thins

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of thin.

   The crowd thins out noticeably once the headline act leaves the stage.

   A good painter thins each coat so the layers dry evenly.

   Note

   One verb form covers two directions of change. Someone thins a sauce, making it thinner or diluting it, while a crowd or a mist simply thins on its own. Gardeners use it for a particular job: a grower thins a row of seedlings by pulling some out so the rest grow better. The same letters also spell the plural noun, so context shows whether thins is an action or a set of things.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of thin.

   The deli stacks its smoked salmon thins between sheets of parchment.

   Guests reached for the salted crackers and almond thins on the buffet.

   Note

   Two quite different nouns stand behind this plural. In food, thins are things cut or served in thin slices, a name that suits crackers, wafers and sliced fish alike. A stamp collector means something else entirely: thins are places where paper has been lost or torn from the back of a stamp without going all the way through to make a hole.

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