| 释义 |
▪ I. thing, n.1|θɪŋ|
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 judgement 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 ᵹehéᵹan, to hold a meeting.
685–6Laws of Hlothær & Eadric c. 8 ᵹif man oþerne sace tihte and he þane mannan mote an medle oþþe an þinge. Beowulf 426 [Ic] nu wið Grendel sceal..ana ᵹeheᵹan ðing wið þyrse. a800Cynewulf Christ 926 Þonne he frean ᵹesihð ealra ᵹesceafta andweardne faran mid mæᵹen-wundrum monᵹum to þinge. a1000Andreas 157 Swa hie symble ymb þritiᵹ þing ᵹehedon nihtᵹerimes. a1000Gnomic Verses 18 Þing sceal ᵹeheᵹan frod wið frodne, bið hyra ferð ᵹelic.
†2.
a. 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.
a1000Ags. Psalms (Th.) xxxiv. 22 [xxxv. 23] Drihten, min God, aris to minum þinge. Ibid. cviii. 30 [cix. 31] Þær he þear⁓fendra þinga teolode. c1122O.E. Chron. an. 1022 (Laud MS.) [He] hine þær ælces þinges ᵹeclænsode þe him mann on sæde. [1534Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) I. 387 Ye..shall repayre hither to answer unto suche thinges as then shalbe leyed and obiected to you. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI 151 The duke..sufficiently answered to all thynges to hym obiected.]
†b. Hence, Cause, reason, account; sake. Obs.
c1000ælfric Saints' Lives xxxiii. 129 Þonne nimð he me neadunga þanon for mines bryd-guman þingan. c1000Ags. Gosp. Luke viii. 47 For hwylcum þinge heo hit æt⁓hran. c1175Lamb. Hom. 67 Luue him for godes þing. a1250Owl & Night. 434 Ech wiht is glad for mine þinge. 13..Guy Warw. (A.) 7306 + st. 86 Wiltow fiȝt for mi þing..? c1386Chaucer Prol. 276 He wolde the see were kept for any thyng Bitwixe Middelburgh and Orewelle. c1425Eng. 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. a. 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.)
c897K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xviii. 128 Sio ᵹeorn⁓fulnes eorðlicra ðinga abisᵹað ðæt ondᵹit. 971Blickl. Hom. 13 No on ᵹesundum þingum anum, ac..on wiðer weardum þingum. c975Rushw. Gosp. Matt. xviii. 19 ᵹif tweᵹen eower ᵹeþafiᵹaþ on eorþan be ænᵹum þinge. c1200Ormin 3640 All þiss middellærdess þing Aȝȝ turneþþ her & wharr⁓feþþ Nu upp, nu dun. Ibid. 8954 Me birrþ beon hoȝhefull Abutenn hise þingess. 1375Barbour Bruce xx. 142 Quhill [= till] thai had wit to steir thar thing. c1400Laud Troy Bk. 2724 That thei with Paris to Grece schulde wende, To brynge this thyng to an ende. 1550Acts 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. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iv. v. 126 You shall heare how things goe. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d' Alf. i. 11 These things (I meane your Law-suites) will require a great deale of care. 1743Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 190 He acquainted us, that the Brigadier had order'd Things in another Manner. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xii, How have things gone on in our absence? 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. I. iv. 252 note, Things changed greatly in the course of a year.
b. With possessive adj. One's particular interest, speciality, or talent. spec. in colloq. phr. to do one's (own) thing: to do what one wants, to follow one's interest or inclination.
Evidence for this sense is patchy into the early-twentieth cent. The phrase had become a cliché (often associated with the ‘hippie’ culture) by the late nineteen-sixties.
1841Emerson Essays ii. 54 But do your thing and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself. 1861R. W. Dixon Christ's Company 98 Go thy way, all things say, Thou hast thy way to go..Do thy thing. 1909H. G. Wells Ann Veronica xvi. 328 Every human being..exists to do new things... Well, this is our thing. 1914Egoist 1 June 216/1, I cannot picture the spring of the editor's actions as being a..desire to do the decent thing. I think, rather, she insists on doing her own thing—what it pleases or suits her to do. 1951‘M. Innes’ Operation Pax vi. vi. 285 Roof-climbing used to be one of my things, rather. 1962I. Murdoch Unofficial Rose xxii. 214 Mummy won't be happy, it's not her thing. 1968[see freak v. 3]. 1968Melody Maker 23 Nov. 23/6 No one is right and no one is wrong as long as they say what they feel—as long as they do their thing. 1970E. Bullins Theme is Blackness (1973) 165 Anything that anybody wants to do is groovy with me... Go ahead and do your thing, champ. 1971M. Spark Not to Disturb ii. 49 ‘What are they doing here, anyway in this world?’ Heloise, pink and white of skin, fresh from her little sleep, says, ‘Doing their own thing.’ 1974K. Millett Flying (1975) ii. 207 She knows her thing. And I am doing mine. 1981R. Barnard Sheer Torture x. 109 A ghastly warning against..aiming at total self-fulfilment, doing your own thing regardless.
c. Loosely, with qualifying adj. or noun (phrase): matter, business; preoccupation (influenced by next sense).
