▪ I. throng, n.
(θrɒŋ)
Also Sc. and north. dial. thrang.
[ME. þrang, þrong, prob. shortened from OE. ᵹeþrang throng, crowd, tumult, deriv. from verbal ablaut series þring-, þrang-, þrung-: see thring v.: cf. MDu. dranc(g-), Du. drang, MHG. dranc (earlier gedranc), Ger. drang throng, pressure, crowd; ON. þrǫng fem., throng, crowd. Throng n., vb., and adj. appear about the 13–14th c., the adj. being the latest.]
I. 1. a. Oppression; distress, straits; trouble, woe, affliction; danger. Now dial. rare.
| 13.. Cursor M. 2585 Þai þat suld hald þam in þat thrang [Trin. þrong]. Ibid. 2622 ‘Fra mi lauedi’, sco said, ‘i gang, For sco me halds fast in thrang’ [v.r. ga..wa]. Ibid. 21867 Mikel on erth sal be þe thrang, Þat sal be o men o-mang. 1375 Barbour Bruce vii. 251 His fayis hym haldis now in thrang. c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 931 Thaim to reskew that was in fellone thrang. c 1470 Harding Chron. xxi. v. (MS. Arch. Seld. B. 10. lf. 19 b), The maiden Castelle strong..That on a Roche ful high stonte oute of throng. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. vii. (S.T.S.) II. 43 Now in sik thrang, that sche nathing culde find radie at hand, to halde the dur fast. 1855 Woman's Devotion I. 278 We'll hae o'er-much joy, to be thinking o' past thrangs. |
† b. The pain of childbirth: usually pl.; = throe n. 1 b. Obs.
| 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde Prol. D j, The laborynge woman hath bene greatly conforted, and alleuiatyd of her throngs and trauell. Ibid. 49 The parels, dangeours, and throngs, which chanse to women in theyr labor. Ibid. 85 Yf..she feale greate thronge and payne. |
II. 2. Pressing or crowding of people; an act of thronging or crowding; crowded condition.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 947 As þey stode, & made grete þrong. c 1440 York Myst. xxii. 2 Make rome by-lyve, and late me gang, Who makis here all þis þrang? 1556 Aurelio & Isab. (1608) P iv, Soddaineley all withe one thronge caste the poore Affranio to the grounde. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa ii. 88 The throng was so great at their entrance of the gates, that moe then fowerscore citizens were slaine therein. 1715 Ramsay Christ's Kirk Gr. ii. xv, He could get nae place.., For thrang that day. 1791 Cowper Iliad ii. 63 Went the summons forth Into all quarters, and the throng began. 1870 Freeman Norm. Conq. (ed. 2) II. x. 502 Near to the great city, and yet removed from its immediate throng and turmoil. |
3. concr. A crowded mass of persons actually (or in idea) assembled together; a crowd.
| [993 Battle of Maldon 299 He wæs on ᵹeþrange hyra þreora bana.] c 1000 Gloss. in Haupt's Zeitschr. IX. 427/15 Lixarum coetibus (gl. mercenariorum, qui aquam portant), wæterberendra. marg. þran[gum]. a 1300 Cursor M. 13462 Iesus..bi-held þat folk..Þat folud him til mikel thrang [Trin. þrong]. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 754 Ȝet for þretty in þrong I schal my þro steke. c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 247 Rudely fra him he reft it in that thrang. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres iv. iv. 113 The people to passe foorth..not by thronges..but by litle and litle. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 199 The whole Throng of Ecclesiastical Persons were beyond the Inspection of the Magistrates. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 196 The pent-up breath of an unsavoury throng. 1832 W. Irving Alhambra II. 153 To draw fashionable throngs to their saloons. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xix, The streets were filled with throngs of people. 1912 ‘Saki’ Unbearable Bassington x. 170 The Rutland Galleries were crowded..by a fashionable throng of art-patrons. 1955 S. Wilson Man in Grey Flannel Suit xxxiv. 256 He joined a throng of men pushing to get aboard the train. 1971 H. Wouk Winds of War iv. 53 Was Nazi Germany as strong as the ever-marching columns in the streets, and the throngs of uniforms in cafés, suggested? 1977 P. L. Fermor Time of Gifts ii. 35 A throng of villagers had assembled round an enormous bonfire. |
b. A great number of things crowded together, either actually or in idea; a multitude.
