▪ I. thoroughfare, n. (a.)
(ˈθʌrəfɛə(r))
Forms: 4–5 thurghfare, 5 thurghe-; thoruȝ faar, thoruhfare, 6 thorowe, thoroughe, thorough fare, 6–8 thorowfare, 7–8 thorow-, thorough-fare, (7 thorow-faire, thorough fair, 7–8 thorow-, thorough-fair, 8 thorowfair, 8–9 thorofare), 7– thoroughfare. β. 5 Sc. throchtfayr, 6 throw-fare, Sc. throuchfair, throuche fair, 6–7 through fare, through-fare, 7–9 throughfare.
[In ME. thurghfare, 15th c. thoruȝ faar, f. þurh, þuruh, through + fare n.1, OE. faru passage, way, track: cf. thorough- 2. Cf. Du. doorvaart (deurvaerd, Kilian) passage, esp. passage for ships (cf. 1 d below), LG. dörfard, MHG. durchvart, G. durchfahrt.]
1. A passage or way through. a. In general sense; also fig. Now usually merged in sense c, exc. in phr. no thoroughfare, no public way through or right of way here.
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1989 This world nys but a thurghfare ful of wo, And we been pilgrymes, passynge to and fro. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas i. i. (MS. Bodl. 263) lf. 11/2 This world is a thoruhfare [ed. 1554 throw-fare] ful of wo. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. vii. 41 The Hircanion deserts, and the vaste wildes Of wide Arabia are as throughfares now For Princes to come view faire Portia. 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. B iv, Yet makes the wood my through-fare into heauen. 1641 Hinde J. Bruen lviii. 195 You..rather glory to have your house made a through-fare of profane persons. 1797–1802 G. Colman Br. Grins, Elder Bro. (1819) 117 Making their throats a thorough-fare for wine. a 1817 Jane Austen Persuasion (1818) III. xi. 235 The ‘no-thoroughfare of Lyme’. 1822 Byron Juan vii. xi, To hint, at least, ‘Here is no thoroughfare’. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Ability Wks. (Bohn) II. 41 They have made the island a thoroughfare; and London a shop..inviting to strangers. 1893 Huxley Sci. & Chr. Tradit. Pref. (1894) 8 Before me stood the thorny barrier with its comminatory noticeboard—‘No Thoroughfare. By order. Moses’. |
† b. spec. A town through which traffic passes; a town on a highway or line of traffic. Obs.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 493/2 Thurghfare, oppidum. c 1449 Pecock Repr. v. vii. (Rolls) 521 Whi in a town which is a thoruȝ faar toward Londoun ben so manye ostries clepid innes? 1530 Palsgr. 200/1 Borowe or thorowe fare, bourc. Ibid. 281/1 Throwfare, bourgade, bourc. a 1552 Leland Itin. IV. 131 From Uxbridge to Southall a Village about 6 Miles. Thence to Acton a pretty Through-Fare a 4 Miles. 1619 Dalton Country Just. vii. (1630) 32 In Towns which are no thorow-fare the Justices shall..be sparing of allowing of any alehouse. 1769 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. I. 87 Newmarket..being a Thorough-fare, reaps no small Advantage by that Means, as well as from the Races. 1829 Scott Anne of G. vii, The little castle and town of Ferette..served as a thoroughfare to the traffic of Berne and Soleure. |
c. A road, street, lane, or path forming a communication between two other roads or streets, or between two places; a public way unobstructed and open at both ends; esp. a main road or street, a highway.
| 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 17 Chauncerie lane... And..Fewter lane, being thorough fares and passages from Fletestrete into Holborne. 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. iv. 251 The Strand, that goodly thorow-fare betweene The Court and City. 1658 W. Burton Itin. Anton. 2 Those publick Through-fares, or Waies, which the Souldiers raised. 1796 W. Marshall W. England II. 54 It is a large inland Market Town; but has no thorofare to support it. 1843 A. Bethune Sc. Fireside Stor. 275 One of the thoroughfares to the metropolis passed through the place. |
d. A piece of water, as a strait or river, affording passage for ships, etc.; an unobstructed channel. (In definite application to a particular channel, chiefly U.S.; otherwise a special case of the general sense.)
