▪ I. † thrill, n.1 Obs.
(θrɪl)
[A metathetic form of thirl n.1; originally northern.]
A hole or aperture; esp. a nose-thirl, nostril.
| 1382 Noose thrillis [see nose-thirl β]. c 1400 Nose thrilles [see nose-thirl β]. c 1400 Destr. Troy 3045 Hir nose..With thrilles noght thrat, but thriftily made. a 1400–50 Alexander 4073 Hale he þam [images] fyndis..& aithire thrill stoppis. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 211 Her [dodo's] bill is crooked downwards, in midst is the thrill. |
| Comb. 1618 R. Brathwait Descr. Death xiv, Naked his scalpe, thrill-open is his Nose. |
▪ II. † thrill, n.2 Sc. Obs.
Also 4 threll, thryll, thril.
[OE. þrǽl, ON. þrǽll, thrall n.1, app. became in Sc. threll, which was later narrowed to thrill. Cf. thirl n.2 2.]
One who is bound in servitude; a thrall. Comb. † thrillman, bondman.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 243 He þ{supt} thryll Is has nocht his, All þ{supt} he has enbandownyt Is Till hys lord. Ibid. 274 Schortly to say, is nane can tell Þe halle condicioun off A threll. Ibid. iii. 220. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paulus) 974 To..pure men, to thrillmen & to women. Ibid. v. (Johannes) 202 Riche man is thril alway to twa: þe tane, is riches. Ibid. l. (Katerine) 220 Be þe body giff þu will Gowerne þe, þu beis a thrill. c 1470 Golagros & Gaw. 435 Our doughty elderis has bene endurand Thriuandly in this thede, vnchargit as thril. |
▪ III. thrill, n.3
(θrɪl)
[f. thrill v.1]
1. a. A subtle nervous tremor caused by intense emotion or excitement (as pleasure, fear, etc.), producing a slight shudder or tingling through the body; a penetrating influx of feeling or emotion.
| a 1680 Glanvill Serm. vii. (R.), Joy warms the..blood, and sends it about with a pleasant thrill through all the channels of its motion. 1799 Ht. Lee Canterb. T., Frenchm. T. (ed. 2) I. 240 Those communications..shot cold thrills through his frame. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxii, St. Clare would feel a sudden thrill, and clasp her in his arms. 1867 Smiles Huguenots Eng. xi. (1880) 195 The intelligence caused a thrill of indignation to run throughout England. |
b. Thrilling property (of a play, novel, narrative, speech, etc.); sensational quality; transf. (slang), a literary work having this property, a sensational story, a ‘thriller’.
| 1886 Westm. Rev. Oct. 382 The sensational title of a shilling thrill. 1891 E. Kinglake Australian at H. 97 Relevancy..is apparently not a matter of so much consequence as thrill, as the man says in Mark Twain's book. 1894 Mrs. H. Ward Marcella I. 14 Whatever had been spoken by him had grace, thrill, meaning. |
c. A thrilling experience or incident.
| 1936 G. B. Shaw Simpleton Unexpected Isles i. 48 The Clergyman: Yes: I know I should have explained that. But she let me kiss her. Mrs. Hyering: That must have been a thrill, Mr Hammingtap. Life came to you that time, didn't it? 1947 Sporting Mirror 7 Nov. 8/1, I must add that in actual fact there was not much scientific football. But the dizzy paced thrills made up for that. 1951 R. Campbell Light on Dark Horse ii. 37 To be driven round in these new horse-less machines was a thrill of which we never tired in those days. 1964 in Hamblett & Deverson Generation X 32 Going to a party and being rowdy, dancing to very loud music,..being driven in a very fast car, are all great thrills. |
2. a. The vibrating or quivering of anything tangible or visible; acute tremulousness, as of a sound; a vibration, throbbing, tremor.
| 1817 Moore Lalla R., Veiled Prophet (1854) 96 While a thrill Lives in your sapient bosoms. 1825 Scott Talism. xiv, As the thrill of a nerve, unexpectedly jarred, will awaken the sensation of agony. 1865 Baring-Gould Werewolves xiv. 240 Listening to the harplike thrill of the breeze in the old grey tree-tops. 1874 Lowell Agassiz i. i, The electric nerve, whose instantaneous thrill Makes next-door gossips of the antipodes. 1892 Tyndall in Times 3 Feb. 5/6 The sudden..dropping and lifting of an opaque screen over the electric light, thus producing vivid thrills upon the fog. |
b. Phys. and Path. A vibratory movement, resonance, or murmur, felt or heard in auscultation.