| 1549–62 Sternhold & H. Ps. lxxii. 16 The mighty mountaynes..Of corne shall beare such throng. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. ii. iii, Throngs of thoughts crowde for their passage. c 1760 Smollett Ode to Sleep 8 Attended by an airy throng Of gentle dreams. 1824 Dibdin Libr. Comp. 205 A series, and almost throng, of Histories of England. 1980 D. Adams Restaurant at End of Universe xvi. 83 ‘The End of the Universe is very popular,’ said Zaphod threading his way unsteadily through the throng of tables. |
4. Pressure, or a pressing amount, of work or business. Now dial.
| 1642 Chas. I Message to both Ho. 28 Apr. 4 We hope this Animadversion will be no breach of your Priviledges in this throng of Businesse, and Distemper of Affections. 1707 J. Wodrow in Life (1828) 181 My throng of work that fell in on me stopped me. 1730 T. Boston Fourfold St. iv. iv, A great throng of business, but a great scarcity of faith and holiness. 1778 W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric. 6 Feb. an. 1776 note, The principal objection to a dog-day's-fallow is, that it falls amid the throng of hay time and harvest. 1896 Crockett Grey Man lii. 349 With all this throng of business on hand. |
5. ‘Intimacy’ (Jam.), company; to keep throng, to keep company, associate with. Sc. dial.
| 1768 Ross Helenore 11 It sets them well into our thrang to spy. 1843 A. Bethune Sc. Fireside Stor. 78 He keepit thrang wi' Jenny M'Intosh his Landlady's daughter. |
▪ II. throng, a. (adv.) Now Sc. and north. dial.
(θrɒŋ)
Also 4–5 þ-, thrange, 5–6, Sc. 6– thrang.
[ME. þrang, þrong, from same root as prec. Cf. ON. þrǫng-r, narrow, close, crowded (Sw. trång, Da. trang), strait, narrow, close, tight.]
† 1. In various early instances difficult to explain, all connected with thring v. Among these may be distinguished the senses (a) Compressing; (b) Compressed, oppressed, distressed; (c) Pressing, earnest, eager. But in some cases the exact sense is uncertain; thrange may even be adverbial; cf. Ger. gedrang(e adv. and adj. Obs.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 17 Þat dotz bot þrych my hert þrange, My breste in bale bot bolne & bele. a 1400–50 Alexander 4813 Neȝe throtild with þe thik aire & thrange in þare andes. c 1400 Destr. Troy 12235 And he þroly with þrong wil þreppit agayn. 14.. Siege Jerus. 2 A þrange þornen croune was þraste on his hed. [a 1535 Frere & Boye 254 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 72 The frere amonge the thornes was thronge [? pa. pple. of thring v.].] |
2. Pressed or massed closely together as a crowd; crowded, thronged; † dense, close, thick (obs.).
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxvi. 124 When þai schall feight, þai hald þam so nere togyder, and so thrang þat, whare þer er xx{supm} men, sum men wald suppose þer ware noȝt x{supm}. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 401 Nerehand all Rome was gadurd þedur, & þe peple was passand thrang. c 1500 Lancelot 3366 Thar was the batell dangerus and strong, Gret was the pres, bath perellus and throng. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 379 Amang the Scottis, quhair tha war maist thrang, Or euir he wist wes closit thame amang. 1603 J. Savile K. Jas.' Entertainm. Introd. B ij b, The people were so throng. 1743 in Keble Life Bp. Wilson xxiv. (1863) 825 [The registry preserves the memorandum in the Curate's own hand of his having published this order in Rushen Church] in the presence of a throng congregation. 1770 Lett. Jas. Murray, Loyalist (1901) 134 As throng as three in a bed. 1896 L. Proudlock Borderland Muse 269, I see the ‘trouts’ are ‘rising’ thrang. |
3. Crowded with people, etc.; thronged; very fully attended or frequented.
| 1660 H. More Myst. Godl. i. ix. 28 What a[n]..unsutable representation is it of this throng Theatre in Heaven, made up of Saints and Angels? 1711 Ramsay On Maggy Johnstoun ii, The barn and yard was aft sae thrang, We took the green. 1766 Reid Wks. (1863) I. 46/2 We have had a thronger College this year than ever before. 1822 Galt Provost xxxiii, The street was as throng as on a market day. 1890 Hall Caine Bondman i. x, [The hut] was all but as throng of people as it had been..on the day of 'Liza Killey's wedding. 1894 P. H. Hunter Jas. Inwick i. (1900) 14 Oor Kirk keepit as thrang as afore. |
