Thing sb.¹

Forms: 1–3 ðing, 1–5 þing, 3–4 þyng, 4–5 þinge, þynge, (thyngge), 4–6 thyng, 5–6 thinge, thynge; 4– thing. (β. 1 þingc, þincg, 3 þinc, 3–4 þink, 4 þynk, 4–6 think, 5–6 thynk(e.) Pl. 1–3 ð-, þing, 3–5 þinges (3 þingues), 5–7 thinges, 5– things. [OE. þing (see below), Com. Teut.: cf. OFris. thing, ting assembly, council, suit, matter, thing (WFris., NFris. ting assembly); OS. thing assembly for judicial or deliberative purposes, conference, transaction, matter, affair, thing, object (MDu. dinc court-day, suit, plea, concern, affair, thing, Du. ding thing; MLG. ding, dink, LG. ding affair, thing, object); OHG. ding, dinc public assembly for judgment and transaction of business, law-court, lawsuit, plea, cause, matter, affair, thing, mod.G. ding affair, matter, thing; ON. þing public assembly, meeting, parliament, council; also in pl., objects, articles, valuable things, Norw. ting neut. public assembly, creature, being; masc. affair, thing, object, Sw. ting assize, thing; Da. ting court, court of justice, thing. Gothic had the cognate þeihs n. :—þiŋχ-s fixed time, time appointed for something, whence it is thought by some that the original sense of N. and WGer. þing was ‘day of assembly.’ With the sense-history, as shown in OE. and more fully in the cognate langs., cf. that of Ger. sache, Du. zaak affair, thing, orig. strife, dispute, lawsuit, cause, charge, crime, and F. chose, It., Sp. cosa thing, from L. causa judicial process, lawsuit, cause; also L. rēs affair, thing, also a case in law, lawsuit, cause.]

  I.  † 1. (Only in OE.) A meeting, assembly, esp. a deliberative or judicial assembly, a court, a council. Phr. þing ʓehéʓan, to hold a meeting.

685–6.  Laws of Hlothær & Eadric, c. 8. ʓif man oþerne sace tihte and he þane mannan mote an medle oþþe an þinge.

Beowulf, 426. [Ic] nu wið Grendel sceal … ana ʓeheʓan ðing wið þyrse.

a. 800.  Cynewulf, Christ, 926. Þonne he frean ʓesihð ealra ʓesceafta andweardne faran mid mæʓen-wundrum monʓum to þinge.

a. 1000.  Andreas, 157. Swa hie symble ymb þritiʓ þing ʓehedon nihtʓerimes.

a. 1000.  Gnomic Verses, 18. Þing sceal ʓeheʓan frod wið frodne, bið hyra ferð ʓelic.

  † 2.  A matter brought before a court of law; a legal process; a charge brought, a suit or cause pleaded before a court. Obs. or passing into 3.

a. 1000.  Ags. Psalms (Th.) xxxiv. 22 [xxxv. 23]. Drihten, min God, aris to minum þinge. Ibid., cviii. 30 [cix. 31]. Þær he þearfendra þinga teolode.

c. 1122.  O. E. Chron., an. 1022 (Laud MS.). [He] hine þær ælces þinges ʓeclænsode þe him mann on sæde.

[1534.  Cromwell, in Merriman, Life & Lett. (1902), I. 387. Ye … shall repayre hither to answer unto suche thinges as then shalbe leyed and obiected to you.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 151. The duke … sufficiently answered to all thynges to hym obiected.]

  † b.  Hence, Cause, reason, account; sake. Obs.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xxxiii. 129. Þonne nimð he me neadunga þanon for mines bryd-guman þingan.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke viii. 47. For hwylcum þinge heo hit æthran.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 67. Luue him for godes þing.

a. 1250.  Owl & Night., 434. Ech wiht is glad for mine þinge.

13[?].  Guy Warw. (A.), 7306 + st. 86. Wiltow fiȝt for mi þing…?

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 276. He wolde the see were kept for any thyng Bitwixe Middelburgh and Orewelle.

c. 1425.  Eng. Conq. Irel., 8. Robert was a trew man, & for no tynge wold do thynge wher-of he myght be þer-after I-wyted of wntrowth.

1581.  [see NOTHING A. 9 a].

  3.  That with which one is concerned (in action, speech, or thought); an affair, business, concern, matter, subject; pl. affairs, concerns, matters. (In early use sometimes sing. in collective sense.)

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xviii. 128. Sio ʓeornfulnes eorðlicra ðinga abisʓað ðæt ondʓit.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 13. No on ʓesundum þingum anum, ac … on wiðerweardum þingum.

c. 975.  Rushw. Gosp., Matt. xviii. 19. ʓif tweʓen eower ʓeþafiʓaþ on eorþan be ænʓum þinge.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 3640. All þiss middellærdess þing Aȝȝ turneþþ her & wharrfeþþ Nu upp, nu dun. Ibid., 8954. Me birrþ beon hoȝhefull Abutenn hise þingess.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, XX. 142. Quhill [= till] thai had wit to steir thar thing.

c. 1400.  Laud Troy Bk., 2724. That thei with Paris to Grece schulde wende, To brynge this thyng to an ende.

