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Webster 1913 Edition

Throng

Throng

,
Noun.
[OE.
þrong
,
þrang
, AS.
geþrang
, fr.
þringan
to crowd, to press; akin to OS.
thringan
, D. & G.
dringen
, OHG.
dringan
, Icel.
þryngva
,
þröngva
, Goth.
þriehan
, D. & G.
drang
a throng, press, Icel.
þröng
a throng, Lith.
trenkti
to jolt,
tranksmas
a tumult. Cf.
Thring
.]
1.
A multitude of persons or of living beings pressing or pressed into a close body or assemblage; a crowd.
2.
A great multitude;
as, the heavenly
throng
.
Syn. –
Throng
,
Multitude
,
Crowd
.
Any great number of persons form a multitude; a throng is a large number of persons who are gathered or are moving together in a collective body; a crowd is composed of a large or small number of persons who press together so as to bring their bodies into immediate or inconvenient contact. A dispersed multitude; the throngs in the streets of a city; the crowd at a fair or a street fight. But these distinctions are not carefully observed.
So, with this bold opposer rushes on
This many-headed monster,
multitude
.
Daniel.
Not to know me argues yourselves unknown,
The lowest of your
throng
.
Milton.
I come from empty noise, and tasteless pomp,
From
crowds
that hide a monarch from himself.
Johnson.

Throng

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Thronged
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Thronging
.]
To crowd together; to press together into a close body, as a multitude of persons; to gather or move in multitudes.
I have seen the dumb men
throng
to see him.
Shakespeare

Throng

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To crowd, or press, as persons; to oppress or annoy with a crowd of living beings.
Much people followed him, and
thronged
him.
Mark v. 24.
2.
To crowd into; to fill closely by crowding or pressing into, as a hall or a street.
Shak.

Throng

,
Adj.
Thronged; crowded; also, much occupied; busy.
[Obs. or Prov. Eng.]
Bp. Sanderson.
To the intent the sick . . . should not lie too
throng
.
Robynson (More’s Utopia).

Webster 1828 Edition

Throng

THRONG

, n.
1.
A crowd; a multitude of persons or of living beings pressing or pressed into a close body or assemblage; as a throng of people at a play-house.
2.
A great multitude; as the heavenly throng.

THRONG

,
Verb.
I.
To crowd together; to press into a close body, as a multitude of persons; to come in multitudes.
I have seen
The dumb men throng to see him.

THRONG

,
Verb.
T.
To crowd or press, as persons; to oppress or annoy with a crowd of living beings.
Much people followed him, and thronged him. Mark 5.

Definition 2024

throng

throng

English

Noun

throng ‎(plural throngs)

  1. A group of people crowded or gathered closely together; a multitude.
    • Daniel
      So, with this bold opposer rushes on / This many-headed monster, multitude.
    • Milton
      Not to know me argues yourselves unknown, / The lowest of your throng.
    • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Affair at the Novelty Theatre:
      Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.
  2. A group of things; a host or swarm.

Translations

Quotations

Verb

throng ‎(third-person singular simple present throngs, present participle thronging, simple past and past participle thronged)

  1. (transitive) To crowd into a place, especially to fill it.
    • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 5, in Death on the Centre Court:
      By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.
  2. (intransitive) To congregate.
  3. (transitive) To crowd or press, as persons; to oppress or annoy with a crowd of living beings.
    • Bible, Mark v. 24
      Much people followed him, and thronged him.

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

throng ‎(comparative more throng, superlative most throng)

  1. (Scotland, Northern England, dialect) Filled with persons or objects; crowded.
    • 1882, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Ribblesdale:
      EARTH, sweet Earth, sweet landscape, with leavés throng
      And louchéd low grass, heaven that dost appeal
      To, with no tongue to plead, no heart to feel;
      That canst but only be, but dost that long—

Etymology

From Middle English throng, thrang, from Old English þrang, ġeþrang ‎(“crowd, press, tumult”), from Proto-Germanic *þrangwą, *þrangwō ‎(“throng”), *þrangwaz ‎(“push, drive”), from Proto-Indo-European *trenkʷ- ‎(“to beat; pound; hew; press”). Cognate with Dutch drang ‎(“urge, push, impulse”), German Drang ‎(“urge, drive, impulse”) or Gedränge ‎(“jostle, hustle, throng”), Danish trang ‎(“urge”), Norwegian trong ‎(“need”), Icelandic þröng ‎(“narrow, tightly pressed, crowd, throng”) and Swedish trång ‎(“tight, narrow”). Probably related to Albanian drojë ‎(“fear, fear of the crowd”) and to drang ‎(“huge rod, pole, oar”). More at thring.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /θrɒŋ/
  • (US) IPA(key): /θrɔŋ/, /θrɑŋ/
  • Rhymes: -ɒŋ

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