thing 
The folk of that Ccmtree begynnen alle hire thinpet In 
the newe Mom 1 ; and thei worschipen nioche the Mone and 
tlic Sonne, and often tyme kuelen azenst hem. 
Mandeeille, Travels, p. 248. 
Daun John was risen in the morwe also, 
And in the gnrdyn walketh to and fro, 
And hath his thinges seyd fill curteisly. 
Chaucer, Shipman's Tale, 1. 91. 
A sorry thing to hide ray head 
In castle, like a fearful maid, 
When such a fleld is near. 
Scott, Marmion, v. 34. 
(e) A composition, as a tale, a poem, or a piece of music : 
used informally or deprecatingly. 
I wol yow telle a lytel thyng in prose 
That oRhte liken yow, as I suppose. 
Chaucer, Prol. to Tale of Melibeus, 1. 19. 
A pretty kind of sort of kind of thing, 
Not much a verse, and poem none at all. L. Hunt. 
(/) [Usually pi.} Personal accoutrements, equipments, 
furniture, etc.; especially, apparel; clothing; in particu- 
lar, outdoor garments ; wraps. 
And hem she yaf hir moehles and hir thing. 
Chaucer, Second Nun's Tale, 1. 540. 
I suppose you don't mean to detain my apparel I may 
have my things, I presume? Sheridan, The Duenna, i. 3. 
The women disburdened themselves of their out-of-door 
things. Mrs. Gaskell, Mary Barton, ii. 
(g) pi. In lair, sometimes, the material objects which can 
be subject to property rights; sometimes, those rights 
themselves. The distinction which is often made between 
corporeal and incorporeal things is a consequence of the 
confusion of these two meanings. Things real comprehend 
lands, tenements, and hereditaments, including rights 
and profits issuing out of land ; things personal compre- 
hend goods and chattels ; and things mixed are such as 
partake of the characteristics of the two former, as a title- 
deed, (h) pi. Circumstances. 
There ensued a more peaceable and lasting harmony, 
and cons.. it of things. Bacon, Physical Fables, i., Expl. 
Things are in the saddle, 
And ride mankind. 
Emerson, Ode, inscribed to W. H. Cbanning. 
2. A portion, part, or particular; an item; a 
particle; a jot, whit, or bit: used in many ad- 
verbial expressions, especially after or in com- 
position with no, any, and some. See nothing, 
anything, something. 
Ector, for the stithe stroke stoynyt no thyng, 
Gryppit to his gode sword in a grym yre, 
Drof vnto Diomede, that deryt hym before. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.). 1. 7431. 
What he commandeth they dare not disobey in the least 
thing. Capt. John Smith, Works, I. 144. 
We have setters watching in corners, and by dead walls, 
to give us notice when a gentleman goes by, especially if 
he be any thing in drink. 
Swift, Last Speech of Ebenezer Elllston. 
3f. Cause; sake. 
Luue him [thy neighbor] for godes thing. 
Old Eng. Homilies (ed. Morris), I. 07. 
An mine gode song for hire thinge 
Ich turne sundel to murni[n]ge. 
Owl and Nightingale (ed. Wright), 1. 1585. 
A soft thing. See sort. Fallaciesin things. See fal- 
lacy. Rights Of tilings, in law, rights considered with 
reference to the object over which they may be asserted. 
The clean thing. See clean. The thing, the proper, 
desired, or necessary proceeding or result ; especially, that 
which is required by custom or fashion. 
A bishop's calling company together in this week [Holy 
Week] is, to use a vulgar phrase, not the thing. 
Johnson, in Boswell, an. 1781. 
It was the thing to look upon the company, unless some 
irresistible attraction drew attention to the stage. 
Doran, Annals of Stage, I. 182. 
The question [of a state church], at the present junc- 
ture, is in itself so absolutely unimportant ! The thing is, 
to recast religion. 
M. Arnold, Literature and Dogma, Pref. 
Flattered vanity was a pleasing sensation, she admitted, 
but tangible advantage was the thing after all. 
Whyte Melville, White Rose, I. v. 
Thing-in-itself (translating the German Ding an sich), a 
noumenon. Thing of naught or nothing, a thing of 
no value or importance ; a mere nothing ; a cipher. 
Man is like a thing of naught ; his time passeth away like 
a shadow. Book of Common Prayer, Psalter, Ps. cxliv. 4. 
Ham. The King is a thing 
Guil. A thing, my lord ! 
Ham. Of nothing. Shall. , Hamlet, iv. 2. 30. 
Things in action, legal rights to things not in the pos- 
session of the claimant. To do the handsome thing 
by, to treat with munificence or generosity. [Manv analo- 
gous phrases are formed by the substitution of other ad- 
jectives for handsome : as, to do the friendly proper 
square, or right thing by a person.) [Colloq.] 
You sec I'm doing the handsome thing by you, because 
my father knows yours. 
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 5. 
To know a thing or two, to be experienced or knowing 
hence, to be shrewd or sharp-witted. [Colloq.] 
