Through

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /θɹuː/
• US
• Homophones: threw

Alternative forms

• thorow obsolete
• thru US, Canada

From Middle English *thrugh, thruch, thruh, metathetic variants of Middle English thurgh, thurh, from Old English þorh, þurh, þerh, þærh ("through, for, during, by, by means of, by use of, because of, in consequence of"), from Proto-Germanic *þerh ("through"), *þurh, from Proto-Indo-European *ter- ("through, throughout, over"). Cognate with Scots throch ("through"), West Frisian troch ("through"), Dutch door ("through"), German durch ("through"), Gothic (þaírh, "through"), Latin trans ("across, over, through"), Albanian tërthor ("through, around"), Welsh tra ("through"). See also thorough.

Full definition of through

Preposition

1. From one side of an opening to the other.
   I went through the window.
• 2013-06-01, Ideas coming down the track, A “moving platform” scheme...is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.
2. Entering, then later leaving.
   I drove through the town at top speed without looking left or right.
• 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate Chapter Prologue, Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging....He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.
• 2013-05-25, No hiding place, In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%.
3. Surrounded by (while moving).
   We slogged through the mud for hours before turning back and giving up.
• 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 1, I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
• 2013-06-22, Snakes and ladders, Risk is everywhere....For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you. “The Norm Chronicles”...aims to help data-phobes find their way through this blizzard of risks.
4. By means of.
   This team believes in winning through intimidation.
• 2011, September 28, Tom Rostance, Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos, But the home side were ahead in the eighth minute through 18-year-old Oxlade-Chamberlain.
• 2013-07-20, The attack of the MOOCs, Since the launch early last year of … two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.
5. (North America) To (or up to) and including, with all intermediate values.
   from 1945 through 1991;  the numbers 1 through 9;  your membership is active through March 15, 2013

Derived terms

Adjective

1. Passing from one side of an object to the other.
   Interstate highways form a nationwide system of through roads.
2. Finished; complete.
   They were through with laying the subroof by noon.
3. Valueless; without a future.
   After being implicated in the scandal, he was through as an executive in financial services.
4. No longer interested.
   She was through with him.
• 1908, W. B. M. Ferguson, Zollenstein Chapter 1, “I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.
• 1977, Iggy Pop, Lust for Life (song)I'm worth a million in prizes
  Yeah, I'm through with sleeping on the sidewalk
  No more beating my brains
  No more beating my brains
  With the liquor and drugs
  With the liquor and drugs
5. Proceeding from origin to destination without delay due to change of equipment.
   The through flight through Memphis was the fastest.

Adverb

1. From one side to the other by way of the interior.The arrow went straight through.
2. From one end to the other.Others slept; he worked straight through.She read the letter through.
3. To the end.He said he would see it through.
4. Completely.Leave the yarn in the dye overnight so the color soaks through.
5. Out into the open.The American army broke through at St. Lo.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /θrÊŒf/

From Old English þrūh

Noun

1. A large slab of stone laid on a tomb.