1906‘H. McHugh’ Skiddoo! vii. 94 When it comes to that poetry thing he thinks he can make Hank Longfellow beat it up a tree. 1909St. J. Lucas First Round iii. xxxiii. 320, I shall have to stay there I suppose; they spoke of giving me a fellowship at Balliol, and of course there is the All Souls thing later on.
1968T. Wolfe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test i. 11 Thousands of kids were moving into San Francisco for a life based on LSD and the psychedelic thing. 1969Listener 27 Mar. 434/1 The male fashion thing. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 7 Aug. 13/1 You can write the nostalgia thing, but it's been done a thousand times before. It's so easy. 1977A. Sheridan tr. J. Lacan's Écrits iv. 131 The psychoanalytic thing has become an accepted thing.
d. A preoccupation or obsession. spec. (a) to make a thing about or of (something), to preoccupy oneself greatly with (a matter); to make an issue out of (something), or to (over)-exaggerate its importance; (b) to have a thing about (occas. for) (a person or thing), to be obsessed by (something); to harbour a prejudice or fear about. colloq.
1934E. Waugh Handful of Dust ii. 32, I know we aren't going. I'm not making a thing about it. I just thought it might be fun. 1936‘J. Tey’ Shilling for Candles xix. 201 You got a ‘thing’ about astrology? 1938D. Smith Dear Octopus ii. i. 59 It's one of my things like turning bath-taps off. 1940N. Mitford Pigeon Pie ii. 25, I nearly fainted. I can't bear knees, I've got a thing about them. 1952E. Grierson Reputation for Song (1955) 22 Steady on, Laura... Don't let's make a thing of it. 1955‘E. C. R. Lorac’ Ask Policeman ii. 19 Connie's got a ‘thing’ about police. ‘Never trust a policeman’ is her motto. 1958E. H. Clements Uncommon Cold viii. 185 Remin was her ‘thing’ at the moment. 1967T. Wolfe in N.Y. Mag. 29 Jan. 6/1 The plainclothes men are beginning to pick up on all that, but they still fog up on the shoes. The heads have a thing about the shoes straight people wear. 1971‘A. Burgess’ M F ii. 22 There was an American thing against knives. 1973R. Parkes Guardians ii. 49 He's made a thing of championing cultural minorities.
e. spec. a love affair, a romance; esp. in phr. to have a thing (with someone). colloq.
1967M. Sharman Face of Danger viii. 77 ‘Are you—er—sort of having a—thing—with Madalena?’..‘I'm interested in her,’ he said. ‘But not sexually.’ 1970‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird v. 61 Janey..had obviously just finished a thing with Guppy Collins-Smith and was looking for new material. 1978R. Lewis Uncertain Sound v. 128, I know Sandy Kyle, had a thing going with her.
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. 2 d. So (the) next thing, in the next place, next; (the) last thing, in the last place, lastly; also last thing at night.
c1000ælfric Exod. ix. 5 Tomorᵹen deþ Drihten þas þing on eorþan. c1000Sax. Leechd. I. 112 Drince þonne fæstende niᵹon daᵹas, binnan þam fæce þu onᵹytst on ðam wundorlic ðingc. c1205Lay. 265 Vnder-ȝetene weren þe þinges Þat þeo wimon was mid childe. Ibid. 16042 Sæie me of þan þinge Þe me to cumen sonden. 1382Wyclif 1 Cor. xvi. 14 Be alle ȝoure thingis don in charite. 1449in 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. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. (1812) II. cciv, The fyrst thynge he dyd he wente to the Churche of saynt Peter. 1651Hobbes Leviath. iii. xl. 252 When two of them Prophecyed in the Camp, it was thought a new and unlawfull thing. 1712Steele Spect. No. 284 ⁋4, I hate writing, of all Things in the World. 1809Malkin Gil Blas i. xvii. ⁋9 Have not I done the thing genteelly? 1841Helps Ess., Pract. Wisd. (1842) 4 Men who have done great things in the world. 1848Trollope Kellys & O'Kellys II. xii. 281, I must see her the last thing,—about nine. 1871Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. June 370 He often goes round the last thing..to make sure that all is right. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 512 Theft is a mean, and robbery a shameless thing. 1902Munsey's Mag. XXVI. 602/2 The great thing was to get there. a1912Mod. A pretty thing to have your own children rounding on you! 1935Discovery Apr. 95/2 It [sc. the pump] is run last thing at night. 1966‘C. Aird’ Religious Body viii. 74, I do a round of doors and windows last thing at night.
