thick

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”).

• Audio:

  (file)

• enPR: thĭk
• (Received Pronunciation, General American, General Australian) IPA^(key): /θɪk/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /θɘk/

• Audio (US); [θɪk]:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪk

thick (comparative thicker, superlative thickest)

2. Relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension.

   Synonyms: broad; see also Thesaurus:wide

   Antonyms: slim, thin; see also Thesaurus:narrow

   • 1861, Charles James Lever, A Day's Ride:

     The thickest salmon, the curdiest trout, the fattest partridge, and the most tender woodcock smoked on his board, and, rumor said, cooked with a delicacy that more pretentious houses could not rival.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     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. […].

3. Measuring a certain number of units in this dimension.

   I want some planks that are two inches thick.

4. Heavy in build; thickset.

   Synonyms: chunky, solid, stocky, thickset

   Antonyms: slender, slight, slim, svelte, thin; see also Thesaurus:slender

   • 2007, James T. Knight, Queen of the Hustle:

     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.

   • 2009, Kenny Attaway, Nuthouse Love, page 82:

     JJ loved “average hood girls”, Cody loved dark-skinned thick girls and Mooch lusted for yellow-boned skinny woman.

   He had such a thick neck that he had to turn his body to look to the side.

5. Densely crowded or packed.

   Synonyms: crowded, dense, packed; see also Thesaurus:compact

   Antonyms: sparse; see also Thesaurus:diffuse

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter III, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     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.

   We walked through thick undergrowth.

7. Having a viscous consistency.

   Synonyms: glutinous, viscous; see also Thesaurus:viscous

   Antonyms: free-flowing, runny; see also Thesaurus:runny

   My mum’s gravy was thick but at least it moved about.

8. Abounding in number.

   Synonyms: overflowing, swarming, teeming; see also Thesaurus:plentiful

   Antonyms: scant, scarce, slight

   The room was thick with reporters.

9. Impenetrable to sight.

   Synonyms: dense, opaque, solid; see also Thesaurus:opaque

   Antonyms: thin, transparent; see also Thesaurus:transparent

   We drove through thick fog.

10. (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.

       Synonyms: unclear; see also Thesaurus:incomprehensible

       Antonyms: clear, lucid; see also Thesaurus:comprehensible

       We had difficulty understanding him with his thick accent.

11. (informal) Stupid.

    Synonyms: dense, (informal) dumb, stupid, (vulgar slang) thick as pigshit, (slang) thick as two short planks; see also Thesaurus:stupid

    Antonyms: (informal) brainy, intelligent, smart; see also Thesaurus:intelligent

    He was as thick as two short planks.

12. (informal) Friendly or intimate.

    Synonyms: (UK, informal) chummy, close, close-knit, friendly, (informal) pally, intimate, tight-knit

    Antonym: unacquainted

    They were as thick as thieves.

    • 1859, Thomas Hughes, The Scouring of the White Horse:

      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

13. Deep, intense, or profound.

    Synonyms: great, extreme

    Thick darkness.

14. (academic) Detailed and expansive; substantive.
    • 2006, Christopher Carr, D. Troy Case, “The Gathering of Hopewell”, in Christopher Carr, D. Troy Case, editors, Gathering Hopewell: Society, Ritual, and Ritual Interaction, →ISBN, page 47:

      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.

    • 2013, John O. McGinnis, Michael B. Rappaport, Originalism and the Good Constitution, →ISBN, page 5:

      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).

    • 2021, Wanjiru Njoya, Economic Freedom and Social Justice: The Classical Ideal of Equality in Contexts of Racial Diversity, →ISBN, page 95:

      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.

15. (UK, dated) Troublesome; unreasonable.
    • 1969, Anita Leslie, Lady Randolph Churchill, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 288:

      "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."

17. (slang, chiefly of women) Curvy and voluptuous, and especially having large hips.

    Alternative forms: (Internet slang) thicc, thic

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:voluptuous

    • 1991, “Baby Got Back”, in Mack Daddy, performed by Sir Mix-a-Lot:

      A word to the thick soul sistas, I want to get with ya

thick (comparative thicker, superlative thickest)

1. In a thick manner.

   Snow lay thick on the ground.

2. Frequently or numerously.

   The arrows flew thick and fast around us.

thick (plural thicks)

1. The thickest, or most active or intense, part of something.

   It was mayhem in the thick of battle.

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     He through a little window cast his sight / Through thick of bars, that gave a scanty light.

2. A thicket.
   • 1612, Michael Drayton, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, published 1613, →OCLC:

     gloomy thicks

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Through the thicke they heard one rudely rush.

3. (slang) A stupid person; a fool.
   • 2014, Joseph O'Connor, The Thrill of It All, page 100:

     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.

• in the thick of
• through thick and thin

thick (third-person singular simple present thicks, present participle thicking, simple past and past participle thicked)

1. (archaic, transitive, intransitive) To thicken.
   • 1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “[Amoretti.] Sonnet VII”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: […] [Peter Short] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC:

     A wicked ambush , which lay hidden long In the close covert of her guilful eyen,
     Thence breaking forth , did thick about me throng

   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, chapter 3, in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, lines 193–194:

     The nightmare Life-in-death was she, / Who thicks man's blood with cold.

• See also Thesaurus:thicken

thick

1. Alternative form of thilk (“that same”)

thick

1. Alternative form of titch
   • 1927, “ZONG OF TWI MAARKEET MOANS”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 129, line 3:

     Themost wi egges an heimost wi thick,

     One had eggs and another had a kid,

   • 1927, “ZONG OF TWI MAARKEET MOANS”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 129, line 5:

     Thick besom fighed a spagh wi kick an a blaake,

     [The stupid kid figged the spoke], with a kick and a bleat,

   • 1927, “ZONG OF TWI MAARKEET MOANS”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 129, line 14:

     Thou liest valse co secun that thou an ye thick

     You lie false, said the second, that you and your kid,

• Kathleen A. Browne (1927) The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Sixth Series, Vol.17 No.2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 129