| 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 544 That vibratory thrill [of the pulse] which has been called wiriness. 1877 Roberts Handbk. Med. (ed. 3) II. 9 Thrill or purring tremor..indicate the special character of a peculiar vibratory sensation conveyed to the fingers. 1879 Khory Princ. Med. 56 Besides impulse we have another movement of the heart, known as thrill. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 58 He..has a well-marked pre-systolic thrill and a loud pre-systolic murmur at the cardiac apex. |
3. a. Comb., as thrill-seeker. b. attrib. passing into adj., of a crime: committed purely for the sake of the excitement experienced in carrying it out, as thrill hold-up, thrill killing, thrill murder.
| 1928 Daily Tel. 30 Oct. 11/5 A long series of ‘thrill’ hold-ups [at Atlanta, Georgia]..is cleared up here with the arrest of two Oglethorpe University students. The youthful thrill-seekers are George Harsh and James Galogly, both members of good families. 1978 LaRosa & Tanenbaum Random Factor (1979) xi. 172 Billy Krieg died because he was part in a series of thrill killings. |
| 1973 R. C. Dennis Sweat of Fear xiii. 98 The police think it was a thrill murder. Do you feel such a person can be wholly sane? |
| 1928 Thrill-seeker [see thrill hold-up above]. 1967 W. & J. Breedlove Swinging Set xii. 146 A variety of sexual thrill-seekers. |
▸ thrillcraft n. chiefly U.S. any of various types of recreational water vehicle, usually capable of high speeds, that can be used in exciting or dangerous water sports.
| 1986 Record (Bergen County, New Jersey) 25 Sept. c10/6 The commission heard from an industry representative on the subject of jet ski operation, a problem under study along with the impact of other ‘*thrill craft’ on boating safety. 1993 National Wildlife Feb.–Mar. 10/2 The rising popularity of thrill craft—jet skis, parasails and other recreational water vehicles that can annoy cetaceans. 1996 Chicago Tribune 14 Apr. (Womanews Suppl.) 3/2 Finally in 1991 thrillcraft were banned during the [whale] calving season. |
▸ thrill kill n. a murder committed purely for the sake of the excitement experienced in carrying it out; cf. thrill killer n. at Additions.
| 1945 Nevada State Jrnl. 28 Nov. 2 (advt.) Murder at its mysterious best in that *thrill-kill story of the ‘Brighton Strangler’. 1974 Times 28 Feb. 10/6 A Glasgow-born moulder..has been sentenced to life imprisonment on three counts of murder in the ‘thrill kill’ trial in Sydney. 2001 Metro (Toronto) 26 Apr. 6/2 Police now believe that the hit-and-run death of a 65-year-old Brampton man last year was a deliberate thrill-kill. |
▸ thrill killer n. orig. U.S. a person who commits a murder purely for the sake of the excitement experienced in carrying it out.
| 1925 N.Y. Times 17 July 8 Facing a blank wall without a single definite clue to point to the end of the chase for the accused ‘*thrill killer’, police up-State shifted their inquiries toward identification of an unknown man who leaped to death at Niagara Falls. 1998 M. D. Kelleher When Good Kids Kill iv. 91 The teenager had told investigators that he had planned to murder someone because he was ‘in a rut’. In effect, [he]..openly proclaimed himself to be a thrill killer. |
▪ IV. thrill, n.4 dial.
Corruption of thill1.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. xviii. (Roxb.) 139/1 The shafts, are the side of the thrill or thill. 1772 Sterne's Tr. Shandy vii. xv. Wks. V. 93 (Jod.) The thrillhorse [edd. 1765, 1776 thill-horse] trotting. 1886 Cheshire Gloss. s.v. Cart, Two longitudinal pieces, known as thrill bars or mid thrills, are morticed into the binders, and these support the boards which form the bottom of the cart. 1887 S. Cheshire Gloss. s.v. Cart, The shafts are also called thrills..; hence we speak of ‘thrill-gears’.., ‘a good thrill-hoss’... But the simple word thrill, though still universally understood, is less commonly used than formerly. |
▪ V. thrill, v.1
(θrɪl)
Forms: 4 thril, 4–5 þrill(e, þrulle(ü), 4–6 thrille, 5 thryl(le, 5–6 thryll, 4– thrill.