1550.  Acts Privy Counc. (1891), III. 84. The Lord Admirall desired licence to go into Lincolnshire for a moneth to see his thinges that he had not seen of a long tyme.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., IV. v. 126. You shall heare how things goe.

1622.  Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., I. 11. These things (I meane your Law-suites) will require a great deale of care.

1743.  Bulkeley & Cummins, Voy. S. Seas, 190. He acquainted us, that the Brigadier had order’d Things in another Manner.

1844.  Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xii. How have things gone on in our absence?

1867.  Freeman, Norm. Conq., I. iv. 252, note. Things changed greatly in the course of a year.

  4.  That which is done or to be done; a doing, act, deed, transaction; an event, occurrence, incident; a fact, circumstance, experience. (The) first thing (advb.): as that which is first done or to be done; in the first place, firstly: see FIRST A. 1 f. So (the) next thing, in the next place, next; (the) last thing, in the last place, lastly.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Exod. ix. 5. Tomorʓen deþ Drihten þas þing on eorþan.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., I. 112. Drince þonne fæstende niʓon daʓas, binnan þam fæce þu onʓytst on ðam wundorlic ðingc.

c. 1205.  Lay., 265. Vnder-ȝetene weren þe þinges Þat þeo wimon was mid childe. Ibid., 16042. Sæie me of þan þinge Þe me to cumen sonden.

1382.  Wyclif, 1 Cor. xvi. 14. Be alle ȝoure thingis don in charite.

1449.  in Calr. Proc. Chanc. Q. Eliz. (1830), II. Pref. 55. In witnes of which thyng the forseid parties to these endentures chaungeable haue sette her seales.

1525.  Ld. Berners, Froiss. (1812), II. cciv. The fyrst thynge he dyd he wente to the Churche of saynt Peter.

1651.  Hobbes, Leviath., III. xl. 252. When two of them Prophecyed in the Camp, it was thought a new and unlawful thing.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 284, ¶ 4. I hate writing, of all Things in the World.

1809.  Malkin, Gil Blas, I. xvii. ¶ 9. Have not I done the thing genteelly?

1841.  Helps, Ess., Pract. Wisd. (1842), 4. Men who have done great things in the world.

1871.  Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., June, 370. He often goes round the last thing … to make sure that all is right.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 512. Theft is a mean, and robbery a shameless thing.

1902.  Munsey’s Mag., XXVI. 602/2. The great thing was to get there.

Mod.  A pretty thing to have your own children rounding on you!

  5.  That which is said; a saying, utterance, expression, statement; with various connotations, e.g.: a charge or accusation made against a person (see 2); † a form of prayer (pl. prayers, devotions); a story, tale; a part or section of an argument or discourse; a witty saying, a jest (usu. good thing).

13[?].  Cursor M., 17288 + 375 (Cott.) In alle thinkez þat þe prophetz han spoken.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Pard. Prol., 39. Lat hym telle vs of no ribaudye Telle vs som moral thyng. Ibid., Shipm. T., 91. Dann Iohn … hath hise thynges [prayers, offices] seyd ful curteisly.

1551.  T. Wilson, Logike (1580), 40. This manne is no Rhetoricien, because he can not place his thynges in good order.

1686.  trans. Chardin’s Trav. Persia, 122. The first thing she said to me.

1738.  Swift, Pol. Conversat., i. 34. I never heard a better Thing.

1766.  Goldsm., Vic. W., xvi. All the good things of the high wits.

1771.  Misc. Ess., in Ann. Reg., 184/2. This Greek spoke many handsome things of Marseilles, and of our colonies.

1859.  Sala, Tw. round Clock (1861), 132. The people who went about saying things.

1909.  Nation, 3 April, 13/2. The right thing will say itself—and will say itself with awful precision.

  b.  That which is thought; an opinion; a notion; an idea.

1765.  A. Dickson, Treat. Agric. (ed. 2), 76. With equal reason we may infer the same thing of earth.

1842.  Tennyson, Dora, 56. Mary sat … and thought Hard things of Dora.

1885.  Anstey, Tinted Venus, i. 8. Putting things in the poor girl’s head.

  † 6.  Formerly used absol. (without article or qualifying word), also a thing, in indefinite sense: = anything, something. (With various meanings: see prec. senses.) Obs.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 14952. Þai wil me neuer luue, i-wiss, For thing i mai þam tell.

1382.  Wyclif, 1 Sam. xiv. 12. Stieth vp to vs, and we shulen shewe ȝou a thing:

1413.  Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), IV. xxv. 70. Neuer ne dyde the body thyng withouten thyn assent.

c. 1500.  Melusine, 24. I pray you to telle it to me, yf it is thinge that I may knowe.

