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[1]
    • Hudibras
      Through thick and thin she followed him.
    • Coleridge
      He became the panegyrist, through thick and thin, of a military frenzy.

Derived terms

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References
  1. “Source of Quote at quoteworld.com”, in (Please provide the title of the work)‎, accessed 21 March 2007, archived from the original on 12 October 2007
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