thick of things

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

the thick of things

1. (idiomatic) A central or major role in a situation; a position in which one is surrounded by or very involved in complex, changing events.
   • 1888, Joseph Augustus Seiss, Lectures on the Gospels, vol. 2, Lutheran Bookstore (Philadelphia), p. 767:

     Christ calls for large ideas, bold enterprise, heavy undertakings, brave adventure, and heroic plunging into the thick of things.

   • 1935 July 3, Charley Gehringer, “Second Base is Toughest Position to Play”, in Pittsburgh Press, page 13:

     Second base is a pleasurable post for the reason that the man covering it is in the thick of things at all times.

   • 2004 December 15, “VP Race Is On”, in Fiji Times, Australia:

     During the coup he also kept his distance from the thick of things.

• Often used in prepositional phrases beginning with in or into.

• in the swim
• in the thick of it