From Middle English throng, thrang, from Old English þrang, ġeþrang (“crowd, press, tumult”), from Proto-Germanic *þrangwą, *þrangwō (“throng”), from *þrangwaz (“pressing, narrow”), from *þrinhwaną (“to press, to push; to force”), from Proto-Indo-European *trenkʷ- (“to beat; pound; hew; press”). Cognate with Dutch drang, German Drang. Compare also German Gedränge (“throng”) and Persian ترنجیدن (Trenjidan, “to beat, to push”).
Compare typologically crowd (see there for more).
Meanings
(Northern-England, Scotland) Filled with persons or objects; crowded.
Earth, sweet Earth, sweet landscape, with leavès throng / And louchèd 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— […] 1882, Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Ribblesdale”, in Robert Bridges, editor, Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins: Now First Published […], London: Humphrey Milford, published 1918, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 54:
(Northern-England, Scotland) Busy; hurried.
Mr Shaw was very civil; he said he was rather throng just now, but if Ernest did not mind the sound of hammering he should be very glad of a talk with him. 1903, Samuel Butler, chapter 59, in The Way of All Flesh:
[P]eople were having holidays all round the world, though the Glasgow shops and offices and factories were as throng with business as ever. 1992, Alasdair Gray, Poor Things, Bloomsbury, published 2002, page 200:
Forms
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throngest
Degree=Sup
lexicographic
thronger
Degree=Cmp
lexicographic
throng en · NOUN
Pronunciation
/θɹɒŋ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
/θɹɔŋ/ (General-American) without the cot–caught merger
From Middle English throng, thrang, from Old English þrang, ġeþrang (“crowd, press, tumult”), from Proto-Germanic *þrangwą, *þrangwō (“throng”), from *þrangwaz (“pressing, narrow”), from *þrinhwaną (“to press, to push; to force”), from Proto-Indo-European *trenkʷ- (“to beat; pound; hew; press”). Cognate with Dutch drang, German Drang. Compare also German Gedränge (“throng”) and Persian ترنجیدن (Trenjidan, “to beat, to push”).
Compare typologically crowd (see there for more).
Meanings
A group of people crowded or gathered closely together.
Not to know me argues yourselves unknown,
The lowest of your throng. 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
Perhaps you suppose this throng / Can't keep it up all day long? 1885, Gilbert and Sullivan, The Mikado, act 1:
Here, mingled with the Persians, who were rushing to the higher ground with the same effort as ourselves, we remained motionless until sunrise of the next day, so crowded together that the bodies of the slain, held upright by the throng, could nowhere find room to fall, and that in front of me a soldier with his head cut in two, and split into equal halves by a powerful sword stroke, was so pressed on all sides that he stood erect like a stump. 1939, Ammianus Marcellinus, John Carew Rolfe, Ammianus Marcellinus, volume 1, Harvard University Press, page 463:
I imagine throngs of people – well-dressed, sipping spritzes – in front of a boat that, to me, is a coffin which held 700 people. 2019 May 12, Lorenzo Tondo, “I have seen the tragedy of Mediterranean migrants. This ‘art’ makes me feel uneasy”, in The Guardian:
On arrival at Edinburgh Waverley, I fight my way through the throngs of tourists and locals turning the place into a human anthill. 2024 November 27, Paul Bigland, “Around the UK on nearly 80 trains...”, in RAIL, number 1023, page 48:
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. 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
A group of things; a host or swarm.
Bloody corpses, broken bones reveal / A throng of clashes crushed, our nightmare sealed / Amongst the shadows and the stones 2020, “Amongst the Shadows & the Stones”, in What the Dead Men Say, performed by Trivium:
eo amaso (group of things; host or swarm) · it calca (group of people) · vo menarunäd (group of people) · bg множество (group of people) · pl tłum (group of people) · es caterva (group of people) · sc lèrina (group of people) · nl menigte (group of people) · la vulgus (group of people) · eo amaso (group of people) · es montón (group of things; host or swarm) · ru ку́ча (group of things; host or swarm) · de Gedränge (group of people) · de Menschengewühl (group of people) · cs tlačenice (group of people) · sdc attruppogliu (group of people) · ota قالابالق (group of people) · es multitud (group of things; host or swarm) · ru ку́ча (group of people) · fi väkijoukko (group of people) · gl multitude (group of things; host or swarm) · la turba (group of people) · gl xentío (group of people) · de Schwarm (group of things; host or swarm) · gl aglomeración (group of people) · la caterva (group of people) · oc molonada (group of people) · sv trängsel (group of people) · sc zentoriu (group of people) · ga plód (group of people) · ro îngrămădeală (group of people) · eo homamaso (group of people) · pl ciżba (group of people) · got 𐌹𐌿𐌼𐌾𐍉 (group of people) · de Menschentraube (group of people) · fr foule (group of people) · ro turmă (group of people) · ro îmbulzeală (group of people) · pl tłok (group of people) · es turba (group of things; host or swarm) · sv mängd (group of people) · sc càtticu (group of people) · fr essaim (group of people) · la frequentia (group of people) · oc molonada (group of things; host or swarm) · fa جمعیت (group of people) · fi joukko (group of things; host or swarm) · es gentío (group of people) · fi ihmisjoukko (group of people) · oc