.] Transverse; being across something else.
Mov’d contrary with thwart obliquities.
THWART, v.t. thwort. To cross; to be, lie or come across the direction of something.
Swift as a shooting star
In autumn thwarts the night.
1. To cross, as a purpose; to oppose; to contravene; hence, to frustrate or defeat. We say, to thwart a purpose, design or inclination; or to thwart a person.
If crooked fortune had not thwarted me.
The proposals of the one never thwarted the inclinations of the other.
THWART, v.i. To be in opposition.
--A proposition that shall thwart at all with these internal oracles. [Unusual and improper.]
THWART, n. The seat or bench of a boat on which the rowers sit.
THWARTED, pp. Crossed; opposed; frustrated.
THWARTER, n. A disease in sheep, indicated by shaking, trembling or convulsive motions.
THWARTING, ppr. Crossing; contravening; defeating.
THWARTING, n. The act of crossing or frustrating.
THWARTINGLY, adv. In a cross direction; in opposition.
THWARTNESS, n. Untowardness; perverseness.
THWARTSHIPS, adv. Across the ship.
THWITE, v.t. To cut or clip with a knife. [Local.]
THWITTLE, v.t. To whittle. [See Whittle.]
THY, a. [contracted from thine, or from some other derivative of thou. It is probable that the pronoun was originally thig, thug or thuk, and the adjective thigen. See Thou.]
Thy is the adjective of thou, or a pronominal adjective, signifying of thee, or belonging to thee, like tuus in Latin. It is used in the solemn and grave style.
These are thy works, parent of good.
THYINE WOOD, n. A precious wood, mentioned Revelation 18:12.
THYITE, n. The name of a species of indurated clay, of the morochthus kind, of a smooth regular texture, very heavy, of a shining surface, and of a pale green color.
THYME, n. usually pronounced improperly time. [L. thymus.]
A plant of the genus Thymus. The garden thyme is a warm pungent aromatic, much used to give a relish to seasonings and soups.
THYMUS, n. [Gr.] In anatomy, a glandular body, divided into lobes, situated behind the sternum in the duplicature of the mediastinum. It is largest in the fetus, diminishes after birth, and in adults often entirely disappears. It has no excretory duct, and its use is unknown. In calves it is called sweetbread.
THYMY, a. Abounding with thyme; fragrant.
THYROID, a. [Gr. a shield, and form.] Resembling a shield; applied to one of the cartilages of the larynx, so called from its figure, to a gland situated near that cartilage, and to the arteries and veins of the gland.
The thyroid cartilage constitutes the anterior, superior, and largest part of the larynx.
The thyroid gland is situated on the sides and front of the lower part of the larynx, and the upper part of the trachea. It is copiously supplied with blood, but is not known to furnish any secretion. It is the seat of the bronchocele or goiter.