1525.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. lxxxvi. [lxxxii.] 255. They neuer dyd thynge that they wolde haue ben gladder.

1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., V. i. 152. Shall I tell you a thing?

1678.  Bunyan, Pilgr., I. 142. Ho, turn aside hither, and I will shew you a thing.

  II.  An entity of any kind.

  7.  That which exists individually (in the most general sense, in fact or in idea); that which is or may be in any way an object of perception, knowledge, or thought; a being, an entity. (Including persons, when personality is not considered, as in quots. c. 888, 1380, 1539, 1597, 1732.) a. In unemphatic use: mostly with adj. or other defining word or phrase (the two together corresponding to the absol. use of a neuter adj. in Latin or Greek).

  Cf. also anything, nothing, something, in 17.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxiii. § 1. Þonne þa fif þing … eall ʓegadorede bioð, þonne bið hit eall an þing, & þæt an ðing bið God.

1044–7.  Charter of Eadweard, in Kemble, Cod. Dipl., IV. 115. On ealweldendes drihtnes naman ðe ealle þing ʓewrohte.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 1839. Niss nani þing þatt muȝhe ben Wiþþ Godd off efenn mahhte.

c. 1250.  O. Kentish Serm., in O. E. Misc., 28. Wer-bi we moue hatie þo ileke þinges þet he hatedh,… and luuie þo ilek þinkes þat he luued.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 695. Ilkin thing, on serekin wise Ȝeld til Adam þar seruise.

1380.  Lay Folks Catech., 530. Þer ys but O god in trinite … This god is most myȝty þyng þat may be.

1388.  Wyclif, Ps. cxlviii. 5. For he seide, & þingis weren maad; he comaundide, & þingis weren maad of nouȝt.

1539.  Tonstall, Serm. Palme Sund. (1823), 8. He said in the tenth chapiter of John, I and my father are one thynge, that is to say, one substance.

1549.  Latimer, 5th Serm. bef. Edw. VI. (Arb.), 147. All thynges are solde for mony at rome.

1594.  Greene, Selimus, I. A iij b. He knowes not what it is to be a King, That thinks a scepter is a pleasant thing.

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., V. v. 60. Presume not, that I am the thing I was.

1667.  Milton, P. L., II. 922. To compare Great things with small.

1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., I. § 11. A man of parts is one thing, and a pedant another.

1788.  J. Milner, in Life I. Milner, iv. (1842), 44. Regencies are generally turbulent things.

1818.  Keats, Endym., I. 1. A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.

1843.  Mill, Logic, I. iii. § 5. What is an action? Not one thing but a series of two things: the state of mind called a volition, followed by an effect.

1879.  Geo. Eliot, Theo. Such, xiii. 266. The latest thing in tattooing.

  b.  Applied to an attribute, quality, or property of an actual being or entity; hence sometimes in such phrases as in all things) = point, respect.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 13. Þa was heo on eallum þingum þe eaþ moddre.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 15. Ðre þing ben þat elch man habben mot … þat on is rihte bileue, þat oðer is fulohtninge, þe þridde þe faire liflode.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 295. In þe sune þat schines clere Es a thing and thre thinges sere; A bodi rond, and here and light.

1340.  Ayenb., 194. Þe oþer þing þet behoueþ ine elmesse is þet me hit do zone and hasteliche.

c. 1520.  Barclay, trans. Sallust (ed. 2), 47. Their enmies myght lytell thynge preuayle agaynst them.

1558.  Knox, First Blast (Arb.), 26. Augustine defineth ordre to be that thing, by the whiche God hath appointed and ordeined all thinges.

1644.  Evelyn, Diary, 10 Nov. The whitenesse and smoothnesse of the pargeting was a thing I much observ’d.

1705.  Berkeley, Commonplace Bk., Wks. 1871, IV. 420. I side in all things with the mob.

1838–9.  Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. in Georgia (1863), 132. Ignorance is an odious thing.

  c.  Used indefinitely to denote something which the speaker is not able or does not choose to particularize, or which is incapable of being precisely described; a something, a somewhat.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., I. i. 21. What, ha’s this thing appear’d againe to night?

1804.  Wordsw., To Cuckoo, iv. No Bird, but an invisible thing, A voice, a mystery.

1822.  Byron, Heaven & Earth, I. ii. Thou … awful Thing of Shadows, speak to me!

1842.  Tennyson, Walking to the Mail, 36.

1893.  Stevenson, Catriona, xv. Wi’ the bang and the skirl the thing had clean disappeared.

  d.  In emphatic use: That which has separate or individual existence (e.g., as distinct on the one hand from the totality of being, on the other from attributes or qualities). See also 8.

1817.  Coleridge, Biog. Lit., xii. I. 267. An infinite independent thing, is no less a contradiction, than an infinite circle or a sideless triangle.