My cousin is a sharp blade, but I think I have shown 
him that we in Virginia know a thing or two. 
Thackeray, Virginians, xviii. 
To make a good thing of, to derive profit from: as to 
make a good thing of stock-jobbing. [Colloq. ] 
thing 2 (ting), 11. [Not from AS. thing, a coun- 
cil, but repr. Icel. tiling, an assembly, confer- 
629L' 
ence, = Sw. Dan. ting, a court, a place of as- 
sembly, a legal trial: see thing 1 . Cf. hasting.] 
In Scandinavian countries and in regions large- 
ly settled by Scandinavians (as the east and 
north of England), an assembly, public meet- 
ing, parliament, or court of law. Also ting. 
See Althing, Landsthing, Storthing, Folkething. 
Likewise the Swedish King 
Summoned in haste a Thing, 
Weapons and men to bring 
In aid of Denmark. 
Longfellow, Wayside Inn, Saga of King Olaf, xvii. 
The change of the English name "moot" for the gather- 
ing of the freemen in township or wapentake into the 
Scandinavian thing, or ting, ... is ... significant of the 
social revolution which passed over the north with the 
coming of the Dane. 
J. K. Green, Conquest of England, p. 115. 
thingal(thing'al), a. [< thing* + -al.] Belong- 
ing or pertaining to things; real. [Rare.] 
Indeed he [Hinton] possessed no true ajsthetic feeling 
at all ; there is probably not a single word in all that he 
wrote which indicates any sense of what he would prob- 
ably call " thingal beauty." Mind, IX. 898. 
thingamy (thing'a-mi), ?i. Same as thingummy, 
T-hinge (te'hinj), "n. A door-hinge in the shape 
of the letter T, of which one leaf, a strap, is 
fastened to the door, and the other, short and 
wide, is fixed to the door-post, 
thinger (thing'er), n. [< thing* + -er*.] A 
realist; one who considers only things or ob- 
jects; a practical or matter-of-fact person. 
[Rare and affected.] 
Those who were thingers before they were mere thinkers. 
Gerald Massey, Natural Genesis, I. 16. 
thinghood (thing'hud), n. [< thing* + -hood.] 
The condition or character of being a thing. 
[Rare.] 
The materialism that threatens the American Church is 
not the materialism of Herbert Spencer. It is the ma- 
terialism . . . that puts thinghood above manhood. 
L. Abbott, The Century, XXXVI. 624. 
thinginess(thing'i-nes), n. [< thingy + -ness.] 
1 . The quality of a material thing ; objectiv- 
ity; actuality; reality. 2. A materialistic or 
matter-of-fact view or doctrine ; the inclination 
or disposition to take a practical view of things. 
[Recent in both senses.] 
thingraan (ting'man), n.; pi. thinginen (-men). 
[< Icel. thingmadhr (-mann-), a member of 
an assembly, a liegeman, < thing, assembly, 4- 
madhr = E. man: see tiling^ and man.] In early 
Scandinavian and early Eng. hist., a house-carl. 
See house-carl. 
Then there rode forth from the host of the English 
twenty men of the Thingmen or House-carls, any one 
man of whom, men said, could fight against any other 
two men in the whole world. 
E. A. Freeman, Old Eng. Hist., p. 301. 
thingumajig (thing'um-a-jig"), n. [A capri- 
cious extension of thing*. Cf. thingumbob.] 
Same as thingumbob. 
He got ther critter propped up an' ther thingermajig 
stropped on ter 'im. The Century, XXXVII. 913. 
thingumbob (thing'um-bob), n. [Also dial. 
thing it in ebob ; < thing* + -/ (a quasi-L. term.) 
+ 606, of no def. meaning. Cf. thingtimajig, 
thingummy.] An indefinite name for any per- 
son or thing which a speaker is at a loss, or is 
too indifferent, to designate more precisely. 
[Colloq. or vulgar.] 
A lonely grey house, with a thingumebob at the top; a 
servatory they call it. Bulwer, Eugene Aram, i. 2. 
A polyp would be a conceptual thinker if a feeling 
of "Hollo! thingumbob again!" ever flitted through its 
mind. W. James, Prin. of Psychology, I. 463. 
thingummy (thiug'um-i), n. [Also thingamy; 
a capricious extension of thing, as if < thing* 
+ -urn (a quasi-L. term.) + -y%. Cf. thing- 
umbob.] Same as thingumbob. 
What a bloated aristocrat Thingamy has become since 
he got his place ! 
Thackeray, Character Sketches (Misc., V. 343). 
" And so," says Xanthias, in the slovenly jargon of gos- 
sip, "the thingummy is to come off?" "Yes," replies 
Aeacus in the same style, "directly; and this is where 
the thingumbobs are to work." Classical Rev., III. 269. 
thin-gutt (thin'gut), re. A starveling. [Low.] 
Thou thin-gut ! 
Thou thing without moisture ! 
ifassinger, Believe as you List, iii. 2. (Latham.) 
thin-gutted (thin'guf'ed), a. Having a thin, 
lean, or flaccid belly, as a fish. 
