Thigh sb.

Forms: see below. [OE. þíoh, þéoh, Anglian þéh OFris. thiach, neuter, OLG. *thioh, ODu. thio (MDu. dië, diege, dieghe, dijge, Du. dij), ON. þjó, OHG. dioh (MHG. diech):—OTeut. *þeuh-o^m, from Indo-Eur. ablaut-series *teuk-, tauk-, tuk-; cf. Lith. taukas, OSlav. tukŭ, Russ. tuk^u fat of animals, Lith, tukti to become fat. The regular representative of OE. þéoh was ME. þeh, þeȝ, þee, which still remains as thee in Sc. and north. dialect; but in the 12–13th c. þeȝ became narrowed to þiȝ, thigh (as heȝ, neȝ, deȝen became hiȝ, niȝ, diȝen, high, nigh, die).]

  1.  The upper part of the leg, from the hip to the knee (in man).

  a.  1 théoh, þéoh, þíoh (ðeeoh, þyoh), Angl. thegh, 1–3 þeh, þeo, 3 þeȝ, 3–5 þe, 4–5 þee, thegh, 4–6 they, the, 5 þeie, theȝe, theiȝe; 4–7 (Sc. and north. –9) thee. Pl. 1 þéoh, 2–3 þeȝ, 2– þeos, etc.

c. 725.  Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.), 556. Coxa, thegh.

a. 800.  Erfurt Gloss., 295 Theoh.

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. vii. § 1. Hy crupon þæm mannum betuh þa þeoh. Ibid. (c. 897), Gregory’s Past. C., lvi. 433. Be his ðio.

a. 900.  O. E. Martyrol., 130. Wund on oðrum þeo.

c. 1000.  Lorica Gl., in Sax. Leechd., I. Pref. 70. Ðeeoh, bathma. Ibid., 74. Ðyoh. Ibid., I. 78. ʓif men his ðeoh acen.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 8079. Fet & þeos Tobollenn.

c. 1250.  Hymn to God, 24 in Trin. Coll. Hom., 258. Bind him honden, fet, & þeȝ.

c. 1275.  Lay., 30581. He cutte his owe þeh.

a. 1300.  Havelok, 1903. He broken shankes, he broken thes.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 3941. Þe maister sinu of his the.

a. 1340.  Hampole, Ps. xliv. 4. With þi swerd abouen þi thee.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xxviii. (Margaret), 430. Vpwart til his theis.

1422.  trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 177. Woundid in the thegh.

c. 1450.  St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 1525. In his the þar was a byle.

c. 1475.  Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 750/28. Hoc femur, a they.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, II. viii. [vii.] 56. Ane Gregioun swerd doun by his thee.

1685.  Lintoun Green (1817), 168. The miller … stands Wi’ his untheeked thees.

a. 1869.  C. Spence, Fr. Braes of Carse (1898), 71. I wade the ditches to the thees.

  B.  2–3 þih, 2–4 þi, þy, 4–5 þiȝ, þiȝe, þigh(e, þyghe, þyhe, thyȝe, 4–6 þie, þye, thie, 5–6 thy, thyghe, 5–7 thye, 6 thighe, Sc. thich, 6– thigh. Pl. 2–3 þih; 3–6 þyes, etc.; 6– thighs.

11[?].  Fragm. Ælfric’s Gram. (1838), 2. Femur vel coxa, þih.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 211. Þih and shonkes and fet.

c. 1275.  Passion Our Lord, 490, in O. E. Misc., 51. Þat heore þyes beon to-broken.

13[?].  Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., xxv. 337. Þi boþe þhiȝes.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 143. Þe knyȝtis broken not Cristis þies.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 425. As hit were a manis þyghe. Ibid., II. 203. Somme haueþ þighes with oute hammes.

a. 1400.  R. Gloucester’s Chron., 4921 + 110 (Harl. MS.). A gret pece of ys owe þy [v.rr. þiȝ, þiȝe, thyȝe, þye] he kerf out wyþ a knyf.

1484.  Caxton, Fables of Auian, xiii. He … hytte hym on the thye.

c. 1532.  Du Wes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 903. The thighe, la cuisse.

1545.  T. Scalon, Treat. Astron. (MS. Ashm. 391). Mars the hed, Sol the thyg[h]es or hamme.

a. 1584.  Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, 114. By his naked thyis.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., III. v. 20. The wicked steele stayd not till it did light In his left thigh.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., VIII. (S.T.S.), 125. His thich bane is brokne.

