▪ I. thrift, n.1
(θrɪft)
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. a. 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, labour; 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, Thrift, 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. a. 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 thriftes 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 C. Rossetti Poems (1904) 223/2 If much were mine, then manifold Would be the offering of my thrift. |
† 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 W. Horman Vulg. 159 Mynse all the thryfte [L. compendium] of the flesshe: and mengle it with the spice. |
3. a. 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 tr. 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 Longfellow 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. |
b. U.S. A savings and loan association.
| 1981 Economist 24 Jan. 28/1 This new charter for the thrifts, as they are called, has not been welcomed by all of them. 1982 Sunday Sun-Times (Chicago) 12 Sept. 65 In an effort to keep the funds, banks and thrifts will fire a fusillade of advertising. |
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. 1548 ― Names of Herbes (1881) 72 The seconde kynde is called in English thryft or stoncroppe. 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,
thrift society, etc.; (in sense 4)
thrift edging;
thrift-box,
-pot, a box or pot in which savings are put;
thrift industry U.S., savings and loan associations as a whole;
thrift institution U.S., a savings and loan association;
thrift shop chiefly
U.S.,
thrift store U.S., a shop at which second-hand goods (
esp. clothes) are sold,
usu. in aid of charity.
| 1777 Brand Pop. Antiq. 164 note, A Thrift-Box..is put up against the Wall, and every Customer puts in something. |
| 1899 Daily News 5 June 4/3 Round these ‘schools’ have grown thrift clubs, and benevolent societies. |
| 1786 Abercrombie Gard. Assist. 95 Box and thrift edgings. |
| 1902 Daily Chron. 27 Mar. 7/6 Unregulated shop clubs or thrift funds. |
| 1981 Financial Rev. (Austral.) 1 May 18 When higher interest rates were paid, the thrift industry—building societies, savings banks, credit unions—tended to lose funds to competing institutions. 1982 Times 22 May 13/3 The United States House of Representatives..voted to shore up ailing thrift institutions. |
| 1835 Fair-Day 82 You could break your thrift-pot..and get to the money. |
| 1947 S. J. Perelman Westward Ha! (1949) xii. 153 A mound of shawls, brocades, bracelets, necklaces, purses, fans, and bric-a-brac resembling the contents of a thrift shop. 1976 Eastern Even. News (Norwich) 9 Dec. 2/5 Mums and toddlers and thrift shop, 76, Cadge Road, Community House, 2–4. |
| 1897 Daily News 8 May 7/4 It [a mission] has established thrift societies [etc.]. |
| 1972 T. Ardies This Suitcase ix. 85 Someone had probably gone to thrift stores to put together his wardrobe... Even his socks were the wrong size. |
▪ II. thrift, n.2 [Origin obscure. Cf. ON. þr{iacu}fa to grip: but connecting links are unknown.] The handle (
usu. wooden) of a mill bill, which is fixed in a mortise in the thick head of the handle.
| c 1900 Circular of Bryan Corcoran Lim., Mill Bill in Wood Thrift..Iron Thrift, Steel Thrift. Ibid., Model Mill Bill stone dressing machine..the thrift is set in a ball hinge... Like in ordinary hand dressing, the thrift is worked to give the blow. 1969 G. E. Evans Farm & Village xiv. 150 The mill⁓bill—it's a kind of steel pick or bill mounted in a thrift or handle, made of wych-elm or some other suitable wood. |
▪ III. thrift, v. [f. thrift n.1] trans. To save thriftily, to economize.
| 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. ii, Not that I ever bore much wealth, but because I had been thrifting it for this time. 1885 L. Levi in Pall Mall G. 13 Jan. 6/2 The earnings of agricultural labourers..if well thrifted, leave a surplus. |