▪ I. thorough, prep. and adv. Chiefly archaic or Obs.
(ˈθʌrə)
Forms: see below.
[A disyllabic development of OE. þurh, through, when fully stressed, which appeared already in later OE. as þuruh (cf. OHG. duruh, durah, durih, OS. thuru), and has regularly become thorough in mod.Eng., as burh became buruh, borough, furh furrow, borh borrow, sorh sorrow, mearh marrow. Thorough is thus the direct representative of the full-stressed OE. þurh; and it is owing to the fact that þurh was chiefly a preposition, and thus usually proclitic and stressless, that it is now, in this use, represented by through (unstressed θrʊ, new-stressed θruː). The stressed form was naturally used when þurh was a separate word, i.e. an adv., adj., or n., or the stressed part of a compound, as in ˈthoroughfare; and, as prepositions were sometimes emphatic and stressed, the þuruh, thorough form remained also as a prep. beside the unstressed þŭrh, þŭr, þrŭh, þrŭ, etc.; on the other hand, the new-stressed form through (θruː) of the prep. has in more recent times been taken also by the adv., while thorough remains in both as an archaic form, and as that of the derived adj. and n. In the adverb its function is largely taken over by its derivative thoroughly.
As both thorough and through are existing words, distinct in spelling and still more in pronunciation, it seems best to make two articles, placing under through the various monosyllabic forms, including the obsolete þurh, thurgh, þurþ, þurth, and the now dialectal thruff, and treating under thorough the less numerous disyllabic variants. This entails some duplication of the definition, but appears preferable to treating thorough merely as a variant of through. It must be remembered however that both þruh, through, and þuruh, thorough, developed by insensible gradations out of þurh, thurgh, and that therefore the α-forms under through belong, down to 1300 and 1400, really as much to the history of thorough.]
A. Illustration of Forms.
a . 1–3 þuruh, 3 þureh, þuregh, 3–5 þoruȝ, 4 þoruh, þoruhe, þoroȝ, þorogh, thorogh, 4–5 þorouȝ, thoruȝ, 4–6 thorugh, 5 thoruh, thorowh, -owgh, -ughe, -oughe, 5– thorough (8– thoro'). β3–4 þuru, þoru, 4 thoru, þorou, 4–5 thoro, thorou, þorow(e, 4–6 thorowe, 4–8 (9 in comb.) thorow, (5 thurow, thurrowe, 5–6 dorow, 6 thurrou(ly), thorro, 6–7 thorrow); γ3–4 þorw, 4 þurw, þourw, thorw, 4–5 þorwe; 4 þoruth (in þoruthlike, thoroughly).
| c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) lxv. 11 We þuruh fyr farað, and þuruh floda þrym. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 199 Oðer kinnes neddre..criepeð nedlinge þureh nerewe hole. Ibid. 33 Þuregh [see B. I. 6]. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8513 Þoru godes wille. a 1300 Cursor M. 151 How crist com thoro [v.rr. þorow, thoru, þourȝe] propheci. 13.. Ibid. 20698 (B.M. Add. MS.) Þorwe [v.rr. thoru, þorou, þourȝe] þe toun. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. ix. 151 Þus þourw cursed caym cam care vppon erthe. Ibid. xiv. 300 Þorw þe pas of altoun Pouerte myȝte passe with-oute peril of robbynge. c 1380 Þorouȝ [see B. I. 1 b]. c 1430 Hymns Virg. 123 Longeus hym stonge dorow þe syde. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. i. 7 Weelnyȝ thoruȝ al the chapiter. 1456 Thurrowe [see B. I. 6]. 1467, 1482 Thorow [see B. II. 3]. 1474 Thorough [see B. II. 4]. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop i. xiv, Deceyued thoroughe fals counceylle. 1485 ― Chas. Gt. i. ii. v. 30 Thorugh hys empyre. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 40 Browte..to the tower thorrow Smythfelde and in at Newgat, rydynge soo thorrow Chepe-syde. Ibid. 56 Prechyng thorro alle Ynglonde agayne the sacrament of the auter. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 3 Over hill, over dale, Thorough [folios Through] bush, thorough brier. 1672, a 1713 Thorow [see B. II. 1]. 1725 S. Sewall Diary 17 Mar., Much Water passes thorow the three Spaces left for that purpose. 1850, 1893 Thorough [see B. I. 1, 2]. |
