Hypertext Webster Gateway: "threadbare"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Threadbare \Thread"bare`\, a.
1. Worn to the naked thread; having the nap worn off;
threadbare clothes. ``A threadbare cope.'' --Chaucer.
2. Fig.: Worn out; as, a threadbare subject; stale topics and
threadbare quotations. --Swift.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
threadbare
adj 1: repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse; "bromidic
sermons"; "his remarks were trite and commonplace";
"hackneyed phrases"; "a stock answer"; "repeating
threadbare jokes"; "parroting some timeworn axiom";
"the trite metaphor `hard as nails'" [syn: {banal}, {commonplace},
{hackneyed}, {shopworn}, {stock(a)}, {timeworn}, {tired},
{trite}, {well-worn}]
2: having the nap worn away so that the threads show through;
"threadbare rugs"
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