Word Study
thing
CIDE DICTIONARY
thing, n. [AS. a thing, cause, assembly, judicial assembly; akin to to negotiate, to reconcile, conciliate, D. ding a thing, OS. thing thing, assembly, judicial assembly, G. ding a thing, formerly also, an assembly, court, Icel. 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. time, perhaps akin to L. tempus time. Cf. Hustings, and Temporal of time.].
- Whatever exists, or is conceived to exist, as a separate entity, whether animate or inanimate; any separable or distinguishable object of thought. [1913 Webster]"God made . . . every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind." [1913 Webster]"He sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt." [1913 Webster]"A thing of beauty is a joy forever." [1913 Webster]
- An inanimate object, in distinction from a living being; any lifeless material. [1913 Webster]"Ye meads and groves, unconscious things!" [1913 Webster]
- A transaction or occurrence; an event; a deed. [1913 Webster]"[And Jacob said] All these things are against me." [1913 Webster]"Which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things." [1913 Webster]
- A portion or part; something. [1913 Webster]"Wicked men who understand any thing of wisdom." [1913 Webster]
- A diminutive or slighted object; any object viewed as merely existing; -- often used in pity or contempt. [1913 Webster]"See, sons, what things you are!" [1913 Webster]"The poor thing sighed, and . . . turned from me." [1913 Webster]"I'll be this abject thing no more." [1913 Webster]"I have a thing in prose." [1913 Webster]
- Clothes; furniture; appurtenances; luggage; as, to pack or store one's things. [1913 Webster]" Formerly, the singular was sometimes used in a plural or collective sense." [1913 Webster]" 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." [1913 Webster]"And them she gave her moebles and her thing." [1913 Webster]"In the garden [he] walketh to and fro,
And hath his things [i. e. , prayers, devotions] said full courteously." [1913 Webster]"Hearkening his minstrels their things play." [1913 Webster] - Whatever may be possessed or owned; a property; -- distinguished from person. [1913 Webster]
- In Scandinavian countries, a legislative or judicial assembly. Longfellow. [1913 Webster]
thing, 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. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
thing, n.
1 a material or non-material entity, idea, action, etc., that is or may be thought about or perceived.
2 an inanimate material object (take that thing away).
3 an unspecified object or item (have a few things to buy).
4 an act, idea, or utterance (a silly thing to do).
5 an event (an unfortunate thing to happen).
6 a quality (patience is a useful thing).
7 (with ref. to a person) expressing pity, contempt, or affection (poor thing!; a dear old thing).
8 a specimen or type of something (the latest thing in hats).
9 colloq. one's special interest or concern (not my thing at all).
10 colloq. something remarkable (now there's a thing!).
11 (prec. by the) colloq. a what is conventionally proper or fashionable. b what is needed or required (your suggestion was just the thing). c what is to be considered (the thing is, shall we go or not?). d what is important (the thing about them is their reliability).
12 (in pl.) personal belongings or clothing (where have I left my things?).
13 (in pl.) equipment (painting things).
14 (in pl.) affairs in general (not in the nature of things).
15 (in pl.) circumstances or conditions (things look good).
16 (in pl. with a following adjective) all that is so describable (all things Greek).
17 (in pl.) Law property.
1 a material or non-material entity, idea, action, etc., that is or may be thought about or perceived.
2 an inanimate material object (take that thing away).
3 an unspecified object or item (have a few things to buy).
4 an act, idea, or utterance (a silly thing to do).
5 an event (an unfortunate thing to happen).
6 a quality (patience is a useful thing).
7 (with ref. to a person) expressing pity, contempt, or affection (poor thing!; a dear old thing).
8 a specimen or type of something (the latest thing in hats).
9 colloq. one's special interest or concern (not my thing at all).
10 colloq. something remarkable (now there's a thing!).
11 (prec. by the) colloq. a what is conventionally proper or fashionable. b what is needed or required (your suggestion was just the thing). c what is to be considered (the thing is, shall we go or not?). d what is important (the thing about them is their reliability).
12 (in pl.) personal belongings or clothing (where have I left my things?).
13 (in pl.) equipment (painting things).
14 (in pl.) affairs in general (not in the nature of things).
15 (in pl.) circumstances or conditions (things look good).
16 (in pl. with a following adjective) all that is so describable (all things Greek).
17 (in pl.) Law property.
Idiom
do one's own thing colloq. pursue one's own interests or inclinations. do things to colloq. affect remarkably. have a thing about colloq. be obsessed or prejudiced about. make a thing of colloq.
1 regard as essential.
2 cause a fuss about. one (or just one) of those things colloq. something unavoidable or to be accepted.
1 regard as essential.
2 cause a fuss about. one (or just one) of those things colloq. something unavoidable or to be accepted.
