thence, adv.
(ðɛns)
Forms: 3–4 þannes, 4 þ-, thennus, 4–5 þ-, thennes, -is, -ys, þens, 4–6 thens, 5 þenns, 5–6 thense, 6– thence.
[ME. þannes, þennes, f. thenne adv., with adverbial genitive suffix -es, -s. The later spelling thence for thens was to preserve the breath sound of s when final inflexional s became (z); as in hence, pence, defence, once, twice, mice, price, etc.]
1. From that place; from there. (Now chiefly literary.)
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 50/137 And bad heom of þulke holie bodi: Þat huy it þannes bere. 1340 Ayenb. 12 Ha [Christ] wente into helle..uor to draȝe þannes..þe zaules of þe holi uaderes. 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 98, I..am temted ful tid to turne me þennus. 13.. Cursor M. 164 (Gött.) Hu þat he was þennis [Trin. þennes; Cott. theþen] ledd. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 232 Er they thennes [v.rr. þennes, þens, thens] wente..They fille in speche. c 1400 Brut 103 Þat men myȝt hit nouȝt remeve ne bere þenns. Ibid. 114 Or he departede þens. 1526 Tindale Mark vi. 1 He departed thens and cam in to his awne countre. 1536 Wriothesley Chron. (Camden) I. 51 The Kinge with his companye departed thense. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 12 If Sion hill Delight thee more,..I thence Invoke thy aid. 1867 M. E. Herbert Cradle L. iv. 123 Thence..the pilgrims came to the beautiful low shrine. 1895 Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 156/2 The ‘Kirkmichael’ left Liverpool..on a voyage thence to Melbourne. |
b. Preceded by redundant from († fro).
| 1382 Wyclif Mark vi. 1 And Jhesus gon out thennis [v.r. fro thennes]. 1388 Ibid., And he ȝede out fro thennus. c 1400 Destr. Troy 13270 To a perellus place past I fro thens. 1535 Coverdale Baruch vi. 2 After that wil I bringe you awaye peaceably from thence. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xxi. x. 177 He commanded Victor the Hystoriographer, whom he saw at Sirmium, to come from thence unto him. 1703 Pope Thebais 383 Begin from thence, where first Alpheus hides His wand'ring stream. 1867 Geo. Eliot in Cross Life (1883) III. 9 Making our way homeward from thence by easy stages. |
† c. As a relative (also thence that): From which place, whence. Obs. rare.
| a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1906) 36 Y must to the erthe thennes that y come fro. |
2. At a place distant or away from there; distant; absent. Now chiefly in stating distance.
| c 1290 Beket 1780 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 157 To longe ich habbe þannes i-beo. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame ii. 530 Lat a man stond..A myle thens and here hyt route. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 28 Though they..haue leue to be thense yet yt suffysyth not. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. iv. x. 257 True proues that all that day he was ferre thens. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. V 13 While one manne is there, which is neuer thence. Mod. Two miles thence is a fine waterfall. |
3. From that time or date; thenceforward; thenceforth. Mostly with from. ? Obs.
| c 1374 [see thenceforth 1]. 1382 Wyclif Isa. xvi. 13 The wrd that the Lord spac to Moab fro thennys [1388 fro that tyme]. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. ix. 197 He seid that peple schulde frothens after worschipe. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Justine xx. 78 That no subiect of Carthage should from thence learne Greeke letters. a 1751 Bolingbroke Stud. Hist. (1752) I. vi. 236 From thence down to the present day. a 1832 Bentham Mem. & Corr. Wks. 1843 X. 62, I must have seen him..more than once at Romilly's, and thence afterwards at my own house. |
4. From that, as a source, origin, or cause; (as an inference) from those premisses or data; therefrom. Also preceded by from.
| 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 2 Next are premised som things, for explaining the terms of the Question, that it may bee clearly thence understood. 1692 E. Walker Epictetus' Mor. ix, Weigh every Circumstance, each Consequence, And usual Accident arising thence. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 409 It would thence follow, that..the number of women would daily go on [etc.]. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. ix. 702 They could present to parliament every thing which favoured their own purposes, keep back every thing which opposed them; and thence more effectually deceive the nation. |