| 1699 Roberts Voy. Levant 32 There is a Thoroughfare between the Mainland..and this Isle. 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 127 There is a Thorough-Fare in the Midst of it, where we rode with our Ships. 1739 Descr. Windward Passage (ed. 2) 6 A Thorough-fare for Shipping between some Islands, or other Land, as..the Gulf of Messina between the Island of Sicily and Italy. 1856 Stanley Sinai & Pal. ii. 113 The Mediterranean was not yet the thoroughfare—it was rather the boundary..of the eastern nations. |
| (b) 1848 Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 46 After one mile of river, or what the boatmen call ‘thoroughfare’—for the river becomes at length only the connecting link between the lakes,—..we entered the North Twin Lake. 1896 Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada II. ii. 210 Thoroughfare, a passage between lakes on the same level. |
e. ‘A strait of water, or neck of land connecting two bodies of water, habitually traversed by wild fowl in migrating or passing to and from their feeding-grounds’ (Hallock Sportsman's Gazetteer 1883, Gloss.).
2. The action of going or passing through, or the condition of being passed through or traversed; passage. Now rare or Obs.
| 1667 Milton P.L. x. 393 Ye..have..made one Realm Hell and this World, one Realm, one Continent Of easie thorough-fare. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. x. 23 Made hard and callous, by the continual thoroughfare of the Chylus. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 57 Till custom had grown into a right of thoroughfare. 1868 Stanley Westm. Abb. i. 4 The River Thames..here widening to an almost majestic size, yet not too wide for thoroughfare. |
3. attrib. or adj. That is a thoroughfare; passed or travelled through by traffic; chiefly in thoroughfare town = sense 1 b.
[Cf. OE. þurhfere passable, in Ags. Hymnar. (Surtees) 112, 9 (Bosw.-T.) ᵹeat þurhfere.]
| 1553 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 143 All villages and throuchfair townis of this realme. 1564 Yorks. Chantry Surv. (Surtees) 264 [Boroughbridge] being one thoroughffare towne of the Kinges strete. 1592 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1814) III. 576/1 At the principall throuche fair townis and paroche kirkis. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Hartford. (1662) ii. 25 William of Ware born in that thorough fair Town twenty miles from London. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 146 The two ends of the Earths throughfare line or diameter. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 76 Most of the great thoroughfare streets. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 10 June 2/1 How seldom must these ancient [Italian] walled villages communicate with the thoroughfare-valleys, or the railway, or distant Rome! |
▪ II. ˈthoroughfare, v. rare.
[In early use, OE. þurhféran (also þurhfaran str. vb.) to pass through, traverse: cf. Du. doorvaren (deurvaeren, Kilian), LG. dorfaren; OHG. durahfaran, Ger. durchfahren. In 2 from (or after) prec. n.]
1. trans. To go, pass, or travel through.
| a 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iv. ii. (1890) 258 He sona ðurhferde eall Breotone ealond. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1147 Hu mei he helpen oðre..Þe þurhferde deað as heo doð? [1674, 1895: see thoroughfaring below.] |
2. To pass through or traverse, as a road; to form a thoroughfare in or across.
| 1886 Lowell Progr. World in Latest Lit. Ess. (1891) 163 Those..slits that thoroughfared the older town. |
So † ˈthoroughfared a. Obs. [f. prec. n. + -ed2], having a thoroughfare or passage, perforated; † ˈthorough-farer (ˈthrough-farer) Obs., one who goes or travels through, a wayfarer; ˈthorough-faring (ˈthroughfaring), a going, passing, or travelling through; ˈthoroughfaresome (ˈthrough-faresome) a., (a) capable of being passed through, penetrable; (b) relating to passing through.
| 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. ii. vii. 111 When the Ventricles are dilated above the *through-far'd Septum..the little holes would be shut up. |
| 1626 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 474 [To] intertaine *through-farers and passengers. |
| 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 90 There would be..no *throughfarings of the least steams or reekings of bodies. 1895 A. Nutt Voy. Bran I. 301 A road worn with much thoroughfaring. |
| 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 138 All body being as *throughfaresom to ghost, as tis stopping to body. 1863 De Morgan Let. to Whewell in Life (1882) 319, I feel helped by the word διιέναι, because it is a very thoroughfaresome word... It is used for going through a country, or for running a man through the body. |