Thin (?), a. [Compar. Thiner (?); superl. Thinest.] [OE. thinne, thenne, thunne, AS. þynne; akin to D. dun, G. dunn, OHG. dunni, Icel. þunnr, Sw. tunn, Dan. tynd, Gael. & Ir. tana, W. teneu, L. tenuis, Gr. (in comp.) stretched out, stretched, stretched out, long, Skr. tanu thin, slender; also to AS. enian to extend, G. dehnen, Icel. enja, Goth. anjan (in comp.), L. tendere to stretch, tenere to hold, Gr. to stretch, Skr. tan. 51 & 237. Cf. Attenuate, Dance, Tempt, Tenable, Tend to move, Tenous, Thunder, Tone.]
1.
Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite; as, a thin plate of metal; thin paper; a thin board; a thin covering.
2.
Rare; not dense or thick; -- applied to fluids or soft mixtures; as, thin blood; thin broth; thin air.
Shak.
In the day, when the air is more thin.
Bacon.
Satan, bowing low
His gray dissimulation, disappeared,
Into thin air diffused.
Milton.
3.
Not close; not crowded; not filling the space; not having the individuals of which the thing is composed in a close or compact state; hence, not abundant; as, the trees of a forest are thin; the corn or grass is thin.
Ferrara is very large, but extremely thin of people.
Addison.
4.
Not full or well grown; wanting in plumpness.
Seven thin ears . . . blasted with the east wind.
Gen. xli. 6.
5.
Not stout; slim; slender; lean; gaunt; as, a person becomes thin by disease.
6.
Wanting in body or volume; small; feeble; not full.
Thin, hollow sounds, and lamentable screams.
Dryden.
7.
Slight; small; slender; flimsy; wanting substance or depth or force; superficial; inadequate; not sufficient for a covering; as, a thin disguise.
My tale is done, for my wit is but thin.
Chaucer.
⇒ Thin is used in the formation of compounds which are mostly self-explaining; as, thin-faced, thin-lipped, thin-peopled, thin-shelled, and the like.
Thin section. See under Section.
© Webster 1913.
Thin, adv.
Not thickly or closely; in a seattered state; as, seed sown thin.
Spain is thin sown of people.
Bacon.
© Webster 1913.
Thin, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Thinned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Thinning.] [Cf. AS. geþynnian.]
To make thin (in any of the senses of the adjective).
© Webster 1913.
Thin, v. i.
To grow or become thin; -- used with some adverbs, as out, away, etc.; as, geological strata thin out, i. e., gradually diminish in thickness until they disappear.
© Webster 1913.