They

pers. pron. Forms: see below. [Early ME. þei (in Ormin þeȝȝ), a. ON. þei-r, nom. pl. masc. of the simple demonstrative sá, sú, þat (= OE. þá, ME. þā, þō), which in ON. filled the place of the lost plural of the 3rd pers. pron.: cf. Norw., MSw., Sw., MDa., Da. de, ‘they.’ In OE. the 3rd pers. pron. had its own plural hí, híe, híʓ, héo, which continued in extreme southern dialect to about 1400, and in the oblique cases a century longer: see HI², HEM pron., HER poss. pron.² But even in OE. the function of hí was largely shared by the pl. demonstrative þá ‘those,’ ME. northern þā, midl. and south. þō: see THO dem. pron. 1. The Trin. Coll. Homilies, c. 1200, have both hie and þei, but only hem, her(e for ‘them, their.’ Ormin, c. 1200, has always þeȝȝ in the nom., but often hemm and heore, here, beside þeȝȝm and þeȝȝre. Between 1200 and 1500 the Norse forms gradually displaced the original pronominal: in Caxton’s earlier works we find thei, hem, hir, and in the later thei, theim, their. their. See HE, HI², THO dem. pron.]

  A.  Illustration of Forms.

  3 (Orm.) þeȝȝ, (teȝȝ), 3 ðei, 3–5 þei, þai (tai), þey, 4 (þi, þy), 4–6 thei, thai (unstressed þe, the), 4–7 (Sc. –9) thay, (5 þeȝe, dey, 5–6 yei, 6–7 thee), 4– they.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 125–7. & swa þeȝȝ leddenn heore lif Till þatt teȝȝ wærenn alde, Þatt naffdenn þeȝȝ þurrh þeȝȝre streon Ne sune child ne dohhterr.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 189. For þan þe þei nehȝie wunien.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 573. Mete quorbi ðei miȝten liuen.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 19044 (Edin.). Ilkane als tai saȝ mistir haue.

c. 1300.  Havelok, 414. In þe castel … þer þei sperd wore; Þer he greten ofte sore.

c. 1300.  E. E. Psalter, xxi. 5. Oure fadres in þe hoped þai.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 2745. Þey ȝede spiande her & þer. Ibid., 2747. Þay wyste alle at ones.

c. 1375.  Cursor M., 2243 (Fairf.). Quen thay … had fest þe gronde, Þe werke thai raised.

1382.  Wyclif, Matt. vi. 5. Thei han resseyued her meede.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 40. To telle yow al the condicion Of ech of hem … which they were and of what degree.

c. 1400.  Rule St. Benet, 10. Yeme þaim, þat tay folȝ þe wordis of god.

c. 1400.  Brut, 83. Thei of Normandye, Gascoigne & Spaigne.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 8008. When the knewen all the cause, þo kynges bydene, All denyede it anon.

a. 1425.  Cursor M., 5042 (Trin.). Into egipte soone coom þey.

14[?].  in Hist. Coll. Citizen London (Camden), 213. To set the pavys where the lykyd.

c. 1440.  Generydes, 2633. So fought y^ei still.

c. 1550.  Cheke, Matt. xxvi. 15. Yei appointed him 30 silverlinges.

1559.  Bp. Scot, in Strype, Ann. Ref. (1709), I. App. vii. 12. Thei be joyned as in one.

c. 1560.  A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), ii. 101. Than to Dalkeith thai maid thame boun.

a. 1584.  Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, 541. Thay get na credit quhair we come.

  B.  Signification.

  I.  1. As pronoun of the third person plural, nom. case; the plural of he, she, or it: The persons or things in question, or last mentioned.

c. 1200–.  [see A.].

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 39. Here orf þe þei leswueð on halie larspelle.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 4990. Þritty oþer wyþ hym þey went.

13[?].  Cursor M., 800 (G.). For scham þay stode bath and quakid.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xii. 301. Lete theym shyfte hardely, they two togyder.

c. 1550–a. 1584.  [see A.].

1707.  E. Ward, Hud. Rediv., II. v. 27. They’re Rogues, as sure as Light’s in Heaven.

1838.  Ruskin, Ess. Music & Paint., § 24, Wks. 1903, I. 285. If others do not follow their example,—the more fools they.

1846.  Grote, Greece, I. xxi. II. 175. They two were the framers of all Grecian theogony.

1909.  J. W. Jenkinson, Experim. Embryol., 28. The plane in which they all lie.

  b.  Sometimes used where literary Eng. has the objective THEM. Now only dial. or illiterate.

[c. 1380.  Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 391. No man lawfully may … minystre hem save þai. Cf. SAVE prep. 1 b.]

1681.  T. Flatman, Heraclitus Ridens, No. 37 (1713), I. 239. An Officer, who is sworn not to permit any Person to speak with them, or they with any Body.

1688.  Ld. Delamer, Wks. (1694), 27. That will only tend to render both you and they uneasie.

1890.  A. Gissing, Vill. Hampden, I. iv. 102. I don’t understand anything about they.

1890.  A. C. Bickley, Surrey Hills, I. i. 12. It ’ud be a sight better if ’ee kept they to hissen.

  † c.  They are (or were) was formerly used (instead of the earlier it are, it were, mod. it is, it was: see IT B. 2) to introduce a plural sb. about which some statement is made by a relative clause following.

a. 1716.  South, Serm. (1823), I. 437. The scripture vouches Solomon for the wisest of men: and they are his Proverbs that prove him so. Ibid., IV. 420. They were the sins and apostasies of their souls, for the reformation of which he plagued them.