1820.  Byron, Mar. Fal., V. i. 288.

1862.  H. Spencer, First Princ., I. iii. § 15 (1875), 47. While, on the hypothesis of their objectivity, Space and Time must be classed as things, we find, on experiment, that to represent them in thought as things is impossible.

1884.  trans. Lotze’s Logic, 58. The doctrine of Kant, who represented the relation of a thing to its property, or of substance to its accident, as the model upon which the mind connects S and P in the categorical judgment.

1910.  Christie, in Contemp. Rev., Feb., 194. ‘Things’ … are, as Lotze tried to show, but the activities of the One everlasting Spirit.

  8.  spec. a. That which is signified, as distinguished from a word, symbol, or idea by which it is represented; the actual being or entity as opposed to a symbol of it. † In thing, in reality, really, actually (opposed to in name = nominally).

c. 1450.  Bk. Curtesye, 343 (Oriel MS.). His [Chaucer’s] longage was so feyre and pertinent, That semed vnto mennys heryng, Not only the worde, but verrely the thing.

1482.  Rolls of Parlt., VI. 208/2. That the Deane … and Chanons … be oon body corporat in thyng and name.

a. 1533.  Frith, Answ. More (1548), G iij. But the thinge it selfe, whose sacrament thys is, is receyued.

1534.  More, Treat. Passion, Wks. 1332/2. The thyng of a sacrament is properly called that holye thinge that the sacrament betokeneth.

1663.  Butler, Hud., I. I. 804. Bear-baiting … is an Antichristian Game Unlawful both in thing and name.

1705.  Berkeley, Commonplace Bk., Wks. 1871, IV. 440. The supposition that things are distinct from ideas takes away all real truth.

1725.  Watts, Logic, I. iv. § 1. The World is fruitful in the Invention of Utensils of Life, and new Characters and Offices of Men, yet Names entirely new are seldom invented; therefore old Names are almost necessarily us’d to signify new Things.

1827.  Robinson, Archæol. Græca, X. (ed. 2), p. lxiii. The philosophy of Aristotle is rather the philosophy of words than of things.

1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., lxxv. 6. What practice howsoe’er expert In fitting aptest words to things … Hath power to give thee as thou wert?

1876.  Jevons, Logic Prim., vi. 22. The meaning of a word is that thing which we think about when we use the word.

  b.  esp. A being without life or consciousness; an inanimate object, as distinguished from a person or living creature. (See also 11, 12.)

1689–90.  Temple, Ess. Learn., Wks. 1731, I. 302. Things … such as have been either of general Use or Pleasure to Mankind.

1729.  Law, Serious C., iv. (1732), 47. Things … are all to be used according to the Will of God.

1766.  [see 12 b].

1840.  Dickens, Barn. Rudge, iii. Consideration of persons, things, times and places.

1850.  Lynch, Theo. Trin., viii. 149. ‘He that getteth a wife getteth a good thing’; that is at least, if his wife be more than a thing.

1853.  Maurice, Proph. & Kings, xvi. 279. The human being was sacrificed; the person was given up for the thing.

  9.  Applied (usually with qualifying word) to a living being or creature; occasionally to a plant.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 146. For þon þonne ealle æterno þing fleoʓaþ.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gen. vii. 22. Ælc þing, þe lif hæfde.

c. 1275.  Lay., 25656. He saide þat þar was icome A luþer þing to londe … A wel loþliche feond.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 385. Alkin things grouand sere … in þam self þaire seding bere.

c. 1440.  Pallad. on Husb., I. 935. For eddris, spritis, monstris, thyng of drede.

1580.  Frampton, Monardes’ Med. agst. Venome, 138. Least any venomous thing fall therein, as spyders.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 194. When all things that breath,… send up silent praise To the Creator.

1819.  Shelley, Prometh. Unb., I. 305. I wish no living thing to suffer pain.

1858.  Glenny, Gard. Every-day Bk., 120/1. Nemophila, Coreopsis, and other free-growing things.

  10.  Applied to a person, now only in contempt, reproach, pity, or affection (esp. to a woman or child); formerly also in commendation or honor. Cf. CREATURE 3 b, c. a. with qualifying word.

c. 1290.  St. Lucy, 150, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 105. Ȝwan he ne miȝte þis clene þing [St. Lucy] ouer-come mid al is lore.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 2077. Fle me fra, þou wared thing. Ibid., 7285. Samuel … was a selcuth dughti thing, Þe first þat smerld man to king.

c. 1330.  Arth. & Merl., 6482. Þe kinges steward … wedded þat swete þing.

c. 1450.  Guy Warw. (C.), 26. A may ȝynge, The Erlys doghtur, a swete thynge.

