| 释义 |
thicken, v.|ˈθɪk(ə)n|
[f. thick a. + -en 5. Cf. ON. þykkn-a, f. þykk adj. thick.]
To make or become thick or thicker.
1. trans. To make dense in consistence; to coagulate, inspissate. Also fig.
c1425tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula 30 Vnto þat þe watrynes of þe Iuyse be somewhat þikned. 1552Huloet, Thycken or congeale, congelo. 1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 64 Heat doth safegard and thicken the milk. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 353 By indulging his Body he thickens his Understanding. 1771E. Haywood New Present 44 It is a very good thing to thicken gravy with. 1801C. Dibdin Tour I. 356 The illuminati, who generally thicken in the clear, so as to confound the business, that a man of plain sense can make nothing out of them. 1866Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xiii. 221 Oatmeal was used scantily, but generally for thickening soup.
b. intr. To increase in density or consistence; also, to become turbid or cloudy. Also fig.
1598Epulario I j b, Set it all night to thicken..in a cold place. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 19 A licquor, or gumme, which thickens of it selfe. 1718Prior Solomon i. 355 Water stopt gives birth To grass and plants, and thickens into earth. 1888Besant 50 Years Ago vii. 121 There comes a time when the brow clouds, and the speech thickens, and the tongue refuses to act.
2. intr. To become dark, obscure, or opaque; of the weather: to become misty.
1605Shakes. Macb. iii. ii. 50 Light thickens,..Good things of Day begin to droope, and drowse. 1606― Ant. & Cl. ii. iii. 27 Thy Luster thickens, When he shines by. 1670Dryden 1st Pt. Conq. Granada ii. i, I'll face this Storm that thickens in the Wind. 1784Cook's Voy. Pacific vi. iii. III. 239 The weather still thickening, and preventing a nearer approach to the land. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxv. 189 As we approached the summit the air thickened more and more.
3. trans. To make close or dense in disposition of parts or in texture; to fill up the interstices or intervals of. ? Obs.
1575Laneham Let. (1871) 8 Seauen posts on a side, that stood a twelue foot a sunder, thikned betweene with well proportioned Pillars turnd. 1620T. Granger Div. Logike 30 The clouds are not thickned in the skie: therfore it will not be raine. 1755Johnson Dict., Thicken, v.,..to make frequent, to make close or numerous. 1812Brackenridge Views Louisiana (1814) 116 It is perhaps good policy in our government..to thicken the frontier, and to suffer the intermediate space to fill up gradually.
4. intr. To become crowded, numerous, or frequent; to gather thickly. Also † To move in great numbers, to flock, troop (obs. poet.).
1726Pope Odyss. xviii. 49 Well pleased they spring Swift from their seats, and thickening form a ring. 1771Junius Lett. liv. (1820) 286 Honours shall..thicken over him. 1789F. Burney Diary 19 Nov., The crowd every instant thickening. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. liv, Misfortune and discovery are thickening about your head.
5. a. trans. To increase the substance between opposite surfaces of; to make thicker in measure.
c1611Chapman Iliad xiii. 123 Lance was lin'd with lance; Shields thickned with opposed shields. 1777Sheridan Trip to Scarborough i. ii, The calves of these stockings are thicken'd a little too much. 1858Glenny Gard. Everyday Bk. 244/1 The earth in the alleys [is to be] thrown up to thicken the soil above them a little. 1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 229 In most cases the walls are thickened by spiral fibres.
b. intr. To become thicker in measurement; to increase in girth or bulk.
1763Mills Syst. Pract. Husb. IV. 35 That their roots..may have full room to thicken and run downward. 1805Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) 42 Ice in the river thickening. 1872R. B. Smyth Mining Statist. 21 The seams..thicken in one place and thin out in another.
c. trans. fig. To make more substantial; to strengthen, confirm.
1604Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 430 This may helpe to thicken other proofes, That do demonstrate thinly. 1893C. W. Wendte in Reasonable Relig. 73 The philosophers..are thickening up their systems..with scientific facts.
6. intr. fig. To become more complex or intricate (esp. said of a plot); to increase in intensity.
1671Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Rehearsal iii. ii. (Arb.) 81 Ay, now the Plot thickens very much upon us. 1697Dryden æneid ix. 908 The combat thickens, like the storm that flies. 1810Scott Lady of L. i. ii, The cry, That thickened as the chase drew nigh. 1859Kingsley Misc. I. i. 16 As the quarrel thickened and neared.
Hence thickened |ˈθɪk(ə)nd| ppl. a., that is made thick or thicker, in various senses.
c1611Chapman Iliad xix. 368 A bright thickned bush of golden haire. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 742 The thick'nd Skie Like a dark Ceeling stood. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 386 Mix it with thicken'd Juice of sodden Wines. 1861Bentley Man. Bot. 401 Plants with succulent or thickened leaves. 1900Daily News 17 Apr. 7/4 With solids and pneumatics [tyres], both of the wired-on and thickened-edge varieties. |