B. Signification. I. prep. (Still in poetic or archaic use.)
1. From side to side or end to end of; = through prep. 1. arch.
| c 1000, c 1200 [see A.]. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 4277 Þe erl..mid is launce þoru þe þrote smot on. a 1300 Cursor M. 7809 Thoru his licam mi suerd i draif. 1377 [see A.]. c 1450 ME. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 204 Let hyt renne þorow a fayre cloþ. a 1540 Barnes Wks. (1573) 212/2 You ryde thorowe streetes, and townes. 1684 R. Waller Nat. Exper. 121 An hole thorough the bottom of the Vessel. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 149 Such as will pass thorow an Iron Ring. 1850 Blackie æschylus I. 191 Thorough my heart, Thorough my liver, Keen as the cold ice Shot through the river. |
b. Of transmission of light or sight. Obs. or arch.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 142 As þe sunne comeþ þorouȝ þe glas. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. iii. 33, I saw these bathes thorow a great hole. a 1636 Lynde Case for Spect. (1638) 45 You begin to looke asquint thorow your Spectacles at the reformed Churches. 1705 Stanhope Paraphr. II. 599 The Truth never shines so bright, as when the Oppositions, that strive to darken it, are plainly seen thorow. |
† c. In reference to the passage of the voice through the throat, etc.: = through prep. 1 d.
| 1668 [see through B. I. 1 d]. |
† d. Of passage between the individual things of a group; = through prep. 1 e. Obs.
| 1535 Fisher Wks. (1876) 365 He must..creepe thorowe the thicke bushes. 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 39 The man that cut his way thorough his Enemies. |
† e. In phrase thorough one's hands = through prep. 1 f. Obs.
| 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 19 The Jewes..are such cheates, they sophisticate all that comes thorough their hands. 1710 Prideaux Orig. Tithes v. 268 Lawyers, whose hands it passed thorough. |
† f. In various fig. applications: see through prep. 1 g. Obs.
| 1543 [see thick and thin A. 1]. 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 58 b, Those of Piemount, who with the shrilnesse of their wordes goe thorow ones eares. 1619 Hieron Wks. II. 16 Good points of doctrine runne thorow vs as thorow a pipe. 1680 Burnet Rochester (1692) 127 Which the strength of his Mind would soon break thorough. |
† g. thorough and thorough = through prep. 1 h. Obs.
| 13.. Cursor M. 24381 (Fairf.) A squorde sulde stike ouerthwert Þorou and þorou [Gött. Toru and thoru] þine awen hert. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon i. 56 He shoued hym thorughe and thorughe his body. |
2. Along (to any distance) within. Without implication of traversing from end to end. arch.
| c 1050, etc. [see through B. I. 2]. c 1430 Chev. Assigne 95 He wente þorow a foreste fowre longe myle. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. v. xvi. 257 The Picture of S{supt} Christopher..with a staff in his hand, wading thorow the water. 1893 Symonds in H. T. Wharton Sappho (1895) 60 Pinion on pinion, thorough middle ether Down from heaven hurried. |
3. Over the whole extent of, in or to all parts of; throughout; = through prep. 3. Also sometimes following the n. arch. and poet.
| c 1000 [see through B. I. 3]. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 1366 Fyges, and many a date tree There wexen..Thorough the gardyn in length and brede. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. i. ii. v. 30 Charles..sente oueral thorugh hys empyre. 1535 Coverdale Acts xiv. 23 Whan they had ordeyned them Elders by eleccion thorow all the congregacions. a 1635 R. Corbet Poems (1807) 12 Send of this stuffe thy territories thorough To Ireland, Wales and Scottish Eddenborough. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. §18. 343 Which Supreme Incorporeal Deity, was..said to be All Things, because it diffused it self thorough All. 1803 Wordsw. Yarrow Unvisited v, O'er hilly path and open Strath We'll wander Scotland thorough. |
† b. Phrase. thorough all thing: see through prep. 3 c. Obs.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7549 Þis noble duc willam him let crouny king At londone amidwinter day, nobliche þoru alle þing. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1926 Charlis, þat is of fraunce kyng..Hoteþ þe þorw alle þyng to leuen þyn errour. |
