thick

Etymology

From Middle English thikke, from Old English þicce (“thick, dense”), from Proto-West Germanic *þikkwī, from Proto-Germanic *þekuz (“thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *tégus (“thick”). Cognates Cognate with Danish tyk (“thick”), Dutch dik (“thick”), Faroese tjúkkur (“thick”), German dick (“thick”), Icelandic þykkur (“thick”), Norwegian Bokmål tykk (“thick”), Norwegian Nynorsk tjukk (“thick”), Saterland Frisian tjuk (“thick”), Swedish tjock (“thick”). Related to Old Irish tiug (“thick”) and Welsh tew (“thick”).

adj

1. Relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension.
   The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […]. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess
2. Measuring a certain number of units in this dimension.
   I want some planks that are two inches thick.
3. Heavy in build; thickset.
   As she twirled around in front of the mirror admiring how the dress showed off her thick booty, she felt like a princess in a children's storybook. 2007, James T. Knight, Queen of the Hustle
   JJ loved “average hood girls”, Cody loved dark-skinned thick girls and Mooch lusted for yellow-boned skinny woman. 2009, Kenny Attaway, Nuthouse Love, page 82
   He had such a thick neck that he had to turn his body to look to the side.
4. Densely crowded or packed.
   My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 3, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
   We walked through thick undergrowth.
5. Having a viscous consistency.
   My mum’s gravy was thick but at least it moved about.
6. Abounding in number.
   The room was thick with reporters.
7. Impenetrable to sight.
   We drove through thick fog.
8. (Of an accent) Prominent, strong.
   1. Greatly evocative of one's nationality or place of origin.
      He answered me in his characteristically thick Creole patois.
   2. Difficult to understand, or poorly articulated.
      We had difficulty understanding him with his thick accent.
9. (informal) Stupid.
   He was as thick as two short planks.
10. (informal) Friendly or intimate.
    They were as thick as thieves.
    Jem is a tall, good-looking fellow, as old as I am, and that's twenty-one last birthday; we came into the office together years ago, and have been very thick ever since 1859, Thomas Hughes, The Scouring of the White Horse
11. Deep, intense, or profound.
    Thick darkness.
12. (academic) Detailed and expansive; substantive.
    Thick prehistory also is interested in a much broader array of topics than the perennial sociological concern for how individuals relate to the collective and how social continuity and change occur in light of that relationship; thick prehistory addresses the social, biological, and psychological person. 2006, Christopher Carr, D. Troy Case, “The Gathering of Hopewell”, in Christopher Carr, D. Troy Case, editors, Gathering Hopewell: Society, Ritual, and Ritual Interaction, page 47
    A thick theory, such as libertarianism or socialism, is not appropriate as the basis for a constitution in a pluralistic society in which the people hold differing views about the good (or justice). 2013, John O. McGinnis, Michael B. Rappaport, Originalism and the Good Constitution, page 5
    Nor is his defence of market capitalism likely to persuade all his progressive friends, because no matter how much fairness is achieved through an application of the difference principle, they are reluctant to accept Tomasi’s defence of private property rights or a thick concept of economic freedom. 2021, Wanjiru Njoya, Economic Freedom and Social Justice: The Classical Ideal of Equality in Contexts of Racial Diversity, page 95
13. (UK, dated) troublesome; unreasonable
    "Of course I was eager to put her affairs in order," George told my father, "but I found it a bit thick when expected to pay for Lord Randolph Churchill's barouche purchased in the '80s." 1969, Anita Leslie, Lady Randolph Churchill, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 288
14. (slang, chiefly of women) Curvy and voluptuous, and especially having large hips.
    A word to the thick soul sistas, I want to get with ya 1991, “Baby Got Back”, in Mack Daddy, performed by Sir Mix-a-Lot

adv

1. In a thick manner.
   Snow lay thick on the ground.
2. Frequently or numerously.
   The arrows flew thick and fast around us.

noun

1. The thickest, or most active or intense, part of something.
   It was mayhem in the thick of battle.
2. A thicket.
3. (slang) A stupid person; a fool.
   If there was doctorates in bollocksology and scratching yourself in bed, the two of you'd be professors by now. Pair of loafing, idle thicks. 2014, Joseph O'Connor, The Thrill of It All, page 100

verb

1. (archaic, transitive, intransitive) To thicken.
   The nightmare Life-in-death was she, / Who thicks man's blood with cold. 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, chapter 3, in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, lines 193–194