[A metathetic form of thirl v.1]
I. Of the action of material bodies.
† 1. a. trans. To pierce, bore, penetrate; = thirl v.1 1. Also intr. with through (quot. 13871).
| a 1300 Cursor M. 11824 Þe fester thrild his bodi thurgh. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 30, & scharp lance þat thrilled Ihesu side. a 1340 Hampole Psalter iii. 4 Þe fors of fire of luf..þat makis his prayere to thrill heuen. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 339 A torf..i-doo aboute a worme sleeþ hym oþer makeþ hym þrulle þoruȝ þe erþe [terram penetrare] for to scape a way. Ibid. VII. 349 A grym strook of liȝtnynge..þrulled þe wal. 1530 Palsgr. 755/2, I thrill, I perce or bore thorowe a thyng... This terme is olde and nowe lytell used. 1605 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. i. Vocation 115 Through Corslets, Rivets, Jacks, and Shirts of Mail His shaft shall thrill the Foes that him assail. 1634 A. Rhead Descr. Body Man C vj/2 A roughnesse where there is a hole, but not thrilled through. 1661 Merry Drollery 13 The sword..doth nimbly come to the point.., Thrilling, and drilling, And killing, and spilling. |
† b. To break or penetrate through (an enemy's line). Also intr. with through. Obs.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xvi. 430 [Thai] thrillit thame [the ynglis rout] weill neir throu-out. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ix. iv. 343 Thorou the thyckest prees he thrulled thorou them. |
† 2. intr. To penetrate or pass through, proceed (into or to a place); = thirl v.1 6. Obs. rare.
| 13.. Cursor M. 21098 (Edin.) Thomas..he soȝte þat estern thede, And þrillid [v.rr. þirled, thirlid] intil haiþinhede. |
† 3. a. trans. To cause (a lance, dart, or the like) to pass; to dart, hurl (a piercing weapon). Obs.
(Perhaps sometimes including a notion of the quivering motion of the missile.)
| 1609 Heywood Brit. Troy xiii. lxx, He thrild a Iavelin at the Dardans brest. 1624 Quarles Sion's Elegies ii. 4 Darts, thrill'd from heaven, transfixe my bleeding hart. 1637 Heywood Dial., Pelopæa & Alope Wks. 1874 VI. 301 Our well-tride Nymphs,..thrild their arrowie Iavelins after him. 1646 G. Daniel Poems Wks. (Grosart) I. 77, I am..deeply strucke, and beare The fatall Iaveline, with me everie where; Into the Marrow thrill'd. |
† b. To hurl, to send (persons) flying. Obs. rare. (Cf. thirl v.3 1, quot. 1587.)
| 1606 Warner Alb. Eng. xiv. lxxxv. (1612) 353 But leauing Romaines thrilled thence, and Brutes by Rome opprest, What hapt meane while betwixt the Picts and Scots shall be digest. |
II. Of the action of non-material forces.
† 4. fig. from 1: To pierce, penetrate (as a sound, or an emotion). Obs. (passing into 5).
| a 1300 Cursor M. 17738 Of his ded als þe sorful ord Sal thril þin hert thoru als a suord. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxvi. (Baptista) 131 Þi word thrillit myn ere. c 1440 Gesta Rom. xlv. 177 (Harl. MS.) Synne in twynkelynge of an ye þrillithe alle the erþe. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. viii. 39 With percing point Of pitty deare his hart was thrilled sore. 1629 Milton Ode Nativity, Hymn x, Such sound..the Airy region thrilling. 1642 H. More Song Soul i. i. vi, Which in their sprights, may cause sweet agony, And thrill their bodies through with pleasing dart. |
† b. intr. with through. Obs. (passing into 5 b).