1533.  J. Heywood, Play Wether (1903), 1097. A goodly dame, an ydyll thynge iwys.

1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 241 b. Augustus beeyng yet a young thyng vnder mannes state.

a. 1568.  Ascham, Scholem., I. (Arb.), 53. If he be bashefull, and will soone blushe, they call him a babishe and ill brought vp thyng.

1607.  Shaks., Cor., IV. v. 122. But that I see thee heere Thou noble thing, more dances my rapt heart [etc.].

1689.  Mrs. Behn, Novels (1871), I. 70. The worst-natur’d, incorrigible, thing in the world.

1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 4, ¶ 5. At a Play … looking … at a young thing in a Box before us.

1758.  Johnson, Idler, No. 13, ¶ 3. My wife often tells me that boys are dirty things.

1838.  Dickens, Nich. Nick., xxvii. Why don’t you go and ask them to walk up, you stupid thing?

1898.  Flor. Montgomery, Tony, 12. The very smallest and youngest thing that had ever worn an Eton jacket.

Mod.  Poor thing! I pity her.

  b.  without qualification, in contempt or reproach, implying unworthiness to be called a person: cf. 8 b.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., III. ii. 63. Reuenge it on him, (for I know Thou dar’st) But this Thing dare not. Ibid. (1611), Wint. T., II. i. 82. O thou Thing.

1633.  Bp. Hall, Occas. Medit. (1851), 143. What can we make of this thing? man, I cannot call him.

1756.  Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to C’tess of Bute, 8 Nov. By what accident they have fallen into the hands of that thing Dodsley I know not.

1860.  Motley, Netherl., ii. I. 37. To accept the sovereignty of a thing like Henry of Valois.

  11.  A material object, a body; a being or entity consisting of matter, or occupying space. (Often, a vague designation for an object which it is difficult to denominate more exactly.)

971.  Blickl. Hom., 91. Heofon & eorþe, & sæ, & ealle þa þing þe on þæm syndon.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 18825. Þatt arrke þatt iss wrohht off tre … iss whilwendlike þing.

a. 1300.  Signa ante Judicium, 102, in E. E. Poems (1862), 10. Þe iren sul blede … Þe þing þat bodi no flesse naþ non.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 9383. Al-king thing was þan … Wel pithier þan þai ar now.

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cyrurg., 141. Woundis … maad wiþ a swerd or wiþ sum dinge ellis þat woundiþ.

1547.  Hooper, Declar. Christe, viii. H vij. Mens yeyes be obedient unto the creatour that they may se on think and yet not a nother.

1570.  Billingsley, Euclid, I. post. i. 7. Thinges equall to one and the selfe same thyng are equall also the one to the other.

c. 1595.  Capt. Wyatt, R. Dudley’s Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.), 16. Leavinge behinde us certaine letters inclosed in a thinge of wood provided of purpose.

1709.  Berkeley, Ess. Vision, § 135. Things perceivable by touch.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe (1840), I. xvi. 273. A three-cornered … thing, like … a shoulder-of-mutton sail.

1842.  Tennyson, Vis. Sin, IV. vii. Callest thou that thing a leg?

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 509. Stones and shells and things of earth and rock.

  b.  A material substance (usually of a specified kind); stuff, material; in mod. use chiefly applied to substances used as food, drink, or medicine.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 210. Eal þa wætan þing … & eall swete þing … ʓe þa scearpan afran þing sint to fleonne.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 819. Loth þenne … his men amonestes mete for to dyȝt, Bot þenkkez on hit be þrefte what þynk so ȝe make, For wyth no sour ne no salt seruez hym neuer.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 7856. Þai wold stuf hom full stichly … with mete … & mony othir thinges.

a. 1500.  in Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 91. Yf ony persone caste or put ony rubyes, dunge … or ony other noyos thinge in Thamys at Walbrok.

1589.  J. Chilton, in Hakluyt, Voy., 590. Annele … is a kinde of thing to dye blew withall.

1631.  R. Byfield, Doctr. Sabb., 204. We drinke some warme thing.

1694.  Salmon, Bate’s Dispens. (1713), 169/1. It is a most excellent Thing in Fevers.

1737.  Whiston, Josephus, Antiq., XI. viii. § 7. Accused by those at Jerusalem of having eaten things common.

Mod.  Sour things are bad for the stomach.

  c.  euphem. Privy member, private parts.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Wife’s Prol., 121.

c. 1440.  Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 632/12. A mane hys thyng.

1508.  Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 389. Na leit neuer enter in my thoght that he my thing persit.

1610.  B. Jonson, Alch., V. i.

1700.  Farquhar, Constant Couple, IV. iii. Lady L. And what shall I give you for such a fine thing [a ring]? Sir H. You’ll give me another, you’ll give me another fine thing.