4. Of times, seasons, places, etc.: Into which much is crowded; full of work; busy.
| 1568 Satir. Poems Reform. xlviii. 85 The merkit is thrang, and will no{supt} lest lang. 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 62 You Clients..that visit this throng Terme. 1715 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 75 The harvest is just at its throngest. 1764 Museum Rust. II. lxxvii. 265 The value of the time..in so throng a season as the summer, is very considerable. 1816 Scott Old Mort. iv, It will be hard for you to fill her place, especially on sic a thrang day as this. 1889 Gretton Memory's Harkb. 111 It was wonderful to see..how way was made for him through the crowded streets at the afternoon throng hour. 1895 J. C. Snaith Mistr. D. Marvin xlix, 'Tis a very throng time this week. |
5. Of a person or persons: Closely engaged in work or business; pressed; fully employed, busy.
| 1623 Sanderson Serm., Job xxix. 14 §25 Great men..are as throng as ever in pulling down houses, and setting up hedges; in unpeopling towns and creating beggars. 1723 Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 50, I have been so throng this day with my booksellers, that I was not in the Assembly. 1786 Burns Twa Dogs 5 Twa dogs, that were na thrang at hame. 1804 W. Tarras Poems 1 We see his sheep thrang nibblin on the height. 1863 Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. II. 8 When we're throng, I help Hester. 1896 Barrie Marg. Ogilvy vi, ‘I suppose you are terrible thrang’, she says. ‘Well, I am rather busy’. |
6. Closely engaged together; intimately associated; ‘thick’.
| 1790 D. Morison Poems 136 (Jam.) Syne hame we scour'd fu' cheery and fu' thrang. 1865 G. Macdonald A. Forbes 51 Him an' oor Willie's unco throng. |
B. adv. Earnestly; busily.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 3094 And thus ho thought full thrange in hir thro hert, Þat so semely a sight ho se neuer before. 1786 Burns Dream ii, I see ye're complimented thrang By mony a lord an' lady. a 1810 Tannahill Ambitious Mite 10 Some brushing thrang their wings and noses. |
▪ III. throng, v.
(θrɒŋ)
Also 4 (9 dial.) thrang.
[ME. þrange, þronge wk. vb., in form a derivative from the stem of thring v., with which it agrees in sense. It may continue an unrecorded OE. *þrǫngian = OHG. drangôn; or may be f. throng n.: cf. to crowd. (A factitive from thring would have been in OE. *þręng(e)an; cf. Ger. drängen, ON. þr{obar}ngva (Sw. tränga, Da. trænge, wk. vbs.).]
† 1. trans. To press or compress violently; to squeeze, crush. Obs.
| 13.. Cursor M. 900 (Gött.) Þu sal waite womman to stang, And scho sal ȝeit þin hefde thrang. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. iv. 45 He [the Thames] raves With roring rage, and sore him selfe does throng. 1596 Danett tr. Comines (1614) 223 margin, He was..thronged to death in the gate. 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) I. 120 See into what great streights betweene both seas Asia is..as it were thronged. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle v. 2141 This foolish prophesie, That, vnlesse throngd to death, thou ne're shalt die. 1825 Brockett N.C. Words, Thrang, to press, to thrust, to squeeze. |
† 2. intr. To push or force one's way, as through a crowd or against obstacles; to press. Obs.
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3755 Thare they thronge in the thikke, and thristis to the erthe Of the thraeste mene thre hundrethe. c 1400 Destr. Troy 7040 Throly the þre men thronght hym aboute. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 343 b, The people, which striue, who may first thronge in. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 32 Hee throngs..Through crowds of the pepil. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 1041 Her breath..thronging through her lips. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 90 The Enemy, thronging in as fast as he could. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iii. ix. 80 Whereat they quickly thronged faster backe then before forward. a 1625 Fletcher & Massinger Laws of Candy i. ii, Having taken breath, he throng'd before me, Renewed the fight. |
3. a. intr. To assemble in a group or crowd; to collect in large numbers; to crowd; also, to go in a crowd.
| 15.. Adam Bel 79 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 142 They rysed the towne..And came thronging to Wyllyames house. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 410 The Greekes who thronged about his pavilion doores. 1647 Cowley Mistr., The Wish v, Lest men..Should hither throng..And so make a City. 1710 Philips Pastorals ii. 43 No more beneath thy Shade shall Shepherds throng. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. ii. lxvi, Childe Harold saw them..Thronging to war. 1832 W. Irving Alhambra II. 277 The people thronged forth to see him with impatient joy. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 164 We did meet in courtly hall, Where birth and beauty throng. 1969 M. Puzo Godfather ii. xii. 163 The young beautiful girls thronged through the city like lemmings, lasting one year, some two. 1979 A. Fraser King Charles II i. ii. 25 This maddened mob was thronging round the palace of Whitehall. |
| fig. 1671 Milton Samson 21 Restless thoughts, that like a deadly swarm Of Hornets..rush upon me thronging. 1803–6 Wordsw. Intimations Immort. iii, I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng. 1947 P. Larkin Girl in Winter ii. vi. 150 Besides—the impossibilities thronged upon her—she was sixteen, while Jane was twenty-five, middle-aged, and foreign, too. 1981 A. N. Wilson Who was Oswald Fish? xi. 121 A hundred half-memories of childhood thronged back: the smell of baking from the house next door—the Trenimans. |
† b. indirect pass. (cf. 4). Obs.