A slim thin-gutted fox. Sir S. L' Estrange. 
thingy (thing'i), a. [< tMng* + -y*.] 1. Ma- 
terial ; like a material object ; objective ; actu- 
al; real. 2. Materialistic; practical; given 
to thinginess; pragmatical: as, a thingy per- 
son or view. [Recent in both uses.] 
think 
think 1 (thingk), r. ; pret. and pp. thniight, ppr. 
thinking. [< ME. thinken, tlii/nkcn, prop, tlicnkm, 
also assibilated tlienchcn (pret. thought, tlioughtc, 
pp. thought), ( AS. thencan,tliencean (pvet. thohte, 
pp. thoht) = OS. thenkian OFries. tlianka, tlien- 
kia, tensa = OHG. denchan, MHG. denken, G. 
denken, think, = Icel. thekkja, perceive (mod. 
Icel. thenkja = Sw. tanka = Dan. ttenke, think, 
are influenced by the G.), = Goth, thagl.jim. 
think; connected with AS. thane, etc., thought, 
thank (see thank); orig. factitive of a strong 
verb, AS. *thincan, pret. * tlianc, pp. "thiinn n. 
which appears only in the secondary form, 
tlujncan (pret. thuhte, etc.). seem: see think-, 
which has been more or less confused with 
think*. Cf. OL. tongere, know, t(igiti(n-). 
knowing. For the relation of the mod. form 
think* to AS. thencan, cf. that of drink and 
drench* to AS. drencan, and of sink, tr., to AS. 
sencan.] I. trans. 1. To judge; say to one's 
self mentally; form as a judgment or concep- 
tion. 
'Twere damnation 
To think so base a thought. 
Shale., M. of V., ii. 7. 60. 
Again thought he, Since heretofore I have made a con- 
quest of angels, shall Great-heart make me afraid? 
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, ii. 
" What a noble heart that man has," she thought. 
Thaekeray, Vanity Fair, Ixvi. 
2. To form a mental image of; imagine: often 
equivalent to recollect ; recall ; consider. 
"Thenke," quod the lewe, "what I thee dede 
When thou was with vs in that stede." 
King Horn (E. E. T. S.), p. 92. 
Ther nas no man so wys that koude thenche 
So gay a popelote, or swich a wenche. 
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 67. 
Vlfyn that is wise and a trewe knyght hath ordeyned 
all this pees, and the beste ordenaunce that eny can 
thynke. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 80. 
If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined, 
The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind. 
Pope, Essay on Man, iv. 281. 
3. To cognize; apprehend; grasp intellectu- 
ally. 
The animal perceives no "object," no "causal nexus," 
not being able to form such abstractions from his feel- 
ings. If man is gifted with another power, and thinks an 
"object " or a "causal nexus," it is because he can detach 
and fix in signs, rendering explicit what is implicit in 
feeling. G. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, II. iii. 5. 
We think the ocean as a whole by multiplying mentally 
the impression we get at any moment when at sea. 
tT. James, Prin. of Psychology, II. 203. 
4. To judge problematically; form a concep- 
tion of (something) in the mind and recognize 
it as possibly true, without decidedly assenting 
to it as such. 
Charity . . . thinketh no evil [taketh not account of 
evil, R. V.]. 1 Cor. xiii. 5. 
He sleeps and thinks no harme. 
Milton, Church-Government, ii., Con. 
5. To purpose; intend; mean; contemplate; 
have in mind (to do) : usually followed by an 
infinitive clause as the object. 
When he seid all that he thought to seye, 
Ther nedid noo displeasur to be sought. 
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 204. 
No hurte to me they thinke. 
Taming of a Shrew (Child's Uallads, VIII. 184). 
I think not to rest till I come thither. 
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 20. 
Many of the colonists at Boston thought to remove, or 
did remove, to England. 
Emerson, Hist. Discourse at Concord. 
6. To hold as a belief or opinion ; opine ; be- 
lieve; consider. 
The better gowns they have on, the better men they 
think themselves. In the which thing they do twice err ; 
for they be no less deceived in that they think their gown 
the better than they be in that they think themselves the 
better. Sir T. Wore, Utopia (tr. by Robinson), ii. 7. 
Thinking vs enemies, [they] sought the best aduantage 
they could to fight with vs. 
Capt. John Smith, Works, II. 227. 
Besides, you are a Woman ; you must never speak what 
you think. Congrece, Love for Love, ii. 11. 
7. To feel: as, to think scorn. [Obsolete or 
provincial.] 
Loue lelii what thou lonest al mi lif dawes, 
& hate heigeli in hert that thou hate thenkest. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4720. 
Scho fand all wrang that sould hene richt, 
I trow the man thought richt grit schame. 
Wyf of Auchtirmuchty (Child's Ballads, VIII. 121). 
8. To modify (an immediate object of cogni- 
tion) at will ; operate on by thought (in a speci- 
fied way). 
Meditation here 
May think down hours to moments. 
Couyer, Task, vi. 85. 
