threadbare

adj

Etymology: PIE word *bʰosós From Middle English thred-bar, thred-bare (“of cloth, clothing, etc.: worn to such an extent that the warp and weft threads show, shabby, worn-out; (figurative) inadequate, poor”) [and other forms], from thred (“piece of textile twine”) (from Old English þrǣd (“thread”), from Proto-Germanic *þrēduz (“thread; twisted fibre”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to drill, pierce; to rub; to turn, twist”)) + bar, bare (“naked, unclothed, bare; not covered”) (from Old English bær (“naked, bare; unconcealed”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“naked, bare”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰosós (“bare; barefoot”)). The English word is analysable as thread + bare.

1. Of cloth, clothing, furnishings, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show; shabby, worn-out.

   “His life vvas nigh vnto deaths dore yplaſte, / And thred-bare cote, and cobled ſhoes hee vvare, […]”

   “VVill any Freedom here from you be born, / VVhoſe Cloaths are thred-bare, and vvhoſe Cloaks are torn?”

2. In poor condition; damaged, shabby; also, poorly equipped or provided for, inadequate, meagre, scanty.

   “Welth and wyt, I say, be so threde bare worne, / That all is without measure, and fer beyonde the mone.”

   “From an Underſtanding and a Conſcience, thread-bare and ragged vvith perpetual turning; […]”

3. Of an argument, excuse, etc.: used so often that it is no longer effective or interesting; banal, clichéd, trite.
4. An argument or assertion with little in the way of substance or supporting evidence.

   “But with so many tired, lazy callbacks to its own threadbare catalog (including “Love Is Not The Answer,” a watery echo of the epic “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” from 2003’s Permission To Land), Hot Cakes marks the point where The Darkness has stopped cannibalizing the golden age of stadium rock and simply started cannibalizing itself.”

5. Of a person: wearing clothes of threadbare (sense 1) material; hence, impoverished, poor.

   “Be gon, all Honeſty, / Thou fooliſh, ſlender, thredbare, ſtarving thing, be gon!”