5. a. 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. c1386Chaucer Pard. Prol. 39 Lat hym telle vs of no ribaudye Telle vs som moral thyng. ― Shipman's T. 91 Dann Iohn..hath hise thynges [prayers, offices] seyd ful curteisly. 1551T. Wilson Logike (1580) 40 This manne is no Rhetoricien, because he can not place his thynges in good order. 1686tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 122 The first thing she said to me. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. i. 34, I never heard a better Thing. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xvi, All the good things of the high wits. 1771Misc. Ess. in Ann. Reg. 184/2 This Greek spoke many handsome things of Marseilles, and of our colonies. 1859Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 132 The people who went about saying things. 1909Nation 3 Apr. 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.
1765A. Dickson Treat. Agric. (ed. 2) 76 With equal reason we may infer the same thing of earth. 1842Tennyson Dora 56 Mary sat..and thought Hard things of Dora. 1885Anstey 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.
a1300Cursor M. 14952 Þai wil me neuer luue, i-wiss, For thing i mai þam tell. 1382Wyclif 1 Sam. xiv. 12 Stieth vp to vs, and we shulen shewe ȝou a thing. 1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xxv. 70 Neuer ne dyde the body thyng withouten thyn assent. c1500Melusine 24, I pray you to telle it to me, yf it is thinge that I may knowe. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. lxxxvi. [lxxxii.] 255 They neuer dyd thynge that they wolde haue ben gladder. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. i. 152 Shall I tell you a thing? 1678Bunyan 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.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxxiii. §1 Þonne þa fif þing..eall ᵹegadorede bioð, þonne bið hit eall an þing, & þæt an ðing bið God. 1044–7Charter of Eadweard in Kemble Cod. Dipl. IV. 115 On ealweldendes drihtnes naman ðe ealle þing ᵹewrohte. c1200Ormin 1839 Niss nani þing þatt muȝhe ben Wiþþ Godd off efenn mahhte. c1250O. 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. a1300Cursor M. 695 Ilkin thing, on serekin wise Ȝeld til Adam þar seruise. 1380Lay Folks Catech. 530 Þer ys but O god in trinite..This god is most myȝty þyng þat may be. 1388Wyclif Ps. cxlviii. 5 For he seide, & þingis weren maad; he comaundide, & þingis weren maad of nouȝt. 1539Tonstall 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. 1549Latimer 5th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 147 All thynges are solde for mony at rome. 1594Greene Selimus i. A iij b, He knowes not what it is to be a King, That thinks a scepter is a pleasant thing. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. v. 60 Presume not, that I am the thing I was. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 922 To compare Great things with small. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. i. §11 A man of parts is one thing, and a pedant another. 1788J. Milner in Life I. Milner iv. (1842) 44 Regencies are generally turbulent things. 1818Keats Endym. i. 1 A thing of beauty is a joy for ever. 1843Mill 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. 1879Geo. 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.
971Blickl. Hom. 13 Þa wæs heo on eallum þingum þe eaþ moddre. c1200Trin. 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. a1300Cursor M. 295 In þe sune þat schines clere Es a thing and thre thinges sere; A bodi rond, and hete and light. 1340Ayenb. 194 Þe oþer þing þet behoueþ ine elmesse is þet me hit do zone and haste⁓liche. c1520Barclay tr. Sallust (ed. 2) 47 Their enmies myght lytell thynge preuayle agaynst them. 1558Knox First Blast (Arb.) 26 Augustine defineth ordre to be that thing, by the whiche God hath appointed and ordeined all thinges. 1644Evelyn Diary 10 Nov., The whitenesse and smoothnesse of the pargeting was a thing I much observ'd. 1705Berkeley Commonplace Bk. Wks. 1871 IV. 420, I side in all things with the mob. 1838–9F. 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. Also (often with initial capital) applied to some particular supernatural or other dreadful monster (i.e. the Thing). Hence transf. (sometimes humorously) of persons.
1602Shakes. Ham. i. i. 21 What, ha's this thing appear'd againe to night? 1804Wordsw. To Cuckoo iv, No Bird, but an invisible thing, A voice, a mystery. 1822Byron Heaven & Earth i. iii, Thou..awful Thing of Shadows, speak to me! 1842Tennyson Walking to Mail 36 ‘Yes, we're flitting,’ says the ghost (For they had pack'd the thing among the beds). 1888Kipling Smith Administration (1891) 64 The burning-ghât, where a man was piling logs on some Thing that lay wrapped in white cloth. 1893Stevenson Catriona xv, Wi' the bang and the skirl the thing had clean disappeared. 1917Conrad Shadow-Line vi. 197 The hair of my head stirred... I could see It—that Thing! 1954L. M. Boston Children of Green Knowe 126 The Thing..gave a silent yell... Then it went fumbling round the room. 1973‘B. Mather’ Snowline i. 7, I find The Thing hard to take. He's blind,..he can only make mewing noises, and he has no legs and only one arm.
