thrutch

From Middle English thrucchen (“to push, rush”), from Old English þryċċan (“to push, press, trample on, crush”), from Proto-West Germanic *þrukkijan, from Proto-Germanic *þrukkijaną (“to press”). Cognate with West Frisian drukke (“to press”), Dutch drukken (“to press, squeeze”), German drücken (“to press, push, squeeze”), Swedish trycka (“to press, push, squeeze”).

• IPA^(key): /θɹʌt͡ʃ/
• Rhymes: -ʌtʃ

thrutch (third-person singular simple present thrutches, present participle thrutching, simple past and past participle thrutched)

1. (UK dialectal, Northern England) To push; press; shove; thrust.
   • 1857 February 14, James Taylor Staton, “Dumplin Haw Ghost”, in The Bowtun Luminary, volume 8, number 7, Bolton, page 52:

     If awd known wot aw know neaw, says Bobby, thrutchin his honds deep into his breeches pockets un hutchin up his shilders, theaw'd not ha getten me t' Knottmill fair.

   • 1881, Benjamin Brierley, Ab-o'th'-Yate's Dictionary; or, Walmsley Fowt Skoomester, Manchester: Abel Heywood & Son, page 91:

     GOOD. A class o' folk ut thinken theirsels so perfect they need no thrutch for t' get a front place i'th' top shop. But if they yerd th' trumpet seaund they'd be off like red-shanks; an' wouldno' care whoa they elbowed back at th' gates.

2. (UK dialectal, Northern England) To press or squeeze cheese in a vat.
   • 1891 March 4, Robert Holland, “Cheese-making and Butter-making Terms in Use in 1688”, in The Cheshire Sheaf, Chester: The "Chester Courant" Office, published 1895, Replies, page 39:

     Thrutchings.—To thrutch is to squeeze. The whey which is squeezed out of the cheese when under pressure and after being salted, is called thrutchings.

3. (UK dialectal, Northern England) To crowd; throng; squeeze; huddle together.

   Synonyms: mass, press; see also Thesaurus:assemble, Thesaurus:compress

   • 1857, “Part Sixt Un Last”, in Sam Sondnokkur's Ryde fro Ratchda to Manchistur, 2nd edition, Manchester: John Heywood, page 14:

     Thir wur o lot o foke thrutchin reawnd summut; un aw thrutcht mi sel omung um , for to see whot wur gooin on.

   • 1874, Edwin Waugh, “The Nomination”, in The Chimney Corner, Manchester: Abel Heywood & Son, published 1879, page 40:

     But, there it wur,—an' there it had to stop! for noather her nor me could stir a peg. ... Well; they olez say'n there's th' most thrutchin' wheer there's th' least reawm, an' it wur so theer, by th' mon; […]

4. (UK dialectal, Northern England, figuratively) To trouble; oppress; distress.

   Synonyms: grame, stress, torment, vex

   • 1874, Edwin Waugh, “The Old Coal Man”, in The Chimney Corner, Manchester: Abel Heywood & Son, published 1879, page 74:

     Then he grunted, an' mumble't, an' glendur't around,
     An' he tooted about o'er th' neighbourin' ground;
     Still, never a soul to turn th' stone could he find,
     An' it made him a little bit thrutched in his mind.

5. (caving, climbing) To push, press, or squeeze into a place; move sideways or vertically in an upright position by wriggling the body against opposing rock surfaces. Compare chimney.

   I thrutched up the final crack to a small pinnacle.

• thrutch up
• thrutcher
• thrutching match
• thrutchings

thrutch (plural thrutches)

1. (caving, climbing) An obstacle overcome by thrutching; an act of thrutching (See verb #5)
2. (UK dialectal, Northern England) A narrow gorge or ravine.
3. (UK dialectal, Northern England) A push; shove; thrust.
   • 1857 January 10, “Jealousy”, in The Bowtun Luminary, volume 8, number 2, Bolton, page 15:

     There wur nowt left for Yem, theerefore, but to rouse up hur conshusness, so so settin his feet ogen hur un his bonds, he gien one sammin good thrutch, un sent hur slap off th' bed on to th' floor;

4. (UK dialectal, Northern England) A throng; crowd.

• thrack
• thruchins

• Joseph Wright, editor (1905), “THRUTCH”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: , volume VI (T–Z, Supplement, Bibliography and Grammar), London: Henry Frowde, , publisher to the English Dialect Society, ; New York, N.Y.: G P Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, pages 125–126.
• Oxford Dictionaries. April 2010. Oxford University Press, thrutch. 11 September 2011. Article.