1762.  Bridges, Burlesque Homer (1772), 62.

  12.  † a. A collective term for that which one possesses; property, wealth, substance. Obs.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., II. 506. Him eallum wæron heora ðing ʓemæne.

a. 1200.  Moral Ode, 263. Þer inne boð … Þe þet is oðers monnes þing loure.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 4520. Þatt tu nan oþerr manness þing Ne ȝeorne nohht to winnenn.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 3378. He let bi-aften de more del, To kepen here ðing al wel.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 10196. Persones þing he solde men þat mest wolde þeruore ȝiue.

13[?].  Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., xxxvii. 719. For he wolde haue offryng And liue bi oþur mennes þing.

1432–50.  trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 35. Composicion of a commune thynge, the disposicion of a thynge familier.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VI. xiv. 93. That art full mychty bot of lytle thing.

  b.  A piece of property, an individual possession; usually in pl., possessions, belongings, goods; esp. (colloq.) those which one has or carries with one at the time, e.g., on a journey; impedimenta.

  Things real, things personal (in Law) = real property, personal property: see REAL a.² 6, PERSONAL a. 6 b.

c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 14/459. Mid þat gold and þe riche þingues þat he fond al-so þere Þe churchene … þare-with he liet a-rere.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., vi. 83. Where ar oure thyngis, ar thay past Iordan?

1481.  Caxton, Godeffroy, xlv. 85. They had born theder alle theyr thynges.

1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 119 b. The parson and vicar wyll haue for a mortuary … the best thynge that is about the house.

1585.  T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., I. v. [They] lost the most part of theyr apparrel, & things.

1603.  Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 599. Busie in packing vp his things against his departure.

1662.  J. Davies, Mandelslo’s Trav., 17 We … went … to the Custome House to have our things search’d by the Officers there.

1759.  Johnson, Lett. to Miss Porter, 23 March, in Boswell. I have this day moved my things, and you are now to direct to me at Staple-inn.

1766.  Blackstone, Comm., II. ii. 16. The objects of dominion or property are things, as contradistinguished from persons: and things are by the law of England distributed into two kinds; things real, and things personal.

1809[?].  Trial E. Jordan, 28. I then went below, to gather my things, against the boat came off for me.

1865.  Trollope, Belton Est., xxvi. She packed up all her things.

  c.  spec. (pl.) Articles of apparel; clothes, garments; esp. such as women put on to go out in, in addition to the indoor dress. colloq.

1634.  W. Wood, New Eng. Prosp. (1865), 56. A long coarse coate, to keepe better things from the pitched ropes and plankes.

1713.  Steele, Guardian, No. 10, ¶ 5. I know every part of their dress, and can name all their things by their names.

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa (1811), V. xxiv. 257. But having her things on, (as the women call every thing) … she thought it best to go.

1774.  Foote, Cozeners, I. Wks. 1799, II. 157. I have had but just time to huddle on my things.

1833.  T. Hook, Parson’s Dau. (1847), 239. Take off your things—and we will order … tea.

1885.  Anstey, Tinted Venus, vi. 66. ‘I haven’t bought my winter things yet,’ said Matilda.

1902.  R. Bagot, Donna Diana, viii. 100. Diana left the room to put on her things for driving.

  d.  pl. Implements or equipment for some special use; utensils. Chiefly colloq.

1698.  Vanbrugh, Prov. Wife, III. i. Here, take away the things; I expect company.

1738.  Ochtertyre House Bks. (1909), 154. For mending the Kitchen things.

1844.  Mem. Babylonian Princess, II. 304. With the breakfast things the waiter brought the morning paper.

1891.  C. James, Rom. Rigmarole, 156. I hadn’t any proper hunting things.

1898.  G. B. Shaw, Plays, II. Man of Destiny, 160. Clearing the table and removing the things to a tray on the sideboard.

1908.  Annie Trumbull Slosson, A Prophetic Romancer, 57. I put it [a story] into my trunk, though, with my writing things, to carry along.

  13.  An individual work of literature or art, a composition; a writing, piece of music, etc.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 325. Ther-to he [the Sergeant of the Law] koude endite and make a thyng. Ibid., Sqr.’s T., 70. Herknynge hise Mynstrals hir thynges pleye.

1581.  Pettie, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., I. (1586), 17 b. Y^t they haue imploied all their time in reading some good thing or other.

1589.  Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xxii. (Arb.), 265. One of our late makers who in the most of his things wrote very well.

1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., IV. ii. 71. You would haue them alwaies play but one thing.

1731.  Swift, Lett. to Pope, 12 June. I have a thing in prose, begun above twenty-eight years ago, and almost finished.

1831.  Examiner, 213/2. A dozen things of Handel’s;… some things of Avison’s, one of the poorest of musicians.

1902.  Besant, 5 Yrs. Tryst, 26. You’ll pass your exams with distinction; you’ll get appointments; you’ll write things.

  III.  Phrases, special collocations, and combinations.

  14.  a. … and things (colloq., unstressed): and other things of the same kind; and the like, et cetera. b. For one thing: as one point to be noted; in the first place. So for another thing. c. To make a good thing of: to turn to profit, make gain out of. d. No great things (used predicatively, usually of a person or thing): nothing great, nothing much, of ordinary quality or character. colloq. or dial. (Cf. no great shakes.) e. Thing in itself (rendering Ger. ding an sich [Kant]), Metaph.: a thing regarded apart from its attributes; a noumenon. f. To know a thing or two: see KNOW v. 15; so to learn, to show (a person) a thing or two.

  a.  1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. iii. 56. With Ruffes and Cuffes, and Fardingales, and things.