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.
1817Coleridge Biog. Lit. xii. I. 267 An infinite independent thing, is no less a contradiction, than an infinite circle or a sideless triangle. 1820Byron Mar. Fal. v. i. 288 True words are things, And dying men's are things which long outlive, And often times avenge them. 1862H. 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. 1884tr. 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. 1910Christie 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).
c1450Bk. 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. 1482Rolls of Parlt. VI. 208/2 That the Deane..and Chanons..be oon body corporate in thyng and name. a1533Frith Answ. More (1548) G iij, But the thinge it selfe, whose sacrament thys is, is receyued. 1534More Treat. Passion Wks. 1332/2 The thyng of a sacrament is properly called that holye thinge that the sacrament betokeneth. 1663Butler Hud. i. 1. 804 Bear-baiting is an Antichristian Game Unlawful both in thing and name. 1705Berkeley Commonplace Bk. Wks. 1871 IV. 440 The supposition that things are distinct from ideas takes away all real truth. 1725Watts 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. 1827Robinson Archæol. Græca x. (ed. 2) p. lxiii, The philosophy of Aristotle is rather the philosophy of words than of things. 1850Tennyson In Mem. lxxv. 6 What practice howsoe'er expert In fitting aptest words to things..Hath power to give thee as thou wert? 1876Jevons 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.)
1689–90Temple Ess. Learn. Wks. 1731 I. 302 Things..such as have been either of general Use or Pleasure to Mankind. 1729Law Serious C. iv. (1732) 47 Things..are all to be used according to the Will of God. 1766[see 12 b]. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge iii, Consideration of persons, things, times and places. 1850Lynch 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. 1853Maurice 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.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 146 For þon þonne ealle æterno þing fleoᵹaþ. c1000ælfric Gen. vii. 22 ælc þing, þe lif hæfde. c1275Lay. 25656 He saide þat þar was icome A luþer þing to londe..A wel loþliche feond. a1300Cursor M. 385 Alkin things grouand sere..in þam self þaire seding bere. c1440Pallad. on Husb. i. 935 For eddris, spritis, monstris, thyng of drede. 1580Frampton Monardes' Med. agst. Venome 138 Least any venomous thing fall therein, as spyders. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 194 When all things that breath,..send up silent praise To the Creator. 1819Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 305, I wish no living thing to suffer pain. 1858Glenny 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 honour. Cf. creature 3 b, c.
a. with qualifying word. Also in phrases: dear old thing, an expression of affection applied esp. to an elderly person; old thing, a jocular or affectionate form of address (not necessarily to an elder). colloq.
c1290St. Lucy 150 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 105 Ȝwan he ne miȝte þis clene þing [St. Lucy] ouer-come mid al is lore. a1300Cursor M. 2077 Fle me fra, þou wared thing. Ibid. 7285 Samuel..was a selcuth dughti thing, Þe first þat smerld man to king. c1330Arth. & Merl. 6482 Þe kinges steward..wedded þat swete þing. c1450Guy Warw. (C.) 26 A may ȝynge, The Erlys doghtur, a swete thynge. 1533J. Heywood Play Wether (1903) 1097 A goodly dame, an ydyll thynge iwys. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 241 b, Augustus beeyng yet a young thyng vnder mannes state. a1568R. Ascham Scholem. i. (Arb.) 53 If he be bashefull, and will soone blushe, they call him a babishe and ill brought vp thyng. 1607Shakes. Cor. iv. v. 122 But that I see thee heere Thou noble thing, more dances my rapt heart [etc.]. 1689A. Behn Novels (1871) I. 70 The worst-natur'd, incorrigible, thing in the world. 1711Steele Spect. No. 4 ⁋5 At a Play..looking..at a young thing in a Box before us. 1758Johnson Idler No. 13 ⁋3 My wife often tells me that boys are dirty things. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xxvii, Why don't you go and ask them to walk up, you stupid thing? 1852Punch 31 July 55/2 Aunt Ratchet and I had quietly sat down, I to read and she to listen to a new novel—the greatest pleasure the dear old thing can experience. 1864C. M. Yonge Trial II. xiv. 273 I'll do anything for you..you know that, you old thing! 1865‘L. Carroll’ Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ix. 130 ‘You can't think how glad I am to see you again, you dear old thing!’ said the Duchess, as she tucked her arm affectionately into Alice's, and they walked off together. 1898F. Montgomery Tony 12 The very smallest and youngest thing that had ever worn an Eton jacket. 1905Kipling Actions & Reactions (1909) 18 No, thanks, old thing! Isn't that quite English? a1912Mod. Poor thing! I pity her. 1921[see clever-clever a.]. 1975J. Drummond Slowly the Poison 13 Don't worry, old thing. It may not be as bad as it sounds.
b. without qualification, in contempt or reproach, implying unworthiness to be called a person: cf. 8 b.
