[OE. þicness = OHG. diknissa, f. THICK a. + -NESS.]
I. The quality or condition of being thick.
1. Relatively large measurement through, or between opposite surfaces; stoutness, bulkiness; the opposite of thinness or slenderness. Also fig.
c. 1000. Ags. Gloss., in Haupt’s Zeitschr. (1853), IX. 519. Elephantina callositate, hreoflicre þicnesse.
1538. Elyot, Crassamentum, thyckenesse … Crassities & crassitudo, fatnesse, thicknes, grossenes.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 80 b. The equall medley of … thicknesse and thinnes.
1613. Hayward, Norm. Kings, 23. As he grew in yeeres, so did he in thicknesse and fatnesse of body.
1641. Evelyn, Diary, 7 Aug. Walls … of prodigious thicknesse.
1885. J. Payn, Luck of Darrells, xx. His companion’s astounding thickness of skin [cf. THICK-SKINNED 2].
2. Measurement or extension of anything between its opposite surfaces; the third (and commonly least) dimension, distinct from length and breadth.
a. 900. Wærferth, Gregory’s Dial. (1900), 44. He ʓewænde þæs wæteres ʓecynd on eles þicnesse.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 45. Þe þiknesse of þe erþe þorw oute is almest sexe þousand and fyue hondred myle.
14[?]. Tundale’s Vis. (Wagner), 1314. Fourti cubytes on brede he hadde And nine on theknes was he made.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron. Hen. VIII., 33. The Frenchmen came on in .iii. ranges, xxxvi. mens thickenes [i.e., thirty-six deep].
1570. Billingsley, Euclid, I. def. ii. 2. A point … neither hath length, breadth, nor thickenes.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xxiv. It is Quadrat high, of several Thicknesses, viz. a Nonparel, Brevier, Long-primmer, Pica, etc.
1735. Johnson, Lobo’s Abyssinia, Descr., x. 103. The Crocodile is very ugly, having no Proportion between his Length and Thickness.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sc. & Art, I. 7. In half an hour it will scarcely be the thickness of a sixpence.
1854. Pereira’s Polariz. Light, 134. The resulting tint depends on the difference of the thicknesses.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 411. They there attain a thickness which amounts to 1/2 or even more than 2/3 of the entire thickness of the leaf.
3. The quality or condition of being consistent or viscous (also, degree of consistence); of the air, the condition of being laden with impurities.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 126. Cnuca mid wine on huniʓes þicnysse.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., III. xvii. (W. de W., 1495), d iv b/1. Yf it is all clere & wtout thyknesse as the ayere is, thenne yt is not seen.
c. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, 36. Medled togidre in suche þiknes þat it may be ȝetted in by a nastare of tree.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 27. Morter … unequall in thicknesse.
1737. Whiston, Josephus, Antiq., II. xiv. § 5. Whereby their sight being obstructed, and their breathing hindered by the thickness of the air, they died miserably.
1747. Wesley, Prim. Physick (1762), 109. Mix juice of Celandine with Honey to the Thickness of Cream.
4. Of the air, etc.: Misty or hazy condition; obscurity, opacity.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Spelm.) xcvi. 2. ʓenipu and þicnæs, nubes et caligo.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 232. We ne maʓon for ðære fyrlynan heahnysse & þæra wolcna ðicnysse … hi næfre ʓeseon.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 11036. And off the owgly ffoul thyknesse,… Thow shalt lese the syht off me.
5. Dense or crowded condition; closeness of collocation or growth.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xv. (Bodl. MS.). Þiknes of berd is signe and tokenne of heete and of substancial humour and of strengþe.
1433. Lydg., St. Edmund, II. 838. A couert, shrowded with thyknesse Of thornys sharpe.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 491/1. Thykkenesse, as of wodys, gresse, corne, or other lyke, densitas.
1825. Scott, Talism., vi. His hair in thickness might have resembled that of Samson.
6. Want of clearness in breathing, hearing, or utterance; indistinct articulation.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Addit., Dascia, thyckenes of brethe.
1669. Holder, Elem. Speech, 168. Being at sometimes subject to thicknes of Hearing.
1686. Burnet, Lett. (1708), 249. Her Nurse had an extraordinary Thickness of Hearing.
1863. A. M. Bell, Princ. Speech, 183. The inarticulate confusion of speech which results is commonly called ‘thickness.’
1908. R. Bagot, A. Cuthbert, iii. His few observations being characterised by a decided thickness of utterance.
II. That which is thick or has thickness.
7. That which is thick, in any sense; the part (of anything) which is thick; the thick (of anything); the space between opposite surfaces (e.g., of a wall).
c. 1000. Ags. Gloss., in Haupt’s Zeitschr. (1853), IX. 499. Sulphureis flammarum, globis, sweflenum þicnyssum.
a. 1000. Lambeth Ps. cxvii[i]. 27. On þyccetum vel on ðicnessum, in condensis.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. ix. 18. It shal be brend vp in the thickenes of the wilde wode.
1560. Bible (Genev.), Esek. xlii. 10. The chambres were in the thickenes of the wall of the court.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., II. 82. They go down … by steps made in the thickness of the Walls.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 477. Incumbered with unwholesome marshes … and impenetrable thicknesses.
1859. Jephson, Brittany, vii. 93. The wall is here about five yards thick, and in its thickness are stone benches.
1905. R. Bagot, Passport, iii. 19. There was only the thickness of a floor between them.
8. A layer (of cloth, paper, etc.). In Foundry, A layer of loam in a mold which represents the object to be cast (e.g., a pipe, bell), and is broken away from the completed mold to make room for the molten metal.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sc. & Art, II. 807. Place several thicknesses of paper upon the glass.
1853. Sir H. Douglas, Milit. Bridges (ed. 3), 325. The whole six thicknesses of planks … are then well drawn together, and fastened to each other, by the trenails.
1884. N. E. Spretson, Casting & Founding, 215. In the absence of patterns, however, for these and for other varieties of short piping, they are swept up in loam, the core within the ‘thickness.’
1889. Anthony’s Photogr. Bull., II. 237. On top … a single thickness of common felt cloth is placed.
Hence Thicknessing vbl. sb., the action of reducing (boards, etc.) to a given thickness.
1870. Eng. Mech., 4 Feb., 497/2. That side of the machine employed for tenoning, planing, thicknessing, or moulding.
1901. Daily Chron., 9 May, 1/6. Planing and Thicknessing Machine, 20in.
