thing1 (thing)

[ articles, objects, things, valuables, jewels, also an a embly, meeting, parish, district, county, shire, parliament, Sw. Dan. ting = Goth. * thigg (not recorded); cf. AS. deriv. thing i an, make an agreement, contract, settle, compose (a quarrel), speak, = G. dingen, hold court, negotiate, make a contract ( bedingen, make conditions, stipulate); prob. related to Goth. theihs (for * thinhs?), time, L. temp us, time: see tense1, temp or all. For the development of sense, cf. AS. sacu (= G. sac he, etc.), contention, strife, suit, cause, case, thing (see sake1 ); also L. res, a cause, case, thing, L. causa, a cause, case, ML. and Rom. (It. cos a = F. chose ), a thing. The sense 'a concrete inanimate object' is popularly regarded as the fundamental one, but a general notion such as that could hardly be original.] 1. That which is or may become the object of thought; that which has existence, or is conceived or imagined as having existence; any object, substance, attribute, idea, fact, circumstance, event, etc. A thing may be either material or ideal, animate or inanimate, actual, po ible, or imaginary. Thei gon gladly to Cypre, to reste hem on the Lond, or elles to bye thing is that the i have nede to here lyvynge. Mandeville , Travels, p. 29. We were as glad of day lyght as euer we were of any thynge in all our lyues. Sir R. Guylforde , Pylgrymage, p. 73. Scripture indeed teacheth things above nature, things which our reason by itself could not reach unto. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iii. 8. Consider not the things of this life, which is a very prison to all God's children, but the things of everlasting life, which is our very home. J. Bradford , Letters (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 64. So prevalent a Thing is Custom that there is no altering of a Fashion that has once obtain'd. N. Bailey , tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 371. He [Pepys] must always be doing something agreeable, and, by way of preference, two agreeable things at once In more limited applications- (a) A particular existence or appearance which is not or cannot be more definitely characterized; a somewhat; a something. R. L. Stevens on, Men and Books, p. 290. What, has this thing appear'd again to-night? Shak., Hamlet, i. 1. 21. A thing which Adam had been posed to name; Noah had refused it lodging in his ark. Pope , Satires of Donne, iv. 25. The round thing upon the floor is a table upon which the dishes of their frugal meal were set. R. Curzon , Monast. in the Levant, p. 84. (b) A living being: applied to persons or animals, either in admiration, tenderne , or pity, or in contempt: as, a poor sick thing ; a poor foolish thing . For Floriz was so fair zongling And Blauncheflur so suete thing . King Horn (E. È. T. S.), p. 71. Thing of talk, begone! IMG:content-0272.png:[blocks in formation] Things differing in temperature, colour, taste, and smell agree in resisting compre ion, in filling space. Because of this quality we regard the wind as a thing , though it has neither shape nor colour, while a shadow, though it has both but not resistance, is the very type of nothingJ. Ward , Encyc. Brit., XX. 57. (d) That which is done; an act, doing, undertaking, busine , affair, etc.; also, something which is to be done; a duty or task; in the pa age from Chaucer, below, in the plural, prayers or devotions. ne . IMG:content-0273.png:[blocks in formation] (e) A composition, as a tale, a poem, or a piece of music: used informally or deprecatingly. I wol yow telle a lytel thyng in prose That oghte liken yow, as I suppose. Chaucer , Prol. to Tale of Melibeus, 1. 19. A pretty kind of sort of - kind of thing , Not much a verse, and poem none at all. L. Hunt. (f) [Usually pl.] Personal accoutrements, equipments, furniture, etc.; especially, apparel; clothing; in particular, outdoor garments; wraps. And hem she yaf hir moebles and hir thing . Chaucer, Second Nun's Tale, 1. 540. I suppose you don't mean to detain my apparel - I may have my things , I presume? Sheridan , The Duenna, i. 3. The women disburdened themselves of their out-of-door Mrs. Gaskell, Mary Barton, ii. things. law, sometimes, the material objects which be subject to property rights; sometimes, those rights themselves. The distinction which is often made between corporeal and incorporeal things is a consequence of the confusion of these two meanings. Things real comprehend lands, tenements, and hereditaments, including rights and profits i uing out of land; things personal compre hend goods and chattels; and things mixed are such as partake of the characteristics of the two former, as a title deed. (h) pl. Circumstances. 6292 ence, = Sw. Dan. ting, a court, a place of a embly, a legal trial: see thing1. Cf. husting.] In Scand in avian countries and in regions largely settled by Scand in avians (as the east and north of England), an a embly, public meeting, parliament, or court of law. Also ting. See Althing, Lands thing, Storthing, Folkething. Likewise the Swedish King Summoned in haste a Thing , Weapons and men to bring In aid of Denmark. thingal (thing'al), a . [ thing + -al .] Belong- ing or pertaining to things; real. [Rare.] Indeed he [Hinton] po e ed no true æsthetic feeling at all; there is probably not a single word in all that he wrote which indicates any sense of what he would prob- ably call " thingal beauty." Mind , IX. 398. think 'Twere damnation thingamy (thing'a-mi), n. Same as thingummy . T-hinge (te'hinj), n. A door-hinge in the shape of the letter T, of which one leaf, a strap, is fastened to the door, and the other, short and quest of angels, shall Great-heart make me afraid? [ thing1 + -er1.] A wide, is fixed to the door-post. thinger (thing'er), n. realist; one who considers only things or ob- jects; a practical or matter-of-fact person. [Rare and affected.] There ensued a more peaceable and lasting harmony, Things are in the saddle, And ride mankind. Emerson, Ode, inscribed to W. H. Channing. 2. A portion, part, or particular; an item; a particle; a jot, whit, or bit: used in many adverbial expre ions, especially after or in composition with no, any, and some. See nothing, anything, something. Ector, for the stithe stroke stoynyt no thyng , Gryppit to his gode sword in a grym yre, Drof vnto Diomede, that deryt hym before. Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7431. What he command eth they dare not disobey in the least thing . Capt. John Smith , Works, I. 144. We have setters watching in corners, and by dead walls, to give us notice when a gentleman goes by, especially if he be any thing in drink. Swift, Last Speech of Ebenezer Elliston. 3t. Cause; sake. Luue him [thy neighbor] for godes thing . Old Eng. Homilies (ed. Morris), I. 67. An mine gode song for hire thinge Ich turne sundel to murni[n]ge. Owl and Nightingale (ed. Wright), 1. 1595. A soft thing. See soft. - Fallacies in things. See fal. lacy. Rights of things, in law, rights considered with reference to the object over which they may be a erted. The clean thing. See clean. - The thing, the proper, desired, or nece ary proceeding or result; especially, that which is required by custom or fashion. A bishop's calling company together in this week [Holy Week) is, to use a vulgar phrase, not the thing. Johnson, in Boswell, an. 1781. It was the thing to look upon the company, unle some irresistible attraction drew attention to the stage. Doran , Annals of Stage, I. 182. The question [of a state church], at the present juncture, is in itself so absolutely unimportant! The thing is, to recast religion. M. Arnold, Literature and Dogma, Pref. Flattered vanity was a pleasing sensation, she admitted, but tangible advantage was the thing after all. Whyte Melville, White Rose, I. v. The condition or character of being a thing. [Rare.] The materialism that threatens the American Church is not the materialism of Herbert Spencer. It is the materialism... that puts thinghood above manhood. L. Abbott , The Century, XXXVI. 624.