1610Shakes. Temp. iii. ii. 63 Reuenge it on him, (for I know Thou dar'st) But this Thing dare not. 1611― Wint. T. ii. i. 82 O thou Thing. 1633Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. (1851) 143 What can we make of this thing? man, I cannot call him. 1756Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess of Bute 8 Nov., By what accident they have fallen into the hands of that thing Dodsley I know not. 1860Motley Netherl. ii. I. 37 To accept the sovereignty of a thing like Henry of Valois.
11. a. 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.)
971Blickl. Hom. 91 Heofon & eorþe, & sæ, & ealle þa þing þe on þæm syndon. c1200Ormin 18825 Þatt arrke þatt iss wrohht off tre..iss whilwendlike þing. a1300Signa ante Judicium 102 in E.E. Poems (1862) 10 Þe iren sul blede..Þe þing þat bodi no flesse naþ non. a1300Cursor M. 9383 Al-king thing was þan..Wel pithier þan þai ar now. c1400Lanfranc's Cyrurg. 141 Woundis..maad wiþ a swerd or wiþ sum dinge ellis þat woundiþ. 1547Hooper Declar. Christe viii. H vij, Mens yeyes be obedient unto the creatour that they may se on think and yet not a nother. 1570Billingsley Euclid i. post. i. 7 Thinges equall to one and the selfe same thyng are equall also the one to the other. c1595Capt. Wyatt R. Dudley's Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.) 16 Leavinge behinde us certaine letters inclosed in a thinge of wood provided of purpose. 1709Berkeley Ess. Vision §135 Things perceivable by touch. 1719De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. xvi. 273 A three-cornered..thing, like..a shoulder-of-mutton sail. 1842Tennyson Vision of Sin iv. vii, Callest thou that thing a leg? 1875Jowett 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.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 210 Eal þa wætan þing..& eall swete þing..ᵹe 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. c1400Destr. Troy 7856 Þai wold stuf hom full stithly.. with mete..& mony othir thinges. a1500in Arnolde Chron. (1811) 91 Yf ony persone caste or put ony rubyes, dunge..or ony other noyos thinge in Thamys at Walbrok. 1589J. Chilton in Hakluyt Voy. 590 Annele..is a kinde of thing to dye blew withall. 1631R. Byfield Doctr. Sabb. 204 We drinke some warme thing. 1694Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 169/1 It is a most excellent Thing in Fevers. 1737Whiston 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; usu. preceded by possessive pron.
c1386Chaucer Wife's Prol. 121. c 1440 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 632/12. 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 389. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. v. i. 1700Farquhar Constant Couple iv. iii. 1762Bridges Burlesque Homer (1772) 62. 1955 J. P. Donleavy Ginger Man (1957) vi. 38 Men wagging their things at you from doorways. Disgusting. 1969L. Hellman Unfinished Woman ii. 23 One..had opened his pants and was shaking what my circle called ‘his thing’. 1981P. Turnbull Deep & Crisp & Even vi. 110 ‘His coat was open and his thing...’ ‘Thing?’ ‘You know, between his legs... Penis.’
d. With capital initial. Substituted (esp. after a title, as Miss Thing, etc.) for the proper name of a person which the speaker cannot recall. Cf. thingummy, what's-his-name. colloq.
1920J. M. Barrie Kiss for Cinderella i. 12 She was called something else when she came—Miss Thing, or some such name. 1954M. Riddell M for Mother x. 44 Mrs. Thing had absolutely washed her hands of him and my mother was never going to speak to her again. 1977M. Kenyon Rapist vi. 70 Keane could not remember the name of..the colonel. Too many names. Colonel Thing.
12.
†a. A collective term for that which one possesses; property, wealth, substance. Obs.
c1000ælfric Hom. II. 506 Him eallum wæron heora ðing ᵹemæne. a1200Moral Ode 263 Þer inne boð..Þe þet is oðers monnes þing loure. c1200Ormin 4520 Þatt tu nan oþerr manness þing Ne ȝeorne nohht to winnenn. c1250Gen. & Ex. 3378 He let bi-aften de more del, To kepen here ðing al wel. 1297R. 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. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 35 Composicion of a commune thynge, the disposicion of a thynge familier. 1513Douglas 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.
c1290S. 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. c1460Towneley Myst. vi. 83 Where ar oure thyngis, ar thay past Iordan? 1481Caxton Godeffroy xlv. 85 They had born theder alle theyr thynges. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 119 b, The parson and vicar wyll haue for a mortuary..the best thynge that is about the house. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. v, [They] lost the most part of theyr apparrel, & things. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 599 Busie in packing vp his things against his departure. 1662J. Davies Mandelslo's Trav. 17 We..went..to the Custome House to have our things search'd by the Officers there. 1759Johnson Let. to Miss Porter 23 Mar., in Boswell, I have this day moved my things, and you are now to direct to me at Staple-inn. 1766Blackstone 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. 1865Trollope 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.
