See Also: thicken(medicine)
thicken(dictionary)
thicken(dictionary)

thicken (iou)



thicken verb. LME.
[from THICK adjective + -EN5. Cf. THICK verb.]
verb trans. & intrans. Make or become thick or thicker in consistency; (cause to) increase in density or concentration. LME.
J. E. T. Rogers Oatmeal was used..for thickening soup. A. Lambert The rain is thickening into sleet.
verb trans. Make close or dense in arrangement of parts or constituents; fill up the spaces of. LME-E19.
verb intrans. Become dark or opaque; (of the weather) become cloudy or misty. E17.
T. Hardy The dusk had thickened into darkness. D. Nabokov The murk gradually thickened outside the window.
a. verb trans. & intrans. Make or become thicker in measurement; (cause to) increase in girth or bulk. E17.
G. Glenny Earth in the alleys..thrown up to thicken the soil above. M. Wesley She had thickened, but her figure was still excellent.
b. verb trans. fig. Make more substantial; strengthen. E17.
verb intrans. fig. (Esp. of the plot in a book etc.) become more complex or intricate; increase in intensity. L17.
C. Rayner The silence they left behind thickened.
verb intrans. Become crowded, numerous, or frequent; gather thickly. E18.
A. Price Home-going traffic from the coast was thickening.
thickener noun (a) a substance added to another to thicken it; (b) a machine or apparatus for the sedimentation of solids from suspension in a liquid: L16.