eissam (group of things; host or swarm) · eo svarmo (group of people) · gl morea (group of things; host or swarm) · ca gent assai (group of people) · uk купа (group of things; host or swarm) · eo svarmo (group of things; host or swarm) · ga pulcadh (group of people) · hy բազմություն (group of things; host or swarm) · ro mulțime (group of people) · fr essaim (group of things; host or swarm) · es hervidero (group of things; host or swarm) · ota سوری (group of people) · oc multitud (group of things; host or swarm) · oc molon (group of things; host or swarm) · cs dav (group of people) · uk маса (group of things; host or swarm) · grc οὐλαμός (group of people) · nl zwerm (group of things; host or swarm) · it folla (group of people) · ru мно́жество (group of things; host or swarm) · fi lauma (group of things; host or swarm) · it ressa (group of people) · ro stol (group of people) · nl drukte (group of people) · bg тълпа (group of people) · ota كومه (group of people) · ru ма́сса (group of things; host or swarm) · de Menschenmenge (group of people) · sc stibbu (group of people) · cs zástup (group of people) · es recua (group of things; host or swarm) · es muchedumbre (group of people) · ro aglomerație (group of people) · scn fuḍḍa (group of people) · oc fola (group of people) · pt aglomeração (group of people) · scn caterba (group of people) · de Traube (group of people) · nl massa (group of people) · la multitūdō (group of people) · pt turba (group of people) · hy բազմություն (group of people) · ro claie (group of people) · ca munió (group of people) · oc eissamat (group of things; host or swarm) · de Gewühl (group of people) · de Ansammlung (group of things; host or swarm) · gl multitude (group of people) · ga slua (group of people) · es caterva (group of things; host or swarm) · sdn gjntória (group of people) · ru толпа́ (group of people) · ru толчея́ (group of people) · uk на́товп (group of people) · fi väentungos (group of people) · gl turba (group of things; host or swarm) · scn carca (group of people) · hy ամբոխ (group of people)
throng en · VERB
Pronunciation
/θɹɒŋ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
/θɹɔŋ/ (General-American) without the cot–caught merger
From Middle English throng, thrang, from Old English þrang, ġeþrang (“crowd, press, tumult”), from Proto-Germanic *þrangwą, *þrangwō (“throng”), from *þrangwaz (“pressing, narrow”), from *þrinhwaną (“to press, to push; to force”), from Proto-Indo-European *trenkʷ- (“to beat; pound; hew; press”). Cognate with Dutch drang, German Drang. Compare also German Gedränge (“throng”) and Persian ترنجیدن (Trenjidan, “to beat, to push”).
Compare typologically crowd (see there for more).
Meanings
(transitive) To crowd into a place, especially to fill it.
Gay sex remains illegal but is rarely prosecuted, and an estimated 26,000 revelers thronged this year’s annual Pink Dot gay rights rally — one of the largest public gatherings of any sort seen in recent years. 2014 July 11, Charlie Campbell, “Singapore Provokes Outrage by Pulping Kids’ Books About Gay Families”, in Time, archived from the original on 02 Nov 2024:
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. 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 5, in Death on the Centre Court:
(intransitive) To congregate.
[…]I have seen the dumb men throng to see him and / The blind to bear him speak:[…] c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
(transitive) To crowd or press, as persons; to oppress or annoy with a crowd of living beings.
Much people followed him, and thronged him. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 5:24:
A third is wroth: ‘Is this an hour
For private sorrow’s barren song,
When more and more the people throng
The chairs and thrones of civil power?’ 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 35:
Pulling my hat down over my eyes, so as to hide somewhat the emotions which had thronged my countenance, I took a long look at the man whom I so long had sought. 1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 24:
uk юрбитися (to congregate) · mi tāmuimui (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · mi popō (to congregate) · fi ahtautua (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · uk заповнювати (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · es reunirse (to congregate) · nl samenstromen (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · fi tungeksia (to congregate) · bg тълпя се (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · es congregarse (to congregate) · mi popō (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · cmn 蜂擁 /蜂拥 (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · sv tränga sig in (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · uk переповнювати (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · es abarrotar (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · nl vergaderen (to congregate) · pt apinhar (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · pt lotar (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · uk скупчуватися (to congregate) · fi tungeksia (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · fi kerääntyä (to congregate) · uk юрмитися (to congregate) · fi täyttää (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · ga plúch (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · ga plódaigh (to congregate) · ru столпи́ться (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · ru толпи́ться (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it) · es llenar (to crowd into a place, especially to fill it)