1634W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. (1865) 56 A long coarse coate, to keepe better things from the pitched ropes and plankes. 1713Steele Guardian No. 10 ⁋5, I know every part of their dress, and can name all their things by their names. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) V. xxiv. 257 But having her things on, (as the women call every thing)..she thought it best to go. 1774Foote Cozeners i. Wks. 1799 II. 157, I have had but just time to huddle on my things. 1833T. Hook Parson's Dau. (1847) 239 Take off your things—and we will order..tea. 1885Anstey Tinted Venus vi. 66, ‘I haven't bought my winter things yet’, said Matilda. 1902R. 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.
1698Vanbrugh Prov. Wife iii. i, Here, take away the things; I expect company. 1738Ochtertyre House Bks. (1909) 154 For mending the Kitchen things. 1844Mem. Babylonian Princess II. 304 With the breakfast things the waiter brought the morning paper. 1891C. T. C. James Rom. Rigmarole 156, I hadn't any proper hunting things. 1898G. B. Shaw Plays II. Man of Destiny 160 Clearing the table and removing the things to a tray on the sideboard.
13. An individual work of literature or art, a composition; a writing, piece of music, etc.
c1386Chaucer Prol. 325 Ther-to he [the Sergeant of the Law] koude endite and make a thyng. ― Sqr.'s T. 70 Herknynge hise Mynstrals hir thynges pleye. 1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 17 b, Yt they haue imploied all their time in reading some good thing or other. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxii. (Arb.) 265 One of our late makers who in the most of his things wrote very well. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iv. ii. 71 You would haue them alwaies play but one thing. 1731Swift Let. to Pope 12 June, I have a thing in prose, begun above twenty-eight years ago, and almost finished. 1831Examiner 213/2 A dozen things of Handel's;..some things of Avison's, one of the poorest of musicians. 1902Besant 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. {ddd}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, to tell (or teach) (a person) a thing or two; similarly, to be up to a thing or two, to be knowing or shrewd. g. one thing..another (thing): see one numeral a. 17 c. h. (the) things of the mind, matters of a specifically intellectual character. Cf. life of the mind s.v. life n. 12 e. i. of all things: of all conceivable possibilities (often parenthetically implying that the eventuality is surprising or unexpected). j. (just) one of those things: see one pron. 31 f.k. like one thing, ‘like anything’. Austral. colloq. and U.S. dial. l. With reference to a previous statement: to do that (small, etc.) thing, to act in the manner indicated (esp. when taking up a suggestion). colloq.
a.1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. iii. 56 With Ruffes and Cuffes, and Fardingales, and things. 1841S. C. Hall Ireland I. 30 Grace would mend her father's nets and things. 1894To-day 13 Jan. 14 The Japanese supper with the Japanese room and mats and things.
b.1790Bystander 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]. 1878Morley 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.1819Shelley P. Bell the Third vi. xxxv, I have found the way To make a better thing of metre Than e'er was made. 1873Greenwood 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. 1842Thackeray 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. [1659H. 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.] 1798A. F. M. Willich Elem. Crit. Philos. 21 The position of the sufficient ground, in general, depends..upon things in themselves. 1817Coleridge Biog. Lit. I. x. 195 Of this sheet of paper..as a thing in itself, separate from the phænomenon or image in my perception. 1867[see noumenon]. 1871Fraser Life Berkeley ii. 41 He recognises substance, or, as we might say, the thing-in-itself. a1881A. Barratt Phys. Metempiric (1883) 39 We have had to conclude that the doctrine of Realism or Things-in-themselves cannot be proved. 1891E. 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, etc. [see know v. 15]. 1816Sporting Mag. XLVIII. 173 The training-groom was up to a thing or two. 1856Reade Never too late lii, Jackey showed Robinson a thing or two. 1859Hotten Dict. Slang 113. 1859 Thackeray Virgin. xviii, I think I have shown him that we in Virginia know a thing or two. 1897M. 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? 1930Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves! vi. 143 ‘Listen, Bertie,’ said Aunt Dahlia earnestly, ‘I'm an older woman than you are—well, you know what I mean—and I can tell you a thing or two.’ 1932L. Golding Magnolia St. iii. ix. 592 It's taught us both a thing or two. 1973M. Bence-Jones Palaces of Raj xi. 191 Simla could teach Naini Tal a thing or two as regards dances.