4. From beginning to end of a space of time; = through prep. 4. Also following the n.
| a 1000, etc. [see through B. I. 4]. 1535 Coverdale Ps. lxxvii. 14 All the night thorow with a light of fyre. 1608 Dod & Cleaver Expos. Prov. ix–x. 7 Thorow the whole yeere. 1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xvii, Twice a week the winter thorough [rime sorrow] Here stood I. |
† 5. From beginning to end of a process, action, writing, etc., esp. to the very end of; = through prep. 5, 5 c. Obs.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. i. 7 Weelnyȝ thoruȝ al the chapiter, Poul meeneth [etc.]. 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. 243 At the last God brought me thorow all My doubts and feares. 1632 Sanderson Serm. 61, I foresaw we should not haue time to goe thorow all that was intended. |
6. Indicating intermediation, means, agency, instrumentality; = through prep. 7. arch. or Obs.
| a 800–1154 [see through B. I. 7]. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 33 Þe engel..seweð a whilche wise and þuregh hwam þis blisse cumen sholde. a 1300 Cursor M. 1395 Thoro birth of a blisful child. 1377 [see A.]. 1456 Coventry Leet Bk. 289 The blessyd babe..Thurrowe whom pece & tranquilite shall take þis reme on hand. 1535 Coverdale Josh. xxiv. 12 Not thorow thy swerde, ner thorow thy bowe. 1671 J. Flavel Fount. Life xiii. 37 By Vertue of the Mediator and thorow the Benefit of his Death. 1847 Emerson Poems, Sphinx, Thorough a thousand voices Spoke the universal dame. |
† b. Indicating the agent after a passive verb; = through prep. 7 b. Obs.
| a 900–c 1000 [see through B. I. 7 b]. c 1290 Beket 374 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 117/374 Þe churche..Þat..was..a-rerd þoruȝ henri þe oþur kingue. a 1325 MS. Rawl. B. 520 lf. 32 b, Hit is icomaunded þoru þe King þat eche man habbe in house wepne. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. iv. 2 Þorw bedeles and bailifs brouht by-fore þe kynge. |
† 7. Indicating cause, reason, or motive; = through prep. 8. Obs.
| a 1000–c 1460 [see through B. I. 8]. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11320 Þe king hadde þer to gode wille þoru frerene rede. c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 271 Þe swerde of sorowe byte My woofull harte þorowe your creweltee. 1596 Danett tr. Comines (1614) 236 He ended his life thorow a sickenes. 1666 H. Stubbe Mirac. Conform. 3 His life seemed burthensome to him thorough the violence of the..temptation. |
II. adv. (Now arch. or dial.)
1. From side to side, from surface to surface, from end to end (of a body or space); = through adv. 1.
| a 1000–c 1400 [see through B. II. 1]. a 1300, 1330 [see thorough-bear, -bore in thorough- 1]. c 1493 Epitaffe, etc. in Skelton's Wks. (1843) II. 392 Thorow thrylled and persyd with payne. 1638 Junius Paint. Ancients 227 We doe not make our plate so thinne as to..cut it quite thorough with engraving. 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 42 If he meet them in the dark, he runs them thorow. a 1713 T. Ellwood Autobiog. (1765) 184, I walked it thorow in a Day. 1883 Swinburne Cent. Roundels, Sorrow ii, One thought lies close in her heart gnawn thorough [rime furrow] With pain. |
† b. To the end of the journey, all the way; = through adv. 1 b. Obs.
| 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 73 You should have begged me of him to have gon quite thorough with you. Ibid. 176 How he got thorow to whither he intended. |
2. From beginning to end (of a time, process, action, work, book); = through adv. 2. arch.
| a 1225 [see thorough-fill in thorough- 1]. 1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 777 Sithence he had once begonne, he would stoutly go thorowe. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Concern. Service, They were onely begon, and neuer read thorow. 1670–1 Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 371 The Committee of Conventicles have..gone thorow with their Bill. 1748 Chesterfield Lett. 26 July, They..never consider it in all its different views; and, in short, never think it thorough. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. iii. xv. (tr. Goethe), The Future hides in it Gladness and sorrow; We press still thorow. |
† 3. Predicatively, after the vb. to be, indicating settlement; = through adv. 3 b. Obs.
| 1467 J. Paston in P. Lett. II. 299 He is owtlawyd at Sir John Fastolfys swte..notwithstanding he is thorow with Sir T. Howys for Sir John Fastolf. 1482 Cely Papers (Camden) 88, I gawhe the exchetter xls for ws bothe and so whe be thorow with hym for aull matters. |
4. Qualifying pa. pple. or adj.; = through adv. 4 a. Obs. or dial.
Now usually expressed by thoroughly, except when hyphened to a pa. pple., as thorough-bred; see thorough- 1. In 17–18th c. also hyphened to adjs.
