Also 8–9 dial. thruff. [f. THROUGH adv. or adj., sometimes due to ellipsis of a sb.]
1. = THOROUGH sb. 2. dial.
1778. [W. Marshall], Minutes Agric., 10 June, an. 1777. Mixes it with the sand and marl, which is thrown out in making their elaborate thruffs,—or sub-drains.
2. THROUGH-STONE2.
1805. [see THROUGH-STONE2].
1828. Craven Gloss., Thruff, a bond stone, or thorough stone.
1846. Brockett, N. C. Words, s.v. Thruff-stone, These walls being composed of fragments of all shapes and sizes, without mortar, the ‘thruffs’ are used as bond-stones and give great stability.
1892. J. T. Bent, Ruined Cities of Mashonaland, iv. 97. The facings of the stones are all uniform, but most of them run back into the wall irregularly, acting in the same way as throughs in our dry-built walls at home in preserving the building from falling.
3. A ladder-rung that goes through the sides. local.
1899. N. & Q., 9th Ser. III. 76/2. Ladders are often made with three or four flat bars, longer than the rounded ones, and projecting sufficiently on each side to admit a wooden peg…. These are called flat rungs, sometimes ‘throughs’ (thrufs).