1615.  Chapman, Odyss., XVIII. 105. Through his thin Garment, what a Thigh he showes.

1865.  Kingsley, Herew., x. Hereward … owned … no mistress save the sword on his thigh.

  † b.  The part of a garment covering the thigh.

1533.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., VI. 184. To draw the theis of the saidis gray hois. Ibid. (1550), IX. 405. Theis of hose.

  2.  In lower vertebrate animals, The part of the hind leg which is homologous with the human thigh, or which is popularly regarded as corresponding to it in position or shape; in certain quadrupeds, as the horse, applied to the tibia; in birds to the tarsus; hence in insects, etc., the third section of the leg.

a. 1300.  Thrush & Night., 63, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 53. Fowel, me thinketh thou art les, They thou be milde and softe of thes.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), V. 355. Liche to mares wiþ white legges up to þe þiȝes.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 490/2. Thy, lymme of a beeste, femur.

1604.  Drayton, Owle, 121. Each Bee with Honey on her laden thye.

1737.  Ochtertyre House Bks. (1907), 66. For a thigh of beefe for the hawks £0. 1. 1.

1834.  McMurtrie, Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 374. The posterior thighs are strongly inflated in one of the sexes, where the antennæ are usually long and smaller at the extremity.

1866.  B. W. Hawkins, Anat. Horse, 23. The bones of the leg (‘thigh’ of horsemen) are the tibia and fibula.

  3.  transf. e.g., the stem of a plant, the lower trunk of a tree, the lower slopes of a mountain.

c. 1440.  Pallad. on Husb., III. 255. About his thegh let no thyng growyng be, But if hit axe to be reuocate.

1758.  Phil. Trans., L. 632. Ribs, like what we call the thighs of certain trees.

1889.  C. Edwardes, Sardinia, 232. The burly thighs of [mount] Gennargentu as an impenetrable barrier between us and the south.

  4.  attrib. and Comb., as thigh-ache, -joint, -muscle, -percussion-sound, -socket, wound; thigh-born, -deep, -fraughted, -high, -long, adjs.; † thigh-belly-less a., having neither thighs nor belly (nonce-wd.); thigh-boot, a boot with uppers reaching to the thigh; thigh-hole, † (a) the groin (obs.); (b) a hole for the thigh in bathing-drawers or the like; thigh-piece († the-pess), a piece of armor for the thigh; thigh-tongue: see quot.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 6. Læcedomas wiþ *þeohece.

1579.  Langham, Gard. Health (1633), 655. Thighache, anoint with sheepes doung and vineger often.

a. 1649.  Drumm. of Hawth., Shadow Judgm., Wks. (1711), 34. *Thigh-bellyless, most gastly to the sight.

1840.  Dickens, Barn. Rudge, lxiv. Great *thigh-boots smoked hot with grease and blood.

1630.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Triumphall Verses, Wks. III. 122/2. His braine-bred Daughter, and his *thigh-borne Sonne.

1655.  trans. Com. Hist. Francion, V. 7. Bacchus the thigh-born Infant.

1851.  Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunt., xli. We fought *thigh-deep in the gathering flood.

1615.  Brathwait, Strappado (1878), 87. When the *thigh-fraughted Bee gathered her thyme.

1893.  Scribner’s Mag., June, 734/1. Bamboo grass, *thigh-high.

1920.  W. B. Parsons, The American Engineers in France, 336. Long stretches of trenches after a spell of wet weather would have this fluid mud actually thigh high on the men.

c. 1425.  trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, 11. Þe armeholes, þe *þeholes, þe chawellez, &c.

1899.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 191. The knee-jerk is uniformly absent when the *thigh-muscles are paralysed.

1853.  Markham, Skoda’s Auscult., 10. The completely empty percussion-sound—the *thigh-percussion-sound—heard at any yielding part of the walls of the thorax, or the abdomen.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, VIII. 265. On the *the pess a felloun strak him gaiff.

1828.  Tytler, Hist. Scot. (1864), I. 322. Arm-plates, thigh-pieces, greaves for the legs.

1812.  A. Plumtre, Lichtenstein’s S. Afr., I. 97. The great muscle of the thigh [of the eland] smoked…. These … from the resemblance they then bear to bullocks’ tongues, are called *thigh-tongues.