thick and thin

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

thick and thin (uncountable)

1. Both thickets and thin woodland; (through) all obstacles in a path.
   • c. 1390, Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Reeve's Tale", Canterbury Tales, Ellesmere ms:

     Toward the fen / ther wilde Mares renne / fforth with wehee / thurgh thikke and thurgh thenne […]

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.1:

     His tyreling Jade he fiersly forth did push / Through thicke and thin, both over banck and bush […]

2. (idiomatic) Both good and bad times.

   "I must follow him through thick and thin." - Miguel de Cervantes

   • Hudibras

     Through thick and thin she followed him.

   • Coleridge

     He became the panegyrist, through thick and thin, of a military frenzy.

Derived terms

• through thick and thin

Translations

both good and bad times

• Dutch: dik en dun
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: hyvät ja huonot ajat (but also see myötä- ja vastoinkäymiset)
• Swedish: vått och torrt

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Icelandic: súrt og sætt
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: a las duras y a las maduras

References

• Thick and Thin, theFreeDictionary.com
• Notes: