A Dictionary of Cont..

threadbare 512
punishment, to show superior strength (Dr.
Keate’s admirers boasted that he had thrashed
half the b&hops, generals, and cabinet ministers
of England). By one of those associations of
words that get fixed in languages, bullies always
seem to get thrashed. The English apply thrush
more than the Americans do to the infliction of
punishment on children. In America whip and
spank are the more common words and both
(though whip only in that context) suggest
lighter and less violent treatment than thrush.
Though some English authorities regard the
zcp of beat up as unnecessary, it does mean something
when one understands beat up to mean, as
it does mean to most Americans, not merely to
beat but to beat until the one beaten is in a state
of physical collapse (The hitchhikers beat up the
driver and went ofl with his car). In slang usage
beat up, as an adjective, means battered, showing
signs of excessive wear (He wore a wonderful
old beat-up hat, sloppy corduroy pants and dirty
sneakers) or utterly tired out. One who is beaten
up is one who has sustained a severe beating.
One who is beat up is tired, exhausted.
threadbare excuse is a threadbare phrase for an
excuse made so often (usually by the same person)
that it can no longer be accepted with even
the pretense of credence.
threaten. This word may be followed by an infinitive,
as in he threatened to resign. It is also
heard with the -ing form of a verb, as in he
threatened resigning, but the infinitive construction
is preferred.
thresh. See thrash.
threw. See throw.
thrifty. See economical.
thrilled. See bored to death.
thrive. The past tense is thrived or throve. The
participle is thrived or thriven.
In the United States thrived is now preferred
for the past tense and the participle. In Great
Britain the preferred forms are the older throve
and thriven (He that would thrive must rise at
five;/ He that has thriven may lie till seven).
through thick and thin. The “thick” of thick and
thin is a thicket, that is, a dense growth of shrubs,
undergrowth, and small trees, a brake. To go
through thick and thin (thicket had been
shortened to thick in this expression even by
Chaucer’s time) was to go relentlessly ahead,
through thicket and open spaces. Hence to push
on through everything in the way, disregarding
all obstacles and impediments, or to adhere to
some party or course under all circumstances,
come what may. The phrase is now hackneyed
and lacks specific meaning.
throve. See thrive.
throw. The past tense. is threw. The participle is
thrown.
Throwed was once literary English but is no
longer standard, except in the nursery where
throwed up is sometimes used as an idiot euphemism
for vomited.
throw; cast. These two verbs mean to hurl or
tling. Cast is the more formal, throw the one
which serves everyday uses.
Cost is chiefly used in idiomatic expressions.
There are Biblical uses: Cnst noz your pea&
before swine. Let him first cast a stone at her.
There are everyday uses: cast a vote, cast lots,
cast nets, cast a fishing line, cast off the bow line,
castaways, cast-off clothing, and so on. Deer cast
their antlers, snakes their skins. Men cast ofi evil
habits and bad companions, the doing of which
is felt to be noble, but throw of prosaic things
like colds or headaches. We cast aspersions, cast
an eye over a manuscript or an audience, cast
aside scruples, caution, fear (Cast a cold eye/
On life, on death,/ Horseman, pass by!).
Throw, in addition to its literal and prosaic
uses, also has idiomatic senses. We throw off disguises
or illnesses. We throw a veil over a discreditable
incident. In American slang we throw
a party when we give one that we hope will be
distinguished by unusual gaiety and verve. We
throw a game when we deliberately, for a bribe
or some other base motive, permit the opponent
to win. To throw the book at someone is to make
him suffer the severest penalties. The term is a
cliche. To throw a scene is to put on an exhibition
of temperament. To throw up, to vomit, is
standard in America in relation to children. In
England it is obsolescent. In speaking of adults,
it is better to use vomit.
throw down the glove. It has been many centuries
since any knight threw down his glove or gauntlet
to another in defiance. As a term for challenging
someone, lo throw down the glove to
him is now stilted and worn.
throw off the scent. Used figuratively to mean to
divert attention, and especially to divert suspicion,
to throw off the scent is a cliche.
thrown. See throw.
thrust. The past tense is thrust. The participle is
also thrzzst.
thumbtack; drawing pin. American thumbtack, a
tack with a large, flat head, designed to be thrust
in by the thumb, is equivalent to English druwing
pin.
thusly seems to have originated in the Boston
lortrnal in 1889. Whether it was the product of
illiteracy or exuberance is not known, but it is
hard to see what purpose it serves. Thus is an
adverb and nothing is gained by attaching the
regular adverbial suffix -1y to it (as in For many
months, motivated thusly by his curiosity . . .
etc.).
thy; thine. These words are no longer natural
English. When they are used, they follow exactly
the pattern of my and mine. See my;
mine.
ticket has a number of special senses in America.
As a noun it can mean the list of candidates for
election nominated or put forward by a political
party. (See also slate.) To vote a straight ticket
is to vote for all of the candidates nominated
by one party. As a verb ticket in the United
States can mean to furnish with a ticket or to
issue a ticket to (The little girl was ticketed
through to Cincinnati).
tickle means primarily to touch or stroke lightly
with the fingers, a feather, etc., so as to excite
a tingling or itching sensation in, to titillate
(Nothing tickles that does not pinch. Some chil-