Thoroughbred

a. (sb.) Also 8 through-bred. [f. THOROUGH adv. + BRED ppl. a.¹]

  1.  Thoroughly educated or accomplished; hence, complete, thorough, out-and-out. (Now regarded as fig. from 2: cf. 2 b.)

1701.  Grew, Cosm. Sacra, II. vii. 77. A through-bred Soldier weighs all present Circumstances, and all possible Contingents.

1721.  Amherst, Terræ Fil., No. 47 (1754), 253. Nothing can restrain a thorough-bred gamester.

1874.  L. Stephen, Hours in Library (1892), I. ix. 300. A thoroughbred utilitarian, full of sagacity.

1882.  Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, III. i. 20. He never handled a gun like a thoroughbred sportsman.

  2.  Of a horse: Of pure breed or stock; spec. applied to a race-horse whose pedigree for a given number of generations is recorded in the stud-book. Also of a dog, bull, etc.

1796.  J. Lawrence, Treat. Horses, iv. 166. Thorough-bred hacks are the most docile and quiet, and the least liable to shy.

1825.  N. H. Smith, Breeding for Turf, 5. The pedigree of Eclipse affords a singular illustration of the descent of our thorough-bred horses from pure Eastern blood.

1840–70.  Blaine, Encycl. Rur. Sports, § 930. The term thorough-bred, as relating to a horse … is neither critically nor conventionally definite.

1856.  Farmer’s Mag., Jan., 29. There are some men who prefer the cross-bred animal—the best I believe to be between the Hampshire Down and Cotswold; but … I must give a decided preference to the thorough-bred.

1887.  Sir R. H. Roberts, In the Shires, i. 18. Mounted upon a thoroughbred … bay mare.

  b.  transf. Applied to human beings or their attributes: sometimes implying characteristics like those of a thoroughbred horse, as gracefulness, energy, distinction, etc. (Cf. B. 2.)

1820.  Byron, Juan, V. cvi. More thorough-bred or fairer fingers.

1864.  Trevelyan, Compet. Wallah (1866), 345. It is hardly possible for a man brought up amidst European … associations to realize the idea conceived of him … by a thorough-bred Hindoo.

  Comb.  1882.  Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, ix. Who the deuce is that thoroughbred-looking girl?

  B.  sb. 1. A thoroughbred animal, esp. a horse.

1842.  Thackeray, Fitz-Boodle Pap., Pref. I can’t afford a thorough-bred, and hate a cock-tail.

1887.  ‘H. Smart,’ Cleverly Won, i. Three or four thorough-breds that he had reared.

  2.  transf. and fig.: A well-born, well-bred, or thoroughly trained person. Also, a first-rate motor-car, bicycle, or other vehicle.

1894.  H. Gardener, Unofficial Patriot, 15. There is rather a paucity of thoroughbreds among the Methodists.

1894.  Outing (U.S.), XXIV. 281/2. An air … that made you feel sure that she could play tennis or sail a boat. In fact, she looked a thoroughbred.

1901.  Pall Mall Mag., Sept., 67/2. A vehicle running a race must in some mysterious way be a thoroughbred.

1908.  Daily Chron., 21 Nov., 9/4. This machine [bicycle] and all the thorough-breds … are now … treated before enamelling to the special Coslett non-rusting process, which preserves the metal from all corrosion.

  Hence Thoroughbredness.

1894.  Eliz. L. Banks, Camp. Curiosity, 127. As regards the thorough-bredness of my black poodle.