thicken, v.
(ˈθɪk(ə)n)
[f. thick a. + -en 5. Cf. ON. þykkn-a, f. þykk adj. thick.]
To make or become thick or thicker.
1. trans. To make dense in consistence; to coagulate, inspissate. Also fig.
| c 1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula 30 Vnto þat þe watrynes of þe Iuyse be somewhat þikned. 1552 Huloet, Thycken or congeale, congelo. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 64 Heat doth safegard and thicken the milk. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 353 By indulging his Body he thickens his Understanding. 1771 E. Haywood New Present 44 It is a very good thing to thicken gravy with. 1801 C. Dibdin Tour I. 356 The illuminati, who generally thicken in the clear, so as to confound the business, that a man of plain sense can make nothing out of them. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xiii. 221 Oatmeal was used scantily, but generally for thickening soup. |
b. intr. To increase in density or consistence; also, to become turbid or cloudy. Also fig.
| 1598 Epulario I j b, Set it all night to thicken..in a cold place. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 19 A licquor, or gumme, which thickens of it selfe. 1718 Prior Solomon i. 355 Water stopt gives birth To grass and plants, and thickens into earth. 1888 Besant 50 Years Ago vii. 121 There comes a time when the brow clouds, and the speech thickens, and the tongue refuses to act. |
2. intr. To become dark, obscure, or opaque; of the weather: to become misty.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. ii. 50 Light thickens,..Good things of Day begin to droope, and drowse. 1606 ― Ant. & Cl. ii. iii. 27 Thy Luster thickens, When he shines by. 1670 Dryden 1st Pt. Conq. Granada ii. i, I'll face this Storm that thickens in the Wind. 1784 Cook's Voy. Pacific vi. iii. III. 239 The weather still thickening, and preventing a nearer approach to the land. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxv. 189 As we approached the summit the air thickened more and more. |
3. trans. To make close or dense in disposition of parts or in texture; to fill up the interstices or intervals of. ? Obs.
| 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 8 Seauen posts on a side, that stood a twelue foot a sunder, thikned betweene with well proportioned Pillars turnd. 1620 T. Granger Div. Logike 30 The clouds are not thickned in the skie: therfore it will not be raine. 1755 Johnson Dict., Thicken, v.,..to make frequent, to make close or numerous. 1812 Brackenridge Views Louisiana (1814) 116 It is perhaps good policy in our government..to thicken the frontier, and to suffer the intermediate space to fill up gradually. |
4. intr. To become crowded, numerous, or frequent; to gather thickly. Also † To move in great numbers, to flock, troop (obs. poet.).
| 1726 Pope Odyss. xviii. 49 Well pleased they spring Swift from their seats, and thickening form a ring. 1771 Junius Lett. liv. (1820) 286 Honours shall..thicken over him. 1789 F. Burney Diary 19 Nov., The crowd every instant thickening. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. liv, Misfortune and discovery are thickening about your head. |
5. a. trans. To increase the substance between opposite surfaces of; to make thicker in measure.
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad xiii. 123 Lance was lin'd with lance; Shields thickned with opposed shields. 1777 Sheridan Trip to Scarborough i. ii, The calves of these stockings are thicken'd a little too much. 1858 Glenny Gard. Everyday Bk. 244/1 The earth in the alleys [is to be] thrown up to thicken the soil above them a little. 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 229 In most cases the walls are thickened by spiral fibres. |
b. intr. To become thicker in measurement; to increase in girth or bulk.
| 1763 Mills Syst. Pract. Husb. IV. 35 That their roots..may have full room to thicken and run downward. 1805 Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) 42 Ice in the river thickening. 1872 R. B. Smyth Mining Statist. 21 The seams..thicken in one place and thin out in another. |
c. trans. fig. To make more substantial; to strengthen, confirm.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 430 This may helpe to thicken other proofes, That do demonstrate thinly. 1893 C. W. Wendte in Reasonable Relig. 73 The philosophers..are thickening up their systems..with scientific facts. |
6. intr. fig. To become more complex or intricate (esp. said of a plot); to increase in intensity.
| 1671 Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Rehearsal iii. ii. (Arb.) 81 Ay, now the Plot thickens very much upon us. 1697 Dryden æneid ix. 908 The combat thickens, like the storm that flies. 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. ii, The cry, That thickened as the chase drew nigh. 1859 Kingsley Misc. I. i. 16 As the quarrel thickened and neared. |
Hence thickened (ˈθɪk(ə)nd) ppl. a., that is made thick or thicker, in various senses.
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad xix. 368 A bright thickned bush of golden haire. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 742 The thick'nd Skie Like a dark Ceeling stood. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 386 Mix it with thicken'd Juice of sodden Wines. 1861 Bentley Man. Bot. 401 Plants with succulent or thickened leaves. 1900 Daily News 17 Apr. 7/4 With solids and pneumatics [tyres], both of the wired-on and thickened-edge varieties. |