1841.  S. C. Hall, Ireland, I. 30. Grace would mend her father’s nets and things.

1894.  To-day, 13 Jan., 14. The Japanese supper with the Japanese room and mats and things.

  b.  1790.  Bystander, 139. For one thing, he [Garrick] knew that in delivering the text of an author, if he endeavoured to give his meaning a new colouring,… it would be considered as pedantic.

18[?].  Keble [see FOR prep. 19 d].

1878.  Morley, Diderot, I. v. 173. For one thing, physical science had in the interval taken immense strides.

Mod.  I didn’t care much for his speech; for one thing, his delivery was very bad; for another thing, the subject was not particularly interesting.

  c.  1819.  Shelley, P. Bell the Third, VI. xxxv. I have found the way To make a better thing of metre Than e’er was made.

1873.  Greenwood, in St. Paul’s Mag., XII. 657. These dealers in ragged merchandize make a good thing of it.

  d.  1816.  ‘Quiz,’ Grand Master, VII. 184. Now I shall give,—‘the Governor,’—He’s no great things, between us, Sir.

1843.  Thackeray, Miss Tickletoby’s Lect., vi. His scholarship. I take it, was no great things.

1890.  ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer (1891), 352. That old place at Bowning … I don’t believe it was any great things.

  e.  [1659.  H. More, Immort. Soul, I. ii. § 2. 6. What ever things are in themselves, they are nothing to us, but so far forth as they become known to our … Cognitive powers.]

1867.  [see NOUMENON].

1871.  Fraser, Life Berkeley, ii. 41. He recognises substance, or, as we might say, the thing-in-itself.

a. 1881.  A. Barratt, Phys. Metempiric (1883), 39. We have had to conclude that the doctrine of Realism or Things-in-themselves cannot be proved.

1891.  E. B. Bax, Outlooks fr. New Standp., III. 182. This is the truth at the bottom of the ‘thing-in-itself,’ so much decried by the orthodox Hegelians.

  f.  1792, 1817.  [see KNOW v. 15].

1856.  Reade, Never loo late, lii. Jackey showed Robinson a thing or two.

1859.  Thackeray, Virgin., xviii. I think I have shown him that we in Virginia know a thing or two.

1897.  Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 673. Does any one … feel inclined to tell me that those old palm-oil chiefs have not learnt a thing or two during their lives?

  15.  The thing (colloq., emphatic). a. (predicatively) The correct thing; what is proper, befitting, or fashionable; also of a person, in good condition or ‘form,’ ‘up to the mark,’ fit (physically or otherwise).

1762.  Goldsm., Cit. W., lxxvii. [The silk] is at once rich, tasty, and quite the thing.

1775.  Mme. D’Arblay, Early Diary, 3 April. Mr. Bruce was quite the thing; he addressed himself with great gallantry to us all alternately.

1781.  Johnson, 12 April, in Boswell. Why, Sir, a Bishop’s calling company together in this week [Passion Week] is, to use the vulgar phrase, not the thing.

1802.  Mrs. J. West, Infidel Father, II. 123. This behaviour was certainly the very thing.

1841.  Thackeray, Gt. Hoggarty Diamond, ii. He really looked quite the genteel thing.

1864.  Meredith, Sandra Belloni, xix. Wilfrid took his arm and put it gently down on the chair, saying: ‘You’re not quite the thing to-day, sir.’

1897.  Boston (Mass.) Jrnl., 12 Jan., 5/1. They are used in the long gold chains which are so pre-eminently the thing.

1901.  ‘L. Malet,’ Sir R. Calmady, V. vii. I am not quite the thing this morning.

  b.  The special, important, or notable point; esp. what is specially required.

1850.  Thackeray, Pendennis, lxxv. But he has got the rowdy, which is the thing.

1873.  M. Arnold, Lit. & Dogma, Pref. 11. The question [of a state church] … is … so absolutely unimportant! The thing is, to recast religion.

1892.  Symonds, Michel Angelo (1899), I. VI. x. 290. The thing about Michel Angelo is this: he is not … at the head of a class, he stands apart by himself.

  16.  † a. All thing (obs.): everything, all things; also advb. altogether, wholly: see ALL A. 3, C. 2 b. b. That (this, what, etc.) kind (or sort) of thing: see KIND sb. 14, SORT sb. c. A thing of nothing or of nought: see NOTHING A. 3 b, NOUGHT A. 4 c. † d. Public thing, thing public (obs.) = L. res publica: see PUBLIC a. 2 a. e. Such a thing, no such thing: see SUCH.

