Thirst sb.

Forms: α. 1–4 þurst, 3–5 þorst, 4–5 thurste, 4–6 thurst; 3 (Orm.) þirrst, 3–5 þirst, 4 þerst(e, 5 þirste, 5–6 thyrst(e, 6 thirste, 4– thirst. β. 3 (Orm.) þrisst, 3–5 þrist, 4 threist, threste, þrust(e, þrest (þrast), 4–5 threst, thryst, 4–6 thriste, thrust, thruste, 4–7 thrist, 5 þreste, 5–6 thryste. γ. 4 first, ferst, furst, vurste. [OE. þurst = OFris. *thurst, *thorst (mod.Fris. torst, toarst, EFris. thurst), OS. thurst (Du. dorst), OHG. (G.) durst:—OTeut. *þurs-tus; cf. ON. þorsti masc. (Sw., Da. törst), Goth. þaurstei fem.; all formed, with nominal suffix, from a verbal stem *þurs- (cf. Gothic þaurseiþ mik I thirst) :—Indo-Eur. *trs, weak grade of *ters: *tors: *trs. Cf. L. torrēre to dry, Skr. trš to thirst.

  The change from thurst to thirst was prob. an assimilation of the sb. to the form of the vb. The metathetic thrist, thrust, was in use from c. 1200 to 1590.]

  1.  The uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of drink; also, the physical condition resulting from this want.

  α.  c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 192. Do þis wið maʓan bryne & þurste.

c. 1050.  Byrhtferth’s Handboc, in Anglia (1885), VIII. 336. Win & beor eall to ecum þurste awend.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 79. He hefde þurst and hunger.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 75. He ne mai þolen hunger ne þirst ne oðer pine.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 14602. Þatt maȝȝ þe slekken wel þin þirrst.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 114. He … mende him ase of þurst.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 10176. Þey deyde for hunger & þirst.

1340.  Ayenb., 139. He soffreþ and honger an þorst.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XX. 19. He dronke at eche diche ar he for thurste deyde.

c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 2810. Feynt & pal for hungre & for þerst.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 491/2. Thyrste, or thryste, sitis.

1489.  Caxton, Faytes of A., I. xiii. 34. They ouercome theyre enemyes more by thurst than by armes.

1508.  Fisher, Penit. Ps. cii. Wks. (1876), 179. That may suffre & endure grete labours, watchynge, pouerte, thurst, hungre, colde, & hete.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 470. Let thy Goats … be … led to living Streams, to quench their Thirst.

1738.  Gray, Propertius, iii. 89. The long thirst of Tantalus allay.

1858.  O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., ix. 79. Thirst belongs to humanity, everywhere, in all ages.

  β.  c. 1200.  Ormin, 1615. & pinenn þær þi bodiȝ a Wiþþ chele þrisst & hunngerr.

c. 1220.  Bestiary, 320. He haueð ðrist.

c. 1300.  Harrow. Hell, 50 (MS. E). Seþþen haue y fond & wist Hot & cold, hunger & þrest.

13[?].  Sir Beues (A.), 2791. Beues hadde þanne swich þrast.

a. 1340.  Hampole, Psalter cxlii. 7. Slokyn my threst.

c. 1375.  XI Pains of Hell, 156, in O. E. Misc., 215. Þai schil haue hongir and þrust wereeuer þai gon.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), viii. 30. Þai made murmuracion agaynes him by cause of thrist.

c. 1440.  Jacob’s Well, 147. Be þe weye thedyrward, he hadde thrust.

1530.  Palsgr., 163. Soyf, thrust.

1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), II. 219. Vter drank for to cuill his thrist.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., II. vi. 17. Him … that … Will die for thrist, and water doth refuse.

  γ.  13[?].  S. Eng. Leg., in Herrig’s Archiv, LXXXII. 395/68. For drede of gret hongir & ferst.

c. 1325.  Song of Mercy, 53, in E. E. P. (1862), 120. Ne neuer my furst ne woldestou slake.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VI. 269. He brende for first [v.r. vurste].

