Thing - Dictionary Definition and Overview

Thing :  (noun)
1: a special situation; "this thing has got to end"; "it is a remarkable thing"
2: an action; "how could you do such a thing?"
3: an artifact; "how does this thing work?"
4: an event; "a funny thing happened on the way to the..."
5: a statement regarded as an object; "to say the same thing in other terms"; "how can you say such a thing?"
6: any attribute or quality considered as having its own existence; "the thing I like about her is ..."
7: a special abstraction; "a thing of the spirit"; "things of the heart"
8: a vaguely specified concern; "several matters to attend to"; "it is none of your affair"; "things are going well" [syn: matter, affair]
9: an entity that is not named specifically; "I couldn't tell what the thing was"
10: a special objective; "the thing is to stay in bounds"
11: a persistent illogical feeling of desire or aversion; "he has a thing about seafood"; "she has a thing about him"
12: a separate and self-contained entity

Based on WordNet 2.0

Thing : \Thing\, Ting \Ting\, n. [Dan. thing, ting, Norw. ting, or Sw. ting.] In Scandinavian countries, a legislative or judicial assembly; -- used, esp. in composition, in titles of such bodies. See Legislature, Norway.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Thing : \Thing\ (th[i^]ng), n. [AS. [thorn]ing a thing, cause, assembly, judicial assembly; akin to [thorn]ingan to negotiate, [thorn]ingian to reconcile, conciliate, D. ding a thing, OS. thing thing, assembly, judicial assembly, G. ding a thing, formerly also, an assembly, court, Icel. [thorn]ing a thing, assembly, court, Sw. & Dan. ting; perhaps originally used of the transaction of or before a popular assembly, or the time appointed for such an assembly; cf. G. dingen to bargain, hire, MHG. dingen to hold court, speak before a court, negotiate, Goth. [thorn]eihs time, perhaps akin to L. tempus time. Cf. Hustings, and Temporal of time.] 1. Whatever exists, or is conceived to exist, as a separate entity, whether animate or inanimate; any separable or distinguishable object of thought.

God made . . . every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind. --Gen. i. 25.

He sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt. --Gen. xiv. 23.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever. --Keats.

2. An inanimate object, in distinction from a living being; any lifeless material.

Ye meads and groves, unconscious things! --Cowper.

3. A transaction or occurrence; an event; a deed.

[And Jacob said] All these things are against me. --Gen. xlii. 36.

Which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. --Matt. xxi. 24.

4. A portion or part; something.

Wicked men who understand any thing of wisdom. --Tillotson.

5. A diminutive or slighted object; any object viewed as merely existing; -- often used in pity or contempt.

See, sons, what things you are! --Shak.

The poor thing sighed, and . . . turned from me. --Addison.

I'll be this abject thing no more. --Granville.

I have a thing in prose. --Swift.

6. pl. Clothes; furniture; appurtenances; luggage; as, to pack or store one's things. [Colloq.]

Note: Formerly, the singular was sometimes used in a plural or collective sense.

And them she gave her moebles and her thing. --Chaucer.

Note: Thing was used in a very general sense in Old English, and is still heard colloquially where some more definite term would be used in careful composition.

In the garden [he] walketh to and fro, And hath his things [i. e., prayers, devotions] said full courteously. --Chaucer.

Hearkening his minstrels their things play. --Chaucer.

7. (Law) Whatever may be possessed or owned; a property; --
distinguished from person.

8. [In this sense pronounced t[i^]ng.] In Scandinavian countries, a legislative or judicial assembly. --Longfellow.

Things personal. (Law) Same as Personal property, under Personal.

Things real. Same as Real property, under Real.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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