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 258 b, Many moo sorowes dyd teare & thryll thorowe her herte. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. viii. 6 Eger greedinesse through every member thrild. 1592 [see 5 b]. |
5. a. trans. To affect or move with a sudden wave of emotion. Also as pa. pple., extremely pleased or delighted (colloq.).
| 1605 Shakes. Lear iv. ii. 73 A Seruant that he bred, thrill'd with remorse, Oppos'd against the act. 1718 Pope Iliad xix. 266 Greece around sat thrill'd with sacred awe. 1791 Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest ii, A kind of pleasing dread thrilled her bosom. 1805 Wordsw. Waggoner ii. 34 His ears are by the music thrilled. 1842 Tennyson Sir Galahad ii, Me mightier transports move and thrill. 1908 E. F. Benson Climber vii. 98 Though she would not have dreamed of doing what Elizabeth had done and looked over the letter, she could not but be thrilled with the fact that there were four pages. 1964 in Hamblett & Deverson Generation X 153, I adore Nureyev. When he danced on the Palladium show on telly I was thrilled to bits. 1976 A. Miller Inside Outside iv. 40 Naturally I was thrilled to bits and accepted with alacrity. |
b. intr. To produce a thrill, as an emotion, or anything causing emotion; to pass with a thrill through.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iv. iii. 15, I haue a faint cold feare thrills through my veines. a 1719 Addison Milton's Style Imitated 124 A sudden horror..Ran through each nerve, and thrill'd in ev'ry vein. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xii, When some peculiar feeling of hope, or perhaps of remorse, happened to thrill across his mind. 1854 J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) II. xx. 356 In tones which thrilled upon every heart. 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §5. 513 The news of Hampden's resistance thrilled through England. |
c. intr. (? for pass.) To feel, or be moved by, a thrill of emotion. Often const. at, to, with.
| 1595 Shakes. John v. ii. 143 To thrill and shake, Euen at the crying of your Nations crow, Thinking this voyce an armed Englishman. 1596 ― 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 407 Art not thou horrible afraid? Doth not thy blood thrill at it? 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. x. III. 179 He..read over..the ‘last words’ of his adored Fanny, till the blood thrilled in his veins. 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §3. 488 England was thrilling with excitement at the thought that her own hour of deadly peril might come again. 1935 Motion Picture Nov. 29/2 If you live within range of a national radio network, you've thrilled to their voices. 1940 J. Buchan Memory Hold-the-Door ii. 42 Stevenson..thrilled as we did to those antecedents—the lights and glooms of Scottish history. 1952 T. Pyles Words & Ways Amer. Eng. ii. 34 Generations of European children have thrilled to the novels of J. F. Cooper. |
6. a. intr. To move tremulously or with vibration; to quiver, vibrate. (Said esp. of sound or light.)
| 1776 Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad ix. 396 Here..The solemn harp's melodious warblings thrill. 1816 Scott Bl. Dwarf iii, Exhausting his voice in shrieks and imprecations, that thrilled wildly along the waste heath. 1827–35 Willis Absalom 79 My pulses thrill, Like a rich harp-string. 1862 Tyndall Mountaineer. i. 8 Watching the lightning thrilling behind the clouds. 1878 T. Hardy Ret. Native iv. vi, The great valley of purple heath thrilling silently in the sun. |
b. trans. To send forth or utter tremulously.
| 1647 Crashaw Music's Duel 57 Her supple breast thrills out Sharp airs. 1868 Farrar Silence & V. ii. (1875) 35 The spirit within us thrills its glad response to the noble utterance. |
c. To cause to quiver; to throw into vibration.
| 1800 Moore Anacreon lviii, Sweet [are] the sighs that thrill the lyre. 1860 Farrar Orig. Lang. i. 12 The air is thrilled with the voice of birds. 1872 O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. v. (1885) 124 An earthquake thrills the planet. |
▪ VI. † thrill, v.2 Sc. Obs.
[f. thrill n.2]
1. trans. To make a thrall of, enthrall, enslave; = thirl v.2 1.
| 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 157 It is..na to be tholit..sen he [Christ] has maid man free, he suld thrill his brother. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. 73 To thrill us to maist schamefull servitude. |
2. To bind or engage (lands) in thirlage: = thirl v.2 2.
| 1480 Act. Dom. Conc. (1839) 70/2 Þ{supt} þe said Robert..sall be na maner of way thrill þa landis bot deliuer þaim fre as said is. |
▪ VII. † thrill, v.3 Obs.
[Cf. drill v.2, trill v.]
intr. To flow in a small stream or in drops; to trickle, percolate; to drip; = drill v.2 1.
| 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 22 Water passing and thrilling through y{supt} narow conduit. Ibid. 79 Y⊇ bloud..penetratith, thryllith, and yssuyth furth the soner. 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass xiii. (1664) 137 They razed his Skin with a Razor till the Bloud thrilled down. 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 220 No streams of grace, Thrilling or trickling from thy blubber't face. |