thickset

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Having a relatively short, heavy build.

   • a thickset, muscular figure
   • a thickset workhorse
   • He was a thick set man, and of a strong Constitution […]
2. 2

   Densely crowded together

   Densely crowded together; made up of things that are densely crowded together; closely planted.

   • a thickset wood
   • a thickset hedge
   • 1581, Thomas Newton (translator), Thebais in Seneca His Tenne Tragedies, London: Thomas Marsh, Act 2, p. 48, […] let me be allowde To lurke behinde this Craggy Rocke, or els my selfe to hyde On backside of some thickset hedge:
3. 3

   Densely covered (with something).

   • a gully thickset with brambles
   • 1583, John Foxe, Acts and Monuments, London: John Day, Book 4, “The tragicall historie of Gregorie the vij. otherwise named Hildebrand,” p. 177, […] in a vessell being thick set with sharpe nayles, he tormented him to the poynt of death:
   • The sides of the Church were so thick set with Pictures, that it seem’d to be made in imitation of Plato’s Den, where one could see nothing but shadowes.
4. ›+ 3 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      A thick hedge.

   2. 5

      A stout, twilled cotton cloth

      A stout, twilled cotton cloth; a fustian corduroy, or velveteen.

      • 1812, George Crabbe, Tales, London: J. Hatchard, Tale 4, “Procrastination,” p. 73, When he, with thickset coat of Badge-man’s blue, Moves near her shaded silk of changeful hue;
      • 1829, anonymous contributor, “A Day at Fontainebleau.—The Royal Hunt,” The Monthly Magazine, New Series, Volume 7, No. 37, January 1829, p. 12, His breeches were of the homeliest thickset;
   3. 6

      A piece of clothing made from this fabric.

      • […] his coat was originally what is called a thickset, but out at the elbows;
      • I had observed that our landlord wore, on that memorable morning, a pair of bran new velveteens instead of his ancient thicksets.

The neighborhood