thoroughfare
1446
thor-ough-fare /'θʌrəfeəǁ'θʌrəʊ-, 'θʌrə-/ n [m] 1 a road
for public traffic, especially a busy main road: Nevskii
Prospekt is Leningrad's busiest thoroughfare. 2 No thor-
oughfare (written on signs) not open to the public; no way
through; no entrance
thor-ough-go-ing /ˌθʌrə'gəʊɪ/ adj 1 very thorough;
complete in every way: a thoroughgoing search 2 [A] com-
plete; UTTER: a thoroughgoing fool
Thorpe, Jim /θɔ:pθɔ:rp, dʒɪm/ (1888–1953) an American
ATHLETE who won GOLD MEDALS in the Olympics in 1912
and later played American FOOTBALL. Thorpe's Olympic
medals were taken away from him when it was learned that
he had once received money for playing BASEBALL, but many
years after his death it was decided that he had won the
medals fairly and they were returned to his family.
those /ðəʊz/ pl. of THAT¹: Will those (=the people) who want to
join the club please sign here? → see ONE (USAGE)
thou /ðaʊ/ pron old use or bibl 1 (used as the subject of a sentence
with special old forms of verbs such as art, canst, didst etc)
you: Thou hast spoken wisely. → see also HOLIER-THAN-
THOU 2 thou shalt not the first words of most of the Ten
Commandments in the Bible, e.g. 'Thou shalt not steal',
now sometimes used humorously when giving a rule or
warning: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's automobile!
though¹ /ðəʊ/ conj 1 in spite of the fact that; even if:
Though/Even though it's hard work, I enjoy it. | The offenders
were dealt with firmly though fairly. | Hardworking though he
was, there was never enough money to pay the bills. | a
competent, though hardly exciting, piece of work 2 as
though as if: He sounds as though he's got a sore throat. →
see alsoALTHOUGH
though² adv (not used at the beginning of a CLAUSE) in spite
of the fact; NEVERTHELESS: It's hard work; I enjoy it though. |
He's a bad manager. There's no reason, though, to dismiss
him.
thought¹ /θɔ:t/ past tense & participle of THINK
thought² n 1 [U] the action of thinking; REFLECTION: He sat
there, deep in thought. 2 [U] serious consideration: Give her
offer plenty of thought before you accept it. 3 [C[about, on, of]]
something that is thought; a product of thinking; idea,
opinion etc: Let me have your thoughts on the subject. | With
his piercing gaze I almost imagined he could read my
thoughts. | 'Why don't we go by train?' 'Yes, that's a thought.'
(=a good idea) | I've just had a thought – what will happen if
she forgets to come? | 'Do you think she's going to leave?' 'The
thought had crossed my mind.' (=I had already considered
this possibility.) 4 [U[of] usually in questions and negatives] inten-
tion: I had no thought of annoying you. | You must give up all
thought of John. (=must not think about him or hope to be
with him) 5 [U] the particular way of thinking of a social
group, person, period, country etc: ancient Greek
thought 6 [C;U (for)] (an example of) attention or considera-
tion: With no thought for her own safety she jumped into the
river to save the drowning child. | 'I'm sorry to disturb you.'
'That's all right; don't give it a thought.' → see also SCHOOL
OF THOUGHT, SECOND THOUGHT
thought-ful /'θɔ:tful/ adj 1 (showing that one is) thinking
deeply; PENSIVE: The girl looked thoughtful for a moment and
then answered. | a thoughtful frown | You look thoughtful; is
anything wrong? 2 apprec paying attention to the wishes,
feelings, needs etc, of other people; CONSIDERATE: It was very
thoughtful of you to stop and give me a lift. | a thoughtful
person —-ly adv —-ness n [U]
thought-less /'θɔ:tləs/ adj not thinking; showing a selfish
or careless lack of thought: It was thoughtless of you to forget
your sister's birthday. —-ly adv —-ness n [U]
,thought-'out adj produced or developed after consideration:
a well/badly thought-out scheme → see also think out/
through (THINK¹)
'Thought Po,lice, the the police organization in George
ORWELL's novel NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR whose job is to con-
trol what people think and the way that they think. The
expression 'thought police' is sometimes used for describing
any group that tries to tell other people what opinions they
should have or what words they should use.
