Also 4 (9 dial.) thrang. [ME. þrange, þronge wk. vb., in form a derivative from the stem of THRING v., with which it agrees in sense. It may continue an unrecorded OE. *þrǫngian = OHG. drangôn; or may be f. THRONG sb.: cf. to crowd. (A factitive from thring would have been in OE. *þręng(e)an: cf. Ger. drängen, ON. þrøngva (Sw. tränga, Da. trænge, wk. vbs.).]
† 1. trans. To press or compress violently; to squeeze, crush. Obs.
13[?]. Cursor M., 900 (Gött.). Þu sal waite womman to stang, And scho sal ȝeit þin hefde thrang.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. ix. 45. He [the Thames] raves With roring rage, and sore him selfe does throng.
1596. Danett, trans. Comines (1614), 223, margin. He was … thronged to death in the gate.
1601. Holland, Pliny (1634), I. 120. See into what great streights betweene both seas Asia is … as it were thronged.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle, V. 2141. This foolish prophesie, That, vnlesse throngd to death, thou ne’re shalt die.
1825. Brockett, N. C. Words, Thrang, to press, to thrust, to squeeze.
† 2. intr. To push or force one’s way, as through a crowd or against obstacles; to press. Obs.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 3755. Thare they thronge in the thikke, and thristis to the erthe Of the thraeste mene thre hundrethe.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 7040. Throly the þre men thronght hym aboute.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 343 b. The people, which striue, who may first thronge in.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 32. Hee throngs … Through crowds of the pepil.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 1041. Her breath … thronging through her lips.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1638), 90. The Enemy, thronging in as fast as he could.
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, III. ix. 80. Whereat they quickly thronged faster backe then before forward.
a. 1625. Fletcher & Massinger, Laws of Candy, I. ii. Having taken breath, he throng’d before me, Renewed the fight.
3. intr. To assemble in a group or crowd; to collect in large numbers; to crowd; also, to go in a crowd.
15[?]. Adam Bel, 79, in Hazl., E. P. P., II. 142. They rysed the towne … And came thronging to Wyllyames house.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 410. The Greekes who thronged about his pavilion doores.
1647. Cowley, Mistr., The Wish, v. Lest men … Should hither throng … And so make a City.
1710. Philips, Pastorals, ii. 43. No more beneath thy Shade shall Shepherds throng.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., II. lxvi. Childe Harold saw them … Thronging to war.
1832. W. Irving, Alhambra, II. 277. The people thronged forth to see him with impatient joy.
a. 1839. Praed, Poems (1864), II. 164. We did not meet in courtly hall, Where birth and beauty throng.
fig. 1671. Milton, Samson, 21. Restless thoughts, that like a deadly swarm Of Hornets … rush upon me thronging.
1803–6. Wordsw., Intimations Immort., iii. I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng.
† b. indirect pass. (cf. 4). Obs.
1607. Shaks., Timon, IV. iii. 395. Ape(mantus) … Ile say th’ hast Gold: Thou wilt be throng’d too shortly. Tim. Throng’d too?
1663. Pepys, Diary, 13 June. To the Royall Theatre…. Here we saw ‘The Faithfull Sheepeardesse,’ a most simple thing, and yet much thronged after.
4. trans. To crowd round and press upon; to press upon as in a crowd, to jostle. Also fig.
1534. Tindale, Mark v. 24. Moche people folowed him, and thronged him.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 1417. Here one being throng’d bears back.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., 217. That particles so widely disseminated could ever throng and crowd one another into a close and compact texture.
1704. J. Trapp, Abra-Mulé, I. ii. 299. Not so he look’d when throng’d with Multitudes Of the applauding Soldiers.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., xxi. 15. When more and more the people throng The chairs and thrones of civil power.
5. To bring or drive into a crowd, or into one place; to collect closely, to crowd; to press or drive in a crowd (quot. 1615). Chiefly in pa. pple.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, I. 7. Pericles … seemed … to throng and thunder out his wordes.
a. 1608. Sir F. Vere, Comm. (1657), 6. The enemy coming … with ensigns displayed, very thick thronged together.
1615. Heywood, Foure Prentises, I. Wks. 1874, II. 230. My Standerd … the sight whereof Will driue these stragglers in disordered rankes, And in a hurly burly throng them hence.
1652–62. Heylin, Cosmogr., Introd. (1674), 8/2. Bochartus … hath thronged Joktan and his Sons into a little corner of Arabia Felix.
1677. Sedley, Ant. & Cl., V. i. All she holds dear she has throng’d there but you, And now intreats that you will enter too.
1752. Young, Brothers, II. i. Throngs the pride of ages in an hour.
1822. [see THRONGED 1].
6. To fill or occupy (a place, etc.) with a large number of things or persons, or quantity of something; to crowd, cram, stuff; to burden (quot. 1648).
1607. Shaks., Cor., III. iii. 36. Throng [Theobald’s correction; folios Through] our large temples with the shows of peace, And not our streets with war.
1634. Milton, Comus, 713. Thronging the Seas with spawn innumerable.
1648. J. Beaumont, Psyche, III. xxv. If … I throng my Darling with this massy store, ’Twill to a Burden swell my Courtesy.
1704. Elegy Author True born Eng., xx. Nature to make amends for want of Sense, Has throng’d his Head with clear Impertinence.
1817. Lady Morgan, France (1818), I. 90. The rehearsals … occupied and thronged the streets of Paris for some days.
1842. Tennyson, Locksley Hall, 36. Her whisper throng’d my pulses with the fullness of the Spring.
1874. Pusey, Lent. Serm., 268. To occupy and throng your thoughts with cares … of your own seeking.
b. Said of a multitude of persons or things: To occupy completely, fill, crowd (a place, etc.).
1819. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., I. 2. All Spirits … who throng those bright and rolling worlds.
1853. C. Brontë, Villette, xxxviii. Gay dresses, grand equipages, fine horses … throng the bright streets.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. i. 229. Insects which thronged the adjacent grass.
1873. ‘Ouida,’ Pascarèl, I. viii. Great multitudes … thronged every square and street.
c. pa. pple. Occupied by a crowd or multitude of persons or things; crowded, crammed, filled (const. with, or absol.). See also THRONGED 2.
1594. Drayton, Idea, 649. With those the thronged Theaters that presse, I in the circuit for the Laurell strove.
1608. Shaks., Per., II. i. 77. A man throng’d vp with cold, my Veines are chill.
1677. Thoresby, Diary (1830), I. 4. The Glasshouse Lecture … was thronged.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (1858), 338. We discovered the ship’s boats … both thronged with people.
1772. Bedingfield, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 405. The churches every where seemed well thronged.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., I. iv. I. 149. The galleries of Italian palaces are still thronged with statues, as were the temples.
1894. Hall Caine, Manxman, V. v. The streets were thronged.
d. intr. for pass. Now dial.
1757. Edwards, Orig. Sin, viii. (1837), 75. Multitudes that the Christian world throngs with.
1844. W. Jamie, Muse, 112 (E.D.D.). The whisky tents began to throng.
