Forms: see prec. [f. THONG sb. Cf. ON. þvengja (skó) to furnish (shoes) with a thong.]
1. trans. To furnish with a thong; to fasten or secure with a thong or thongs; to bind with thongs.
a. 1225. [implied in THONGED].
1483. Cath. Angl., 388/1. To Thwange [v.r. Twange], corrigiare.
1723. R. Millar, Hist. Propag. Chr., II. vii. 302. Their Habits are Sheep Skins undressed thonged together.
1861. Life of Bacon, xx. 414. He too is thonging the scourge for his own back.
2. To flog or lash with a thong. Also absol.
1746. Exmoor Scolding, 77 (E.D.S.). Chell [= ich will] thong tha,… chell pummel tha,… chell lace tha.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, I. ii. 23. Mrs. Newcome thonged him with the lash of her indignation.
1866. Cornh. Mag., Dec., 743. ‘Stick to them, my lads,’ shouts Captain Blake, double-thonging with a hunting-whip like a maniac.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Miner’s Right, vii. He … was quite capable of raising a wale upon that epidermis which it suited him to thong.
3. dial. (See quot.)
1888. Berksh. Gloss., Thong, to twine or twist together.
4. dial. intr. To become viscous or ‘ropy.’
1847–78. Halliwell, Thong, to rope; to stretch out into viscous threads or filaments.
Hence Thonged ppl. a., furnished or fastened with thongs; Thonging vbl. sb., flogging with a thong.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 362. And me ne mei nout … two þongede scheon habben, wiðuten buggunge.
a. 1847. J. T. Hurlock, in Essex Rev., XVII. 56. Scourge not with thonged whips.
1860. Thackeray, Round. Papers, Small-beer Chron. Is there no enemy who would be the better for a little thonging?
1880. Browning, Dram. Idyls, II. Echetlos, 22. The large limbs thonged and brown.
