thrift

See also: Thrift

English

Etymology

From Middle English thrift, thryfte, þrift, from Old Norse þrift (“thriving condition, prosperity”). Equivalent to thrive +‎ -t.[1]

Pronunciation
  • enPR: thrĭft, IPA(key): /θɹɪft/
  • Rhymes: -ɪft

Wikispecies

Noun

thrift (countable and uncountable, plural thrifts)

  1. (uncountable) The characteristic of using a minimum of something (especially money).
    His thrift can be seen in how little the trashman takes from his house.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Edmund Spenser
      The rest, […] willing to fall to thrift, prove very good husbands.
    • Ambrose Bierce
      […] it would appear that before taking this precaution Mr. Bree must have had the thrift to remove a modest competency of the gold […]
  2. (countable, US) A savings bank.
    Usually, home mortgages are obtained from thrifts.
  3. (countable) Any of various plants of the genus Armeria, particularly Armeria maritima.
  4. (obsolete) Success and advance in the acquisition of property; increase of worldly goods; gain; prosperity; profit.
    • 1380+, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales:
      Medleth na-more with that art, I mene, / For, if ye doon, your thrift is goon ful clene.
    • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I scene i:
      Bassanio: […] And many Jasons come in quest of her. / O my Antonio, had I but the means / To hold a rival place with one of them, / I have a mind presages me such thrift, / That I should questionless be fortunate!
    • c. 1599-1601, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III scene ii:
      Hamlet: No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp, / And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee / Where thrift may follow fawning.
  5. (obsolete) Vigorous growth, as of a plant.

Synonyms
  • (characteristic of using a minimum of something): frugality

Antonyms

Derived terms
▼ <a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs14 CategoryTreeLabelCategory' href='/wiki/Category:English_terms_derived_from_the_PIE_root_*terp-' title='Category:English terms derived from the PIE root *terp-'>English terms derived from the PIE root *terp-</a>‎ (0 c, 4 e)
  <a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs0 CategoryTreeLabelPage' href='/wiki/thrave' title='thrave'>thrave</a>
  <a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs0 CategoryTreeLabelPage' href='/wiki/thrift' title='thrift'>thrift</a>
  <a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs0 CategoryTreeLabelPage' href='/wiki/thrifty' title='thrifty'>thrifty</a>
  <a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs0 CategoryTreeLabelPage' href='/wiki/thrive' title='thrive'>thrive</a>

Translations

Verb

thrift (third-person singular simple present thrifts, present participle thrifting, simple past and past participle thrifted)

  1. (transitive) To obtain from a thrift shop.
    • 2007, James Bernard Frost, World Leader Pretend, page 152:
      She probably thrifted the T-shirt and shorts. Bought the hiking boots yesterday at Copeland's. She's not much of a hiker, Xerxes thinks.

References
  1. thrift in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
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