h. [1902H. James Wings of Dove ii. iii. 44 All the high, dim things she lumped together as of the mind.] 1903G. K. Chesterton Robert Browning iii. 61 She..lived her second and real life in literature and the things of the mind. 1965New Society 15 July 10/3 The superiority of the things of the mind over the externals of bodily appearance and success in competitive enterprises. 1980T. Morgan Somerset Maugham iii. 222 Syrie..had no interest in things of the mind. She was the sort who says ‘how extraordinary’ when a book is being discussed.
i.1925T. Dreiser Amer. Tragedy II. ii. xii. 170 Well, well, of all things! Well, I'll be damned! 1958A. Huxley Let. 22 June (1969) 851 There have been endless contre⁓temps, including, as a last straw, the collapse of the publicity woman with, of all things, chickenpox. 1977McKnight & Tobler Bob Marley ix. 110 Keyboard instrument effects..which sound like a harmonium of all things.
k.1946B. James in Murdoch & Drake-Brockman Austral. Short Stories (1951) 249 No good for crops,..but it would ‘grow cherries like one thing’. 1948D. Ballantyne Cunninghams xiv. 75 He saw Phil..and some other..jokers skiting like one thing. 1972J. S. Hall Sayings from Old Smoky 136 Like one thing, said of something very well done or in large quantity. ‘He can mimic Windy Bill just like one thing.’
l.1958I. Murdoch Bell xiv. 186 ‘I'm going to have a bath.’ ‘Darling, you do that small thing!’ 1960K. Amis Take Girl like You vi. 83 ‘Grab one with us.’..‘I'll do that small thing if I may.’ 1963N. Freeling Because of Cats i. 23 ‘I'll plan that.’ ‘You do that thing.’ 1967N. Marsh Death at Dolphin iii. 57 ‘Will you bear me in mind, then?’ ‘I'll do that thing,’ said Peregrine. 1977J. Tarrant Rommel Plot ix. 89 ‘I'll be there in twenty minutes.’ ‘You do that small thing.’
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).
1762Goldsm. Cit. W. lxxvii, [The silk] is at once rich, tasty, and quite the thing. 1775F. Burney Early Diary 3 Apr., Mr. Bruce was quite the thing; he addressed himself with great gallantry to us all alternately. 1781Johnson 12 Apr., in Boswell, Why, Sir, a Bishop's calling company together in this week [Passion Week] is, to use the vulgar phrase, not the thing. 1802Mrs. J. West Infidel Father II. 123 This behaviour was certainly the very thing. 1832J. Romilly Diary 20 Sept. (1967) 19 Better today: tho not quite the thing: dined at home. 1841Thackeray Gt. Hoggarty Diam. ii, He really looked quite the genteel thing. 1854C. M. Yonge Heartsease I. ii. i. 115 And how are you? You don't look quite the thing. 1864Meredith 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.’ 1897Boston (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. Also colloq. in weakened use (the thing is..), the truth or the fact of the matter.
1850Thackeray Pendennis lxxv, But he has got the rowdy, which is the thing. 1873M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma Pref. 11 The question [of a state church]..is..so absolutely unimportant! The thing is, to recast religion. 1892Symonds 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. 1971C. Bonington Annapurna South Face xiv. 175, I think the thing is that we want to start pushing out the route as fast as possible because the faster we can push the route out the less oxygen we need to use. 1976‘A. Hall’ Kobra Manifesto xv. 208 They've struck some kind of problem... The thing is they've seized a TWA Boeing.
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 n. 14, sort n.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.
f. any old thing: any thing whatever. slang (orig. U.S.).
1900Ade More Fables in Slang 205 An Author was sitting at his Desk trying to..grind out Any Old Thing that could be converted into Breakfast Food. 1911, etc. [see any old.. s.v. any a. 1 e].
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, thing-element; thing-creating adj.; thing-like adj., like a material or impersonal thing (hence thing-likeness); thing-word, a substantive referring to some material object; after Jespersen, spec. a countable noun.
1663Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. i. 123 Matter cannot move it self, but requires to be mov'd by a Tectonic thing-creating Power. c1854Faber Old Labourer iii, Such a thing-like person. 1877H. Sweet in Trans. Philol. Soc. 1875–6 487 ‘Snow’..is both a thing-word and a noun, ‘white’ is a quality-word and an adjective, ‘whiteness’ a quality-word and a noun. 1895Pollock & 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. 1909G. 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. 1914O. Jespersen Mod. Eng. Gram. II. v. 115 Another difference in the adjuncts of mass-words and thing-words: the former have what, the latter what a in exclamatory quasi-questions. 1937A. Smeaton tr. R. Carnap's Logical Syntax Lang. v. lxxvii. 297 ‘Thing’ is a universal word (provided that the designation of things constitutes a genus)... ‘Moon’ is a thing-word..; ‘five’ is not a thing-word, but a number-word.