| 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 395 Ape(mantus)..Ile say th' hast Gold: Thou wilt be throng'd too shortly. Tim. Throng'd too? 1663 Pepys Diary 13 June, To the Royall Theatre... Here we saw ‘The Faithfull Sheepeardesse’, a most simple thing, and yet much thronged after. |
4. trans. To crowd round and press upon; to press upon as in a crowd, to jostle. Also fig.
| 1534 Tindale Mark v. 24 Moche people folowed him, and thronged him. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 1417 Here one being throng'd bears back. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. 217 That particles so widely disseminated could ever throng and crowd one another into a close and compact texture. 1704 J. Trapp Abra-Mulé i. ii. 299 Not so he look'd when throng'd with Multitudes Of the applauding Soldiers. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xxi. 15 When more and more the people throng The chairs and thrones of civil power. |
5. To bring or drive into a crowd, or into one place; to collect closely, to crowd; to press or drive in a crowd (quot. 1615). Chiefly in pa. pple.
| 1578 Banister Hist. Man i. 7 Pericles..seemed..to throng and thunder out his wordes. a 1608 Sir F. Vere Comm. (1657) 6 The enemy coming..with ensigns displayed, very thick thronged together. 1615 Heywood Foure Prentises i. Wks. 1874 II. 230 My Standerd..the sight whereof Will driue these stragglers in disordered rankes, And in a hurly burly throng them hence. 1652–62 Heylin Cosmogr. Introd. (1674) 8/2 Bochartus..hath thronged Joktan and his Sons into a little corner of Arabia Felix. 1677 Sedley Ant. & Cl. v. i, All she holds dear she has throng'd there but you, And now intreats that you will enter too. 1752 Young Brothers ii. i, Throngs the pride of ages in an hour. 1822 [see thronged 1]. |
6. a. To fill or occupy (a place, etc.) with a large number of things or persons, or quantity of something; to crowd, cram, stuff; to burden (quot. 1648).
| 1607 Shakes. Cor. iii. iii. 36 Throng [Theobald's correction; folios Through] our large temples with the shows of peace, And not our streets with war. 1634 Milton Comus 713 Thronging the Seas with spawn innumerable. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche iii. xxv, If..I throng my Darling with this massy store, 'Twill to a Burden swell my Courtesy. 1704 Elegy Author True born Eng. xx, Nature to make amends for want of Sense, Has throng'd his Head with clear Impertinence. 1817 Lady Morgan France (1818) I. 90 The rehearsals..occupied and thronged the streets of Paris for some days. 1842 Tennyson Locksley Hall 36 Her whisper throng'd my pulses with the fullness of the Spring. 1874 Pusey Lent. Serm. 268 To occupy and throng your thoughts with cares..of your own seeking. |
b. Said of a multitude of persons or things: To occupy completely, fill, crowd (a place, etc.).
| 1819 Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 2 All Spirits..who throng those bright and rolling worlds. 1853 C. Brontë Villette xxxviii, Gay dresses, grand equipages, fine horses..throng the bright streets. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. i. 229 Insects which thronged the adjacent grass. 1873 ‘Ouida’ Pascarèl i. viii, Great multitudes..thronged every square and street. |
c. pa. pple. Occupied by a crowd or multitude of persons or things; crowded, crammed, filled (const. with, or absol.). See also thronged 2.
| 1594 Drayton Idea 649 With those the thronged Theaters that presse, I in the circuit for the Laurell strove. 1608 Shakes. Per. ii. i. 77 A man throng'd vp with cold, my Veines are chill. 1677 Thoresby Diary (1830) I. 4 The Glasshouse Lecture..was thronged. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1858) 338 We discovered the ship's boats..both thronged with people. 1772 Bedingfield in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 405 The churches every where seemed well thronged. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. i. iv. I. 149 The galleries of Italian palaces are still thronged with statues, as were the temples. 1894 Hall Caine Manxman v. v, The streets were thronged. |
d. intr. for pass. Now dial.
| 1757 Edwards Orig. Sin viii. (1837) 75 Multitudes that the Christian world throngs with. 1844 W. Jamie Muse 112 (E.D.D.) The whisky tents began to throng. |
▪ IV. throng(e, -en
obs. pa. tense and pple. of thring v.