Definition
adjRelatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension.
adjMeasuring a certain number of units in this dimension.
Sentence Examples
There was a thick fog around.
One book is thin. The other is thick. The thick one has about 200 pages.
The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster.
Word Origin & History
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 North Frisian sjok, tjok, tjuk, tschok (“thick”), Saterland Frisian tjuk (“thick”), West Frisian dik, tuuk (“thick”), Central Franconian deck (“thick”), Cimbrian dikh, dikhe (“thick”), Dutch dik (“thick”), German dick (“thick”), Luxembourgish déck (“thick”), Yiddish דיק (dik, “thick”), Danish tyk (“thick”), Elfdalian tiokk (“thick”), Faroese tjúkkur (“thick”), Icelandic þykkur (“thick”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk tjukk, tykk (“thick”), Scanian tjykker (“thick”), Swedish tjock (“thick”); also Cornish and Welsh tew (“thick”), Irish tiubh, tiugh (“thick”), Manx çhiu (“thick”), Scottish Gaelic tiugh (“thick”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1861, Charles James Lever, A Day's Ride:
"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: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
"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:
"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[rosby] Lincoln, chapter III, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC: