threadbare

English

WOTD – 21 December 2023

Etymology

PIE word
*bʰosós

A c. 1960s teddy bear which has become threadbare (sense 1).

From Middle English thred-bar, thred-bare (“of cloth, clothing, etc.: worn to such an extent that the warp and weft threads show, shabby, worn-out; (figurative) inadequate, poor”) [and other forms],^[1] from thred (“piece of textile twine”)^[2] (from Old English þrǣd (“thread”), from Proto-Germanic *þrēduz (“thread; twisted fibre”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to drill, pierce; to rub; to turn, twist”)) + bar, bare (“naked, unclothed, bare; not covered”)^[3] (from Old English bær (“naked, bare; unconcealed”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“naked, bare”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰosós (“bare; barefoot”)). The English word is analysable as thread +‎ bare.^[4]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈθɹɛdbɛə/, /-bɛː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈθɹɛdˌbɛ(ə)ɹ/
• Hyphenation: thread‧bare

Adjective

threadbare (comparative more threadbare, superlative most threadbare)

2. Of cloth, clothing, furnishings, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show; shabby, worn-out.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 28, page 53:

     His life vvas nigh vnto deaths dore yplaſte, / And thred-bare cote, and cobled ſhoes hee vvare, […]

   • 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, W. Bowles, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Fifth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 80:

     VVill any Freedom here from you be born, / VVhoſe Cloaths are thred-bare, and vvhoſe Cloaks are torn?

   • 1712 January 4 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, December 24, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 42; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 282:

     We are told, that an ancient tragic poet, to move the pity of his audience for his exiled kings and distressed heroes, used to make the actors represent them in dresses and clothes that were thread-bare and decayed.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Club of Queer Fellows”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 1 (Strange Stories. […]), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC, page 26:

     No one stops to question the coin of a rich man; but a poor devil cannot pass off either a joke or a guinea, without its being examined on both sides. Wit and coin are always doubted with a threadbare coat.

   • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Four. The Last of the Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 135:

     Ah! You may look through that shirt till your eyes ache; but you won't find a hole in it, nor a thread-bare place. It's the best he had, and a fine one too.

   • 1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, “Little Mother”, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC, book the first (Poverty), page 66:

     The shabbiness of these attendants upon shabbiness, the poverty of these insolvent waiters upon insolvency, was a sight to see. Such threadbare coats and trousers, such fusty gowns and shawls, such squashed hats and bonnets, such boots and shoes, such umbrellas and walking-sticks, never were seen in Rag Fair.

   • 2014 December, Paul Salopek, “Blessed. Cursed. Claimed. On Foot through the Holy Lands”, in National Geographic‎, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2015-02-12:

     Unkempt, in threadbare clothes, with holed shoes and sun-cured hide, my costume is permanent: the traveler, the man from far away.

3. (figurative)
   1. In poor condition; damaged, shabby; also, poorly equipped or provided for, inadequate, meagre, scanty.

      (poorly equipped): Synonyms: see Thesaurus:inadequate

      • a. 1530 (date written), John Skelton, “Magnyfycence, a Goodly Interlude and a Mery, […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 232, lines 225–226:

        Welth and wyt, I say, be so threde bare worne, / That all is without measure, and fer beyonde the mone.

      • 1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section I. The Introduction.”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], →OCLC, page 51:

        From an Underſtanding and a Conſcience, thread-bare and ragged vvith perpetual turning; […]

      • 1862, Thomas Carlyle, “Friedrich Starts for Moravia, on a New Scheme He Has”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book XIII, page 519:

        Holy Virgin stood in the main Convent of Glatz, in rather a threadbare condition, when the Prussians first approached; the Jesuits, and ardently Orthodox of both sexes, flagitating Heaven and her with their prayers, that she would vouchsafe to keep the Prussians out.

   2. Of an argument, excuse, etc.: used so often that it is no longer effective or interesting; banal, clichéd, trite.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:hackneyed

      Antonyms: fresh; see also Thesaurus:new

      • 2012 August 21, Jason Heller, “The Darkness: Hot Cakes [music review]”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 2023-04-06:

        But with so many tired, lazy callbacks to its own threadbare catalog (including “Love Is Not The Answer,” a watery echo of the epic “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” from 2003’s Permission To Land), Hot Cakes marks the point where The Darkness has stopped cannibalizing the golden age of stadium rock and simply started cannibalizing itself.

4. (archaic or obsolete) Of a person: wearing clothes of threadbare (sense 1) material; hence, impoverished, poor.

   Synonyms: broke, down at heel, penniless; see also Thesaurus:impoverished

   Antonyms: see Thesaurus:wealthy

   • 1678 February 28 (date licensed), Tho[mas] Shadwell, The History of Timon of Athens, the Man-hater. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC, Act I, page 1:

     Be gon, all Honeſty, / Thou fooliſh, ſlender, thredbare, ſtarving thing, be gon!

Derived terms

• threadbareness

Translations

of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby,‎ worn-out

Azerbaijani: sürtük Bulgarian: износен (bg) (iznosen), овехтял (bg) (ovehtjal) Catalan: gastat (ca) m, tronat (ca) m Dutch: versleten (nl) Finnish: kulunut (fi), nuhruinen, nukkavieru (fi) French: élimé (fr) German: fadenscheinig (de) Greek: ξεφτισμένος (el) m (xeftisménos), φθαρμένος (el) m (ftharménos) Irish: ar an bhfáithim, barrchaite, lom, lomchaite, scáineach, scáinte, smolchaite Latin: rallus Macedonian: и́зносен (íznosen), и́злижан (ízližan) Nahuatl: acacaxactic (nah) Norwegian: Bokmål: loslitt Plautdietsch: beschieet Portuguese: puído m, puída f Russian: изно́шенный (ru) (iznóšennyj), обветша́лый (ru) (obvetšályj), потёртый (ru) (potjórtyj), ста́рый (ru) (stáryj) Scottish Gaelic: lom Slovene: zguljen Spanish: raído (es) m Ukrainian: пошарпаний m (pošarpanyj), потертий m (potertyj), зношений m (znošenyj)

in poor condition — see damaged,‎ shabby

poorly equipped or provided for — see inadequate,‎ meagre,‎ scanty

of an argument, etc.: used so often that it is no longer effective or interesting — see banal,‎ clichéd,‎ hackneyed,‎ trite

of a person: wearing clothes of threadbare material

Finnish: nuhruinen Macedonian: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: Bokmål: loslitt

impoverished, poor — see impoverished,‎ poor

References

1. “thrēd-bār(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
2. “thrēd(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
3. “bār, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
4. “threadbare, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “threadbare, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.