  17.  Any thing, every thing, no thing, some thing (in which thing is an unemphatic stressless use of sense 7 or 11), are now written each as one word (see ANYTHING, EVERYTHING, NOTHING, SOMETHING).

  18.  attrib. and Comb., as thing-aspect, -element; thing-creating adj.; thing-like adj., like a material or impersonal thing (hence thing-likeness).

1663.  Boyle, Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos., I. 123. Matter cannot move it self, but requires to be mov’d by a Tectonic thing-creating Power.

c. 1854.  Faber, Old Labourer, iii. Such a thing-like person.

1895.  Pollock & Maitland, Hist. Eng. Law, II. iv. § 6 II. 133. Annuities … in course of time … assumed the guise of merely contractual rights; but in the earlier Year Books their thinglikeness is visible.

1909.  G. Tyrrell, in Q. Rev., July, 108. Those … who, as priests … are interested in the ‘thing-aspect’ of religion. Ibid. His tendency to cleave to this ‘thing-element’ in religion.

  Hence (all rare or nonce-wds.) Thingal a., pertaining to things (= REAL a.² 7 b); in first quot. absol.; Thinghood, the state or character of being a thing (in quot. 1888, as distinct from a person); existence as a thing, reality, substantiality; Thinginess, the quality of being thingy (see below); (a) reality, actuality, objectivity; (b) devotion to things, practical or matter-of-fact character; Thingish a., having the nature of a thing: = thingy (a); Thingless a., destitute of the character of a thing, insubstantial (whence Thinglessness); Thinglet, a little thing, a diminutive object or creature; Thingliness, the quality of being thingly; existence as a thing, essence; Thingling = thinglet; Thingly a., having the nature of a thing: = thingy (a); Thingness, the fact or character of being a thing (in quot. 1902, as distinct from a person); reality; so † Thingship, † Thingsomeness; Thingy sb. Sc. [-Y, dim. suff.; cf. -IE], a little thing; Thingy a., (a) having the nature or character of a thing; real, actual, objective, substantial; in quot. 1894, ? consisting of separate, independent, or unconnected things; (b) devoting oneself to or concerned with actual things, practical, matter-of-fact.

1857.  J. Hinton, in Life, vii. (1885), 132. This love might lead us away from thoughts of the real or *thingal.

1884.  Mind, July, 398. What he [James Hinton] would probably call ‘thingal beauty.’

1865.  J. Grote, Moral Ideals, ii. (1876), 28. Any form of *thinghood or reality.

1872.  Contemp. Rev., XX. 76. The conception of an external thinghood, and … of a permanent substantiality as basis of the qualities.

1880.  Mind, V. 141. Thinghood, Substantiality, Existence, are synonymous terms.

1888.  L. Abbott, in Century Mag., Aug., 624/1. The materialism that puts thinghood above manhood.

1891.  Cent. Dict., *Thinginess.

1890.  Open Court (U.S.), 5 June, 2316/2. Yet is space no *thingish entity, no tangible object.

1599.  T. M[oufet], Silkwormes, 1. What breth embreath’d these almost *thingles things.

1874.  F. H. Laing, in Ess. Relig. & Lit., Ser. III. 270. How thing came out of *thinglessness.

1890.  Australian Girl, I. xv. 203. Creatures on foot and on wing—*thinglets that fly one moment and fall down helplessly the next.

1662.  J. Chandler, Van Helmont’s Oriat., 69. That man was ignorant of the *thingliness of a Gas … and … of the properties of cold in the Air. Ibid., 343. The essential thingliness of a thing.

1652.  Benlowes, Theoph., V. xxiv. Poor *thingling Man!

1900.  Westm. Gaz., 25 July, 2/3. The words ‘real presence’ (he adds) meant originally the presence of (res) a thing—if one may say so, a *‘thingly’ presence—i.e., presence as a thing.

1895.  Fraser, Philos. Theism, Ser. II. vi. 150. Personality instead of *thingness is the highest form under which man … can conceive of God.

1902.  Greenough & Kittredge, Words, 35, note. A New-England philosopher was much ridiculed for using the ‘thing-ness of the here’ for ‘the actuality of the present.’

1697.  J. Sergeant, Solid Philos., 239. We can have … a Notion of the Thing … precisely according to its *Thingship (as we may say) or Reality.

1674.  N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 19. He that gives it a little reality or *thingsomeness, cannot … be so sparing as to … give it no more.

1888.  Barrie, When a Man’s Single (1900), 11/2. A speerity bit *thingy she was.

1891.  Cent. Dict., *Thingy, adj.

1894.  M. Schuyler, in Forum (N.Y.), July, 617. The government buildings have become more and more ‘thingy,’ more and more compilations of ‘features’ that fail to make up a physiognomy.