threadbare, a.
(ˈθrɛdbɛə(r))
Also 5 Sc. thred bar, (8 thread-bear), 5– thread(-)bare.
[f. thread n. + bare a.]
1. Of a garment, etc.: Having the nap worn off, leaving bare the threads of the warp and woof; worn to the thread; shabby; worn-out.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 113 But ȝif a lous couþe lepe I con hit not I-leue Heo scholde wandre on þat walk hit was so þred-bare. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 260 He was nat lyk a Cloystrer With a thredbare cope as is a poure scoler. c 1470 Henry Wallace vi. 449 Thi ald hud, becaus it is thred bar. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. iv. 28 Thred-bare cote, and cobled shoes, hee ware. 1693 Bowles Juvenal v. 193 Will any Freedom here from you be born, Whose Clothes are thread-bare? 1711 Addison Spect. No. 42 ¶2 Dresses and Clothes that were thread-bare and decayed. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 196 Wit and coin are always doubted with a thread-bare coat. |
2. fig. Resembling a threadbare garment; hence, poorly furnished or provided; meagre, scanty, poor, beggarly; contemptible, ‘sorry’.
| c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1431 Som person is so threde-bare of konnynge. 1462 Marg. Paston in P. Lett. II. 83 Yelverton is a good thredbare frend for yow. c 1518 Skelton Magnyf. 223 Welth and Wyt, I say, be so threde bare worne. a 1550 Fane wald I luve 19 in Dunbar's Poems (S.T.S.) 308 Sum strykis down a threid bair cheik. 1586 Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 44 With bad attire, and thred-bare dyet, he liued with him a pretty season. 1676 Marvell Mr. Smirke 10 What Power they have, they will not wear it thred bare. 1704 Swift T. Tub Introd. ¶25 A conscience thread-bare and ragged with perpetual turning. 1864 Pusey Lect. Daniel (1876) 438 We should often have had but a threadbare history. |
b. esp. Having lost its influence, freshness, or force by much use; trite from constant repetition; commonplace, stale, hackneyed.
| 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 26 So long he hath vsde to cry, oh rare, That now that phrase is growne thin & thred⁓bare. 1657 J. Watts Vind. Ch. Eng. 107 A trite, and thredbare exception. 1746 Chesterfield Lett. (1870) 23 The trite, threadbare jokes of those who set up for wit without having any. 1825 Scott Let. 29 Apr., If this quotation is rather threadbare. 1891 Mrs. Oliphant Jerusalem i. iv. 157 A strange sermon upon..the fallacy of the hopes of men, which is a threadbare subject. |
3. Of persons: Wearing threadbare clothes; shabby, seedy; hence, impecunious, hard up; down-at-heel, out-at-elbows. Now rare or Obs.
| 1577 R. Wrighte in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. III. 75 He shall not onley be thrid bare but ragged. 1628 Earle Microcosm., Prison (Arb.) 82 Onely to be out at elbowes is in fashion here, and a great Indecorum, not to be thredbare. 1672 Shadwell Timon i. Wks. 1720 II. 298 Honesty, Thou foolish, slender, thread-bare, starving thing. 1713 Steele Englishm. No. 16. 108 You shall see him..in close Whisper with a thread-bare Philosopher. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 136 [He] took the thread-bare Longfield..under the arm, and carried him away. |
4. Comb., as threadbare-genteel, (cf. shabby-genteel).
| 1849 Clough Amours de Voyage i. 130 Some Threadbare-genteel relations. |