| a 1240 Ureisun 123 in Cott. Hom. 197 Mid swuþe luðere lasten mi soule is þuruh bunden. 1474 Coventry Leet Bk. 401 Þat it be thorough tannyd and thorowe Coryed. 1531 Tindale Exp. 1 John i. (1538) 14 b, Yet is it neuer thorow whole vntyll the houre of death. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. ii. 38 When it is thorough hot. 1620 Venner Via Recta vii. 120 The sweet Grapes..being thorow ripe. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 37 When he [the patient] saw that he was thorow well. 1640 Fuller Joseph's Coat, David's Punishm. (1867) 239 Thou art not yet so thorough worn with age. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables ccii. (1714) 219 The Lion himself was not Thorough-Proof against this Fantastical Alarum. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. iii. iii. (1852) 560 They had thorow-good reasons for doing so. 1710 Prideaux Orig. Tithes iv. 208 A Veteran and thorough settled Constitution of this Kingdom. 1729 Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 82 A thorough honest man would..have repeated his former answer. a 1774 Goldsm. Hist. Greece II. 112 He had a thorough good opinion of himself. 1796 C. Marshall Garden. xiv. (1813) 192 Till the earth is got thorough warm again. 1853 C. M. Yonge Heir of Redclyffe xliv, He is a thorough great man. |
† 5. thorough and thorough = through and through: see through adv. 5. Obs.
| 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xvi. 58 With his swerd he broched the hors..thorow and thorow. 1526 Tindale John xix. 23 The coote was with out seme woven vppon thorowe and thorowe. 1658 Cleveland Rustick Ramp. Wks. (1687) 446 Richard might have been struck thorough and thorough. |
† 6. With ellipsis of go, get, pass, or other vb. of motion; = through adv. 6. Obs.
| 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 31 Trench hedge and forrow, that water may thorow. 1670 Cotton Espernon ii. vii. 339 We are now come too far..to return.., we must either thorow, or dye. |
▪ II. thorough, a. and n.
(ˈθʌrə, U.S. ˈθʌrəʊ)
[attrib. use of prec. adv.]
A. adj.
1. Used chiefly with ns. of action or position, being a kind of elliptical use of the adv. = ‘going, passing, or extending through’, as thorough passage = passage through, thorough heat = heating through; cf. through a. 1. Obs. exc. in special applications. (See also thorough- in comb. 2.)
| c 1489 [see sense 2]. c 1566 Sir H. Gilbert in Hakluyt Voy. (1600) III. 20 He had heard a Fisherman..say..that he sayled very farre towards the Southeast, finding no end of the Sea: whereby he hoped a thorow passage to be that way. 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 47 Very large Stones carefully bedded.., to guard the thorough Foundation between the Piers from..being displaced. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 186 Give it by degrees a thorough heat. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. v. 62 The bed-room..should be well aired, but without what is termed thorough air. Ibid. xxi. 251 The patient caught a fresh cold from being exposed to the thorough air of our too well ventilated ward. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 101 The holes for the train pivots are termed ‘thorough holes’. |
2. a. Of an action, etc.: Carried out through the whole of something; thoroughgoing; fully executed; applied to or affecting every part or detail. Hence, gen. That is fully what is expressed by the noun; thoroughgoing, complete, perfect, downright, entire. † In quot. 1581, Completely apt or suitable. (See also through a. 2.)
Formerly sometimes hyphened to the following n., being treated as the adv. in combination (cf. thorough- 2, through-).
| c 1489 Sir S. Hamerton in Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 63 To make a thorow search for my matter. a 1500 in C. Trice-Martin Chanc. Proc. 15th C. (1904) 6 [To] make a thurgh ende with the said Piers Hous and pay hym .xx. marcs. 1581 Sidney Astr. & Stella lvii, He forc't them out to find The thorowest words, fit for woes selfe to grone. 1615 Latham Falconry (1633) 92 To give her a thorough scowring. 1617 Hieron Wks. II. 110 To bring vs to this thorow and effectuall vnderstanding. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. ii. 850 Those who laid the first Foundation Compleat the thorow Reformation. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. 214 In the Morning, even before it was thorow Day-light. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxv, A thorough knowledge of the world. 1780 in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) IV. 383 Mr. Mathews..proposed a thorough resolution..to stand by you. 1862 Burton Bk. Hunter 102 The thoroughest test of active scholarship. 1893 W. Lewin in Bookman June 85/2 His knowledge of English literature is extensive and thorough. |
b. Of a person in reference to his action or quality.