'thought-pro,voking adj making people think seriously
about a particular subject: a thought-provoking article
thou-sand /'θaʊzənd/ determner, n, pron pl. thousand or thou-
sands (the number) 1000: There were thousands (=a very
large number) of people there. → see TABLE 1
,Thousand and ,One 'Nights, the → see ARABIAN
NIGHTS
thou-sandth /'θaʊzənθ/ determner, n, pron, adv 1000th → see
TABLE 1
thral-dom BrE || thralldom AmE /'θrɔ:ldəm/ n [U] lit slavery
thrall /θrɔ:l/ n [(to)] lit 1 [C] a slave; SERF 2 [U] slavery: (fig)
Her beauty held him in thrall.
thrash /θræʃ/ v 1 [T] to hit hard (as if) with a whip or stick
as a punishment 2 [T] infml to defeat thoroughly, especially
in a game 3 [+adv/prep, especially ABOUT] to move wildly or
violently about: The fishes thrashed about in the net.
thrash sthg. ⇔ out phr v [T] 1 to talk about thoroughly in
order to find an answer: We thrashed out our differences
round the conference table. 2 to produce by much talk and
consideration: After a whole night of argument we thrashed
out a plan/an agreement.
thread
thread¹ /θred/ n 1 [C;U] (a line of) very thin cord made by
spinning cotton, wool, silk etc, used in sewing or weaving:
(a piece of) cotton/nylon thread 2 [C[of]] something with the
fine-ness or thinness of this: a thread of light 3 [C[of]] a)
line of reasoning connecting the parts of an argument or
story: I'm afraid I've lost the thread of your argument. b)
repeated pattern or idea: There is a consistent thread running
through all these policies. 4 [C] a raised line that winds
round the outside of a screw or the inside of a NUT, BOLT etc:
The thread's gone. (=broken) → and see also hang by a
thread (HANG)
thread² v [T] 1 to pass a thread through: to thread a needle
(=put one end of a thread through the EYE (=the hole) of a
needle) | a scarf threaded with gold 2 [onto)] to put (a film or
TAPE) in place on an apparatus 3 [TOGETHER]] to connect by
running a thread through: The little girl threaded the shells
together. 4 to cut a THREAD on (a screw, NUT, BOLT
etc) 5 thread one's way through to make one's way care-
fully through (streets, crowds, forests etc)
thread-bare /'θredbeəǁ/ adj 1 (of material, clothes etc) very
thin because of a lot of use; very worn 2 having been so
much used as to be no longer interesting or effective:
threadbare excuses
Threadneedle Street → see OLD LADY OF THREADNEEDLE
STREET
threat /θret/ n 1 [C;U] an expression of an intention to hurt,
punish, cause pain etc, especially if one's instructions or
demands are not obeyed: Those children do not take their
father's threats very seriously. | They used the threat of strike
action to enforce their demands. | They said they would invade
us, but it's just an empty threat – they have no army. | [+to-
inf] They carried out their threat to kill her. | I obeyed his order
but only under threat of punishment. 2 [C(to) usually sing.]
person, thing, or idea regarded as a possible danger: While
the killer goes free he is a threat to everyone in the town. | The
existence of these weapons poses a grave threat to the future of
the world. | Some people see computers as a threat to their
jobs. 3 [C[of] usually sing.] a sign, warning, or possibility of
coming danger: The clouds brought a threat of rain. | The
threat of bankruptcy hung over the company.
threat-en /'θretn/ v 1 [T(with)] a) to express a threat against
(someone): The strikers were threatened with dismissal if
they did not return to work. | a threatening letter b) to
express (a threat) against someone: He threatened a terrible
vengeance. | [+to-v] The terrorists threatened to blow up the
plane if their demands were not met. 2 [T] to give warning of
(something bad): The black clouds threatened rain. | a threat-
ening sky 3 [I] (of something bad) to seem likely to happen:
While danger threatens we must all be on our guard. 4 [T] to
be a danger or threat to; seem likely (to harm, spoil, ruin)