Category:Thing

Thing, n. Etym: [as. þing a thing, cause, assembly, judicial Assembly; akin to þingan to negotiate, þingian to reconcile, Conciliate, d. ding a thing, os. thing thing, assembly, judicial Assembly, g. ding a thing, formerly also, an assembly, court, icel. Þing 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. þeihs 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, unsonscious 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. Wieked 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.

Defn: 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)

Defn: whatever may be possessed or owned; a property; -- Distinguished from person.

8. [in this sense pronounced tîng.]

Defn: 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.