| 1655 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. verse 13. viii. §4 (1669) 144/1 The soul effectually brought out of the love of sin as sin, will never be thorow-friends with it again. a 1700 Dryden (J.), A thorough translator must be a thorough poet. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. II. 96/2 He is a thorow master of those elements of Painting. 1822 M. Edgeworth Let. 26 Feb. (1971) 359, I have engaged a ladys maid..and a thorough maid for cooking and brooming. 1829 Lytton Disowned xlii, He was the finest and most thorough gentleman I ever saw. 1850 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. (1883) II. 129 Servants who give themselves out for ‘thorough’. 1884 ‘Rita’ Vivienne i. iii, Blanche de Verdreuil was a thorough coquette. |
B. n. [Elliptical or absolute uses of thorough a. or adv.].
1. Thorough-going action or policy: in Eng. Hist. (with capital T) applied to that of Strafford and Laud in the reign of Charles I, and sometimes to that of Cromwell as Lord Protector.
| c 1634 Laud in Strafford Papers I. 111 And for the state, indeed, my lord, I am for Thorough. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. i. I. 92 And now Wentworth exulted in the near prospect of Thorough. 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §5 The dark gloomy countenance, the full heavy eye, which meet us in Strafford's portrait are the best commentary on his policy of ‘Thorough’. 1900 Morley Cromwell iv. vi. 354 They had set up the Commonwealth without lords or monarch. They were deep in all the proceedings of Cromwellian Thorough. |
† 2. A channel artificially cut or dug; a trench, esp. Agric. one made for draining a field; = through n.2 1. Obs.
| a 1555 Bradford Wks. (Parker Soc.) I. 303 If any man would alter the natural course of any water to run a contrary way, he shall never be able to do it with dams... Therefore the alteration must be from the head, by making other thoroughs and devices. 1581 Coventry Leet Bk. 824 Vp a thorowe betwene two Landes in the middes of the feild by certain meare-stones there sett. |
3. A furrow; water-thorough, a ‘thorough’ made for surface-draining; a water-furrow. Agric.
The Eng. Dial. Dict. has in sense ‘furrow’, thurrow, Yorksh. to Herts and Essex, also locally written thorough, thurrough, thurrar. Cf. th, the initial, (6).
| 1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 5 The Ignorance and Idleness of the Plowman, who either goes so shallow, or plows his Thoroughs so wide, or misses Part of the Ground. Ibid. 22 Sow them in four Thoroughs. 1744–50 ― Mod. Husbandm. I. i. 16 The ploughman..goes on plowing throughout the field, without making any..water-thoroughs. 1766 Compl. Farmer s.v. Lucern, Then ploughing it very narrow and sharp, he made water thoroughs with the plough. 1796 W. Marshall Midl. Gloss., Thorough, an interfurrow, between two ridges. 1888 Sheffield Gloss., Thurrow, a furrow of land. |
▪ III. † ˈthorough, v.1 Obs. rare—1.
[f. thorough adv.]
trans. To pass through, pierce, penetrate.
| 1578 Banister Hist. Man i. 32 The superiour [part] is thorowed on ech side, with a large & ample hole. |
▪ IV. ˈthorough, v.2 local.
[f. thorough n.]
trans. To make ‘thoroughs’ or furrows in; see thorough n. 3. Hence ˈthoroughed ppl. a.; ˈthoroughing vbl. n.
| 1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 28 Plough them in very shallow,..thorough and harrow well. Ibid. 106 The Ground may be so gathered into a four Thorough'd-stitch or Ridge. 1744–50 ― Mod. Husbandm. V. i. 87 The land..should be back-bouted, or what we call thoroughed-down. 1759 ― Pract. Farmer (ed. 5) Gloss. 5 Four-thoroughing of Land is not Clean Ploughing, but running up four Thoroughs close together with the Plough. Ibid., Thoroughing down is drawing the plough once through the bought, to lay it plain for wheat or barley. |