  † b.  (See quot.) dial. Obs.

1741.  Compl. Fam.-Piece, III. (ed. 3), 504. Swine … are subject to a Distemper which is called the Thirst, or Lungs, according to some Farmers.

  c.  Short for thirstland: see 3.

1906.  Blackw. Mag., Sept., 394/2. Getting a span of oxen through the long ‘thirsts,’ as the waterless stretches of road are expressively called.

  2.  fig. A vehement desire (of (arch.), for, after something, to do something).

c. 1200.  Ormin, 5688. All hiss hunngerr & hiss þrisst Shall ben þurrh Drihhtin sleckedd.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Boeth., II. met. ii. The more ay brenneth in Hem the thurst of hauynge.

c. 1450.  Mirour Saluacioun, 219. Thi thrust to shedde mans blode was neuer wery.

a. 1541.  Wyatt, Penit. Ps. cxxx. 27. To quench of sleep the thrust.

1554.  Knox, Faythf. Admon., D vj. An earnest thrist … of your saluacion.

1607.  Shaks., Cor., I. i. 25. Not in thirst for Reuenge.

1669.  Gale, Crt. Gentiles, I. I. i. 2. Those infinite thirsts after truth.

1751.  Johnson, Rambler, No. 83, ¶ 1. That thirst after curiosities, which often draws contempt and ridicule upon itself.

1812.  Cary, Dante, Paradise, IV. 121. Our mind can satisfy her thirst to know.

1831.  Scott, Ct. Robt., xii. The more lofty-minded … despise the thirst of gold.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., v. I. 657. It may be distinctly traced … either to thirst for money or to thirst for blood.

1851.  Dixon, W. Penn, xxxi. (1872), 296. In his thirst for knowledge he was in the habit of studying every sect.

  3.  attrib. and Comb., as thirst-fever, -longing, -quencher; thirst-abating, -creating, inducing, -quenching, -scorched, -slaking, -tormented adjs.; thirst-country, -land, a waterless tract of country, spec. in S. Africa; thirst-serpent (see quot.).

1708.  J. Philips, Cyder, II. 63. The Root For *Thirst-abating Sweetness prais’d.

1895.  J. G. Millais, Breath fr. Veldt (1899), 170. If you are in a *‘Thirst’ country, you take, of course, a water-bottle.

1781.  Cowper, Conversat., 262. The riorous abuse Thy *thirst-creating steams at length produce.

1829.  T. Hook, Bank to Barnes, 49. These cows had just finished their *thirst-inducing meal.

1895.  J. G. Millais, Breath fr. Veldt (1899), 184. We entered the great forest *Thirstland…. In this expanse of some hundred square miles there is but one waterhole.

1908.  J. Wells, Stewart of Lovedale, xviii. 182. Without crossing the Karoo and great Thirst-land of Unbelief.

c. 1614.  Campion, Wks. (1909), 179. A heate I finde, Like *thirst-longing, that doth bide Where they say my heart doth moue.

1908.  Daily Chron., 3 Jan., 3/6. He prefers pure water as a *thirst-quencher.

1895.  Westm. Gaz., 19 March, 8/2. This orange wine is most refreshing and *thirst-quenching.

1861.  W. F. Collier, Hist. Eng. Lit., 443. In view of the *thirst-scorched seamen.

1731.  Medley, trans. Kolben’s Cape G. Hope, II. 165. The Dipsas or *Thirst-Serpent is so call’d from its bite causing a burning thirst.

1834.  J. Wilson, Noctes Ambr., Wks. 1855, IV. 23.

1902.  W. Wood, Saved from the Waters, 8.

1916.  H. G. Wells, What Is Coming? xi. 239. The ghosts of the *thirst-tormented Hereros rise up in their thousands from the African dust, protesting.