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa (1811), IV. 375. They are the abandoned people in the house who keep thee up to a resolution against her.

a. 1838.  Pusey, Paroch. Serm. (1883), III. 223. They are our own self-chosen employments,… which hinder prayer.

  2.  Often used in reference to a singular noun made universal by every, any, no, etc., or applicable to one of either sex (= ‘he or she’).

  See Jespersen, Progress in Lang., § 24.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 163 b. Yf … a psalme scape ony persone, or a lesson, or else y^t they omyt one verse or twayne.

1535.  Fisher, Ways perf. Relig., ix. Wks. (1876), 383. He neuer forsaketh any creature vnlesse they before haue forsaken them selues.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, VIII. xi. Every Body fell a laughing, as how could they help it.

1759.  Chesterf., Lett., IV. ccclv. 170. If a person is born of a … gloomy temper … they cannot help it.

1835.  Whewell, in Life (1881), 173. Nobody can deprive us of the Church, if they would.

1858.  Bagehot, Lit. Stud. (1879), II. 206. Nobody fancies for a moment that they are reading about anything beyond the pale of ordinary propriety.

1866.  Ruskin, Crown Wild Olives, § 38 (1873), 44. Now, nobody does anything well that they cannot help doing.

1874.  [see THEMSELVES 5].

  3.  As indefinite pronoun: People in general; any persons, not including the speaker; people. (Cf. ONE pron. 21, and OE. man, ME. men, me, G. man, F. on.) Often in phrase they say = people say, it is said.

  Much used colloquially and dialectally instead of the passive voice.

1415.  Sir T. Grey, in 43 Dep. Kpr.’s Rep., 583. A man … yay calle Skranby toke me a lettre.

1565.  Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Basis, Suche a foote as they set chafing disshes on.

1582.  Allen, Martyrd. Campion (1908), 111. Sent to prison upon suspition of Papistry, as they terme the Catholike faith.

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, IV. i. 254. To strange sores strangely they straine the cure.

a. 1637.  B. Jonson, Goodwife’s Ale (Athenæum, 1 Oct., 1904). My pock-hold Face, they say, appeard to some Just like a dry and burning hony combe.

1671.  Lady Mary Bertie, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 23. They say the King hath put out a Proclamation to forbid maskerades.

1756–7.  trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), II. 64. They still shew here the three cells in which Cosmo … used frequently to retire.

1884.  Manch. Exam., 17 May, 5/1. In India and in Holland they ‘cure’ tobacco fairly well.

1896.  ‘M. Field,’ Attila, II. 49. He shall be scourged With the iron-knotted lash they use for slaves.

Mod.  They do the passage to America now in 5 days.

  II.  4. As demonstrative pronoun, chiefly as antecedent: THOSE I. 2, 4. Somewhat arch.

1382.  Wyclif, Matt. v. 10. Blessid be thei that suffren persecucioun for riȝtwisnesse, for the kyngdam of heuenes is herun.

c. 1400.  Brut, lxxiii. 69. Þai wiþin kepte þe toune.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, XVII. i. 689. They within were putte to the werse.

1539.  Bible (Great), 2 Kings vi. 16. For they that be with vs, are moo then they that be with them.

1630.  R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 130. The shops … nothing so full of wares, nor so rich, as they of London.

1691.  trans. Emilianne’s Observ. Journ. Naples, 290. They are they that have all the Nobility at command.

1803.  Wordsw., Rob Roy’s Grave, 39. The good old rule Sufficeth them, the simple plan, That they should take, who have the power, And they should keep who can.

1847.  Tennyson, Princess, I. 143. And they that know such things … would call them masterpieces.

  b.  Also obj., instead of them: cf. 1 b. (Now dial.)

c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, iii. 90. Reynawde … made all they that were wyth hym … to be hanged.

a. 1553.  Udall, Royster D., III. v. (Arb.), 57. And as for all they that woulde do you wrong.

1900.  Norway, Parson Peter, iv. 108. The devil damn they that keeps me here.

  5.  As demonstrative adj. = THOSE II. 2, 4; but often in weaker sense, = THE (pl.). Now dial. (In the Sc. quots. perh. meant for þa, tha, mod.Sc. THAE.)

  a.  Qualifying a sb. in the nominative case.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 2091. So þei [v.r. þe] ssrewe robeours abbe hor wille.

13[?].  Cursor M., 1433 (Cott.). Stil ai stod þai [G. þa, T. þo] wandes thre.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, v. (Johannes), 180. Þai men … Þat sa set þar appetyte In Riches.

1567.  Satir. Poems Reform., iv. 76. How that thay bucheouris blew me in the air.

1877.  L. J. Jennings, Field Paths, iii. 45. They rooks as you see on bärson’s pläce.

  b.  Qualifying a sb. in the objective case.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, iv. (Jacobus), 324. And folow þai bese [oxen], till þai blyne Of þar awne wil.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 1024. Þen he lacches his leue and þai lordes þonkit.

1422.  trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 160. Fore thay thre causis, I leue of that matiere.

1456.  Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 82. For the occasioun of thai weris.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, I. 57. Thai landis thane he clamde as heretage.

1552.  Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 136. He suld be Commissar in they pairtis.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 10. The inhabitours of thay pairtes.

1885.  G. M. Fenn, Patience Wins (1886), 130. A set o’ fullish boys as plays they tricks.

1905.  F. Young, Sands Pleas., I. iii. Some othey Cockney labourers began grumbling.