Etymology
OE f. Gmc
THESAURUS
thing
accomplished fact, accomplishment, achievement, act, acta, action, activities, activity, adventure, affair, affairs, affection, affinity, an existence, apparatus, apparel, area, article, artifact, aspect, attire, attitude, aversion, bag, baggage, being, belongings, bent, bias, blow, body, business, case, chance, chattels, chore, chosen kind, circumstance, circumstances, clobber, clothes, clothing, commerce, concern, concernment, concerns, constituent, contrivance, count, coup, crap, craze, creature, critter, cry, cup of tea, datum, dealings, deed, detail, detestation, device, dingus, dislike, dofunny, dohickey, doing, doings, dojigger, dojiggy, domajig, domajigger, doodad, dowhacky, dress, druthers, duds, effects, effort, element, employ, employment, endeavor, entelechy, enterprise, entity, episode, eppes, equipment, etwas, event, events, existence, existent, exploit, facet, fact, factor, fad, fait accompli, fancy, fashion, favor, fear, feat, feature, feeling, fetish, field, fixation, flumadiddle, forte, function, furore, gadget, gear, gest, gigamaree, gimmick, gizmo, go, goods, habiliments, hand, handiwork, hang-up, happening, happenings, hickey, hootenanny, hootmalalie, horror, idee fixe, impedimenta, implements, incident, incidental, inclination, individual, instance, instrument, interest, item, jigger, job, junk, labor, lares and penates, leaning, life, liking, line, loathing, long suit, lookout, love, luggage, main interest, maneuver, mania, manner, material, material thing, matter, matters, measure, mechanism, metier, minor detail, minutia, minutiae, mode, monad, movables, move, object, obsession, occasion, occupation, operation, opportunity, organism, overt act, paraphernalia, partiality, particular, particular choice, passage, passion, performance, person, persona, personal choice, personality, pet subject, phobia, point, possession, possessions, possibility, predilection, predisposition, preference, prejudice, preoccupation, prepossession, proceeding, proclivity, production, pursuit, quelque chose, quirk, rage, raiment, reaction, regard, res gestae, respect, responsibility, right, rightfulness, rightness, sentiment, service, shit, something, soul, specialism, speciality, specialization, specialty, step, stroke, strong point, stuff, stunt, style, subject, substance, task, taste, technicality, tendency, terror, the last word, the latest thing, the latest wrinkle, the proper thing, the rage, the seemly, the thing, thing done, things, thingum, thingumabob, thingumadad, thingumadoodle, thingumajig, thingumajigger, thingumaree, thingummy, togs, tools, tour de force, transaction, traps, trend, tricks, turn, type, undertaking, unit, utensil, utensils, vocation, vogue, way, weakness, what is done, what is right, what should be, whatchy, widget, work, worksROGET THESAURUS
thing
Substantiality
N substantiality, hypostasis, person, being, thing, object, article, item, something, a being, an existence, creature, body, substance, flesh and blood, stuff, substratum, matter, corporeity, element, essential nature, groundwork, materiality, substantialness, vital part, world, plenum, substantive, substantial, hypostatic, personal, bodily, tangible, corporeal, substantially, bodily, essentially.Eventuality
N eventuality, event, occurrence, incident, affair, matter, thing, episode, happening, proceeding, contingency, juncture, experience, fact, matter of fact, naked fact, bare facts, just the facts, phenomenon, advent, business, concern, transaction, dealing, proceeding, circumstance, particular, casualty, accident, adventure, passage, crisis, pass, emergency, contingency, consequence, opportunity (occasion), the world, life, things, doings, affairs in general, things in general, affairs in general, the times, state of affairs, order of the day, course of things, tide of things, stream of things, current of things, run of things, march of things, course of events, ups and downs of life, vicissitudes of life, chapter of accidents, situation, happening, going on, doing, current, in the wind, in the air, afloat, on foot, afoot, on the tapis, at issue, in question, incidental, eventful, stirring, bustling, full of incident, memorable, momentous, signal, eventually, in the event of, in case, just in case, in the course of things, as things, times go, as the world goes, wags, as the tree falls, cat jumps, as it may turn out, happen, that's the way the ball bounces, that's the way the cookie crumbles, you never know what may turn up, you never know what the future will bring, the plot thickens, breasts the blows of circumstance, so runs round of life from hour to hour, sprinkled along the waste of years.Fashion
N fashion, style, ton, bon ton, society, good society, polite society, monde, drawing-room, civilized life, civilization, town, beau monde, high life, court, world, fashionable world, gay world, Vanity Fair, show, manners, breeding, air, demeanor, savoir faire, gentlemanliness, gentility, decorum, propriety, biens_eance, conventions of society, Mrs, Grundy, punctilio, form, formality, etiquette, point of etiquette, dress, custom, mode, vogue, go, rage, prevailing taste, fad, trend, bandwagon, furore, thing, in thing, craze, chic, last word, man of fashion, woman of fashion, man of the world, woman of the world, height of fashion, pink of fashion, star of fashion, glass of fashion, leader of fashion, arbiter elegantiarum, the beautiful people, the fashion set, upper ten thousand, elite, smart set, the four hundred, in crowd, fashionable, in fashion, a la mode, comme il faut, admitted in society, admissible in society, presentable, conventional, genteel, well-bred, well mannered, well behaved, well spoken, gentlemanlike, gentlemanly, ladylike, civil, polite, polished, refined, thoroughbred, courtly, distingue, unembarrassed, degage, janty, jaunty, dashing, fast, modish, stylish, chic, trendy, recherche, newfangled, all the rage, all the go, with it, in, faddish, in court, in full dress, in evening dress, en grande tenue, fashionably, for fashion's sake, a la francaise, a la parisienne, a l' anglaise, a l' americaine, autre temps autre mauers, chaque pays a sa guise.Materiality
N materiality, materialness, corporeity, corporality, substantiality, substantialness, flesh and blood, plenum, physical condition, matter, body, substance, brute matter, stuff, element, principle, parenchyma, material, substratum, hyle, corpus, pabulum, frame, object, article, thing, something, still life, stocks and stones, materials, physics, somatology, somatics, natural philosophy, experimental philosophy, physicism, physical science, philosophie positive, materialism, materialist, physicist, somatism, somatist, material, bodily, corporeal, corporal, physical, somatic, somatoscopic, sensible, tangible, ponderable, palpable, substantial, objective, impersonal, nonsubjective, neuter, unspiritual, materialistic.For further exploring for "thing" in Webster Dictionary Online
