Forms: α. 1 ðwong, ðuong, ðwangc, þwæng, ðuuencg, 1–3 þwang; thuang, 4–5 (Sc. and north. –9) thwang (5 thwange, twange, 6 thwangue), 5–7 Sc. thwayng (dial. 7–9 (with hw, wh-, for þw-) whaing, whang). β. 3–4 þwong, þuong(e, 4–5 thwong(e (dial. twonge). γ. 3–5 þong, 4– thong, (4–5 þonge, thongh, 6–7 thonge, 6 thongue). δ. 5 thownge, thowyng; dial. 8–9 thung, thunk, thonk. [OE. þwang, þwǫng str. masc. (also fem.); also, ONorthumb. pl. ðuuencgu, N. Anglian þwænga, agreeing with ON. þvengr (:—þvaŋgiz); all from ablaut stem *þwing-, *þwang-, *þwung-, to restrain :—Indo-Eur.root *twenk: cf. Ger. zwingen: see TWING, TWINGE v., and cf. the dial. form WHANG.]
1. A narrow strip of hide or leather, for use as a lace, cord, band, strap, or the like.
In early use, esp. the lace or ‘latchet’ of a shoe.
α. c. 950. Lindisf. G., John i. 27. Ic ne am wyrðe þætte ic undoe his ðuong scoes [Rushw. ðwong ʓiscoes, Ags. Gosp. sceoþwang].
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Mk. i. 7. His sceona þwanga [Lindisf. ðuongas scóe his, Rushw. þwongas ʓescoas his].
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xiv. 23 (Gr.). Þæt ic ne underfo furðon anne þwang of eallum þisum þingum.
c. 1050. Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 379/32. Corrigie, olþwongas. Ibid. (a. 1100), 332/12. Corrigia, ðwangc.
c. 1275. Lay., 22295. Somme makede þwanges.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 12823 (Cott.). To lese þe thuanges of his sco.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xxviii. 4599. A royne lanȝhare … And schare a thwayng at all laysere.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IX. xi. 5. Dartis … Quhilk thai with lyamis and thwangis lang owt threw.
1570. Levins, Manip., 23/42. A Thwangue, lorum.
1641. Ferguson’s Sc. Prov., No. 647. Mony ane tines the haff-merk whinger for the halfpenny whang.
1703. Thoresby, Lett. to Ray, Gloss. (E.D.S.), ‘A thwang for a shoe,’ the latchet.
1894. Heslop, Northumbld. Gloss., 779. The end … of a flail is lashed to the wood with a whang.
β. c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 137. Ich nam noht ne for ðen wurðe þat ich un-cnutte his sho þuong.
c. 1205. Lay., 22295. Sum makede þwonges.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 2492. As moche place as mid a þuong ich may aboute tille.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 194. Syþen þrawen wyth a þwong a þwarle knot alofte.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 369. Þey usede hiȝe schone unto þe kne, i-slitte to fore, and i-laced wiþ þwonges.
1485. Caxton, Paris & V., 27. Henge a lytel keye by a thwonge.
γ. c. 1205. Lay., 14221. Þa al islit wes þe þong he wes wunder ane long.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 1720. Sche … festened hire in þat fel wiþ ful gode þonges.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., lvi. 40. Engyst prayd hym … of as moche place as he myght compasse with a thong of a skynne.
1563. Golding, Cæsar, v. (1565), 138. He aduised him to tie the letter to the thong of a Iaueling, & so to throw it into his camp.
1570. Levins, Manip., 167/2. A Thongue, lorum.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 339. A beasts hide cut into thongs.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. V., clxxix. Another girds his Frock, with a sure Thonge [rhyme strong].
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 179. The Noose of a Leather Thong.
1867. Parkman, Jesuits N. Amer., xvii. (1875), 246. Subsisting on the bark of trees or the thongs of raw hide.
δ. c. 1425. Eng. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 656/1. Hec corigia, thowyng.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 492/1. Thownge, or lanere.
a. 1800. Pegge, Suppl. Grose, Thunk, Lancashire pronunciation of Thong.
1881. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., s.v. Thung, ‘I give the cobbler a penny fur two thunks.’
1886. Cheshire Gloss., Thonk, a thong, a bootlace; also Thunk.
† b. A phylactery. Only OE. rare.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xxiii. 5. Hia ʓebrædas forðon ðuuencgu hiora.
c. 975. Rushw. Gosp., ibid. Þwænga.
c. Such a strip used as an instrument of flagellation; also as the lash of a whip; hence spec. a whip-lash of plaited hide.
1592. Lyly, Midas, IV. iii. A boy was beaten on the taile with a leathern thong.
1728–46. Thomson, Spring, 809. The trembling steed … Nor heeds the rein, nor hears the sounding thong.
1782. Cowper, Progr. Err., 360. Man’s coltish disposition asks the thong.
1832. Lytton, Eugene A., II. vi. A gentleman … left the whip to have a new thong put to it.
1876. Grant, Burgh Sch. Scot., II. v. 195. Horace prayed for a settled standard of punishment, lest any one should be subjected to the horrible thong, who is only deserving of a slight whipping.
d. transf. A similar strip of other material, as a tough pliant plant-stem, etc.
1665. Hooke, Microgr., 6. Bound together with thongs of Brambles.
1838. T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 696. Take a thong of this substance [india-rubber].
1875. T. W. Higginson, Yng. Folks’ Hist. U.S., iii. 17. The edges were sewed with thongs cut from the roots of the cedar.
e. fig.; esp. in phrase to cut a large thong (or large thongs) of another man’s leather, thongs of other men’s hides, to be lavish with that which is another’s.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 76. Þis ordre is a þuonge to bynde mennis willes togidere.
1465. Marg. Paston, in P. Lett., II. 226. Men cut large thongs here of other mens lether.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 26. What chance that I … Should speak to purpose, or with better hope Crack the satiric thong?
1865. Kingsley, Herew., i. As long as I could cut long thongs out of other men’s hides.
1878. Masque Poets, 149. The silken tie became a thong Wherewith she pinioned him in bondage strong.
2. attrib. and Comb., as thong-point, -wearer; thong-hurled adj.; thong-drill, a drill rotated by means of a thong or cord wound round its stem; thong-man, a man who wields the thong or lash; in quot., a critic; thong-seal, a name sometimes given to the bearded seal, Erignathus barbatus, the hide of which is cut into a continuous strip for use as a line.
1865. Tylor, Early Hist. Man., ix. 242. The *thong-drill with the mouthpiece.
1685. Cotton, trans. Montaigne (1877), I. 23. The bear, made fiercer by the wound from the Lybian’s *thong-hurled dart.
1876. G. Meredith, Beauch. Career, xxxiv. Self-appointed *thongmen who walk up and down our ranks flapping their leather straps.
1897. Blackw. Mag., Nov., 593/2. A leather sporran tagged with *thong points tied in knots.
1901. Athenæum, 2 Nov., 589/1. It is the cord-wearer [Franciscan] rather than the *thong-wearer [Dominican] who is the hero of the more scandalous anecdotes.
Hence Thongy a. dial.: see quots.
1847–78. Halliwell, Thongy, ropy, viscid, Somerset.
1885. Reports Provinc. (E.D.D.), Cider is often said ‘to be thongy,’ when it gets into the peculiar state known as ‘reamed’ or ‘ropy.’