Hence (chiefly rare or nonce-wds.) thingal |ˈθɪŋəl| a., pertaining to things (= real a.2 7 b); in first quot. absol.; ˈthinghood, the state or character of being a thing (in quot. 1888, as distinct from a person); existence as a thing, reality, substantiality; thingification = reification; hence ˈthingify v. trans., ˈthingifying vbl. n.; thingish |ˈθɪŋɪʃ| a., having the nature of a thing: = thingy a; ˈthingism Fr. Lit. [tr. Fr. chosisme] (see quot. 1966); thingless |ˈθɪŋlɪs| a., destitute of the character of a thing, insubstantial (whence ˈthinglessness); thinglet |ˈθɪŋlɪt|, a little thing, a diminutive object or creature; thingliness |ˈθɪŋlɪnɪs|, the quality of being thingly; existence as a thing, essence; thingling |ˈθɪŋlɪŋ| = thinglet; thingly |ˈθɪŋlɪ| a., having the nature of a thing: = thingy a; ˈthingness, the fact or character of being a thing (in quot. 1902, as distinct from a person); reality; so † ˈthingship, † ˈthingsomeness.
1857J. Hinton in Life vii. (1885) 132 This love might lead us away from thoughts of the real or *thingal. 1884Mind July 398 What he [James Hinton] would probably call ‘thingal beauty’.
1865J. Grote Moral Ideals ii. (1876) 28 Any form of *thinghood or reality. 1872Contemp. Rev. XX. 76 The conception of an external thinghood, and..of a permanent substantiality as basis of the qualities. 1880Mind V. 141 Thinghood, Substantiality, Existence, are synonymous terms. 1888L. Abbott in Century Mag. Aug. 624/1 The materialism that puts thinghood above manhood. 1919A. N. Whitehead Princ. Natural Knowledge ii. vi. 73 Events appear as indefinite entities without clear demarcations and with mutual relations of baffling complexity. They seem..deficient in thinghood. 1950A. Huxley Themes & Variations 55 A completer deification of the State, accompanied by a completer reification, or reduction to thing-hood, of individual persons. 1972L. Hudson Cult of Fact 76 To know about nature, and especially about people, in a way that reduces them to thing-hood, is to pursue knowledge in a way that is inimical to the proper growth of human self-awareness.
1947Partisan Rev. XIV. 456 Everything in this icy landscape must be adapted to the things of cold steel. The organic must fuse with the mechanical, the *thingification of man be pushed to its extreme, and the world of the workers become functional and naked. 1979E. P. Thompson in PN Rev. No. 9 (Suppl.) p. xxvi, He had fallen on the 1844 MSS, was high on alienation and reification (which he insisted upon rendering as ‘thingification’), and he had put Marx and Freud together in the bed of a single book.
1931*Thingify [see reify v.]. 1972Guardian 7 Feb. 12/8 The thingifying of anything else on the road—whether it's another competitor or..a stray pedestrian.
1890Open Court (U.S.) 5 June 2316/2 Yet is space no *thingish entity, no tangible object.
1961Guardian 7 Feb. 9/6 M. Robbe-Grillet..hears his method described as ‘*thingism’ because he concentrates on..things. 1966H. T. Moore Twentieth Cent. French Lit. II. v. 116 They often produce the antiroman (antinovel) or indulge in chosisme (which might be literally translated as thingism)... In their novels and manifestoes, the antinovelists emphasize their escape from the conventional novel's preoccupation with straight-line plot, psychological analysis, and moral involvements. The group of chosistes concentrate on material objects because, in the words of one of their practitioners and spokesmen, Alain Robbe-Grillet, ‘things are there’.
1599T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 1 What breth embreath'd these almost *thingles things.
1874F. H. Laing in Ess. Relig. & Lit. Ser. iii. 270 How thing came out of *thinglessness.
1890Australian Girl I. xv. 203 Creatures on foot and on wing—*thinglets that fly one moment and fall down helplessly the next.
1662J. 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.
1652Benlowes Theoph. v. xxiv, Poor *thingling Man! 1950O. Nash Family Reunion 45 I'd rather shake hands with Mr. Ringling And tell him his circus is a beautiful thingling.
1860J. W. Palmer tr. Michelet's Love ii. iv. 101 Things have cast off their *thingly qualities. 1900Westm. 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.
1896Fraser Philos. Theism Ser. ii. vi. 150 Personality instead of *thingness is the highest form under which man..can conceive of God. 1902Greenough & 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’. 1930‘Wyndham Lewis’ Apes of God ix. 288 Health as intended by Kalman is ‘thingness’ right enough! It is vegetable bulk, it is unconsciousness. 1967S. Beckett No's Knife 34 Into what nightmare thingness am I fallen? 1975New Yorker 2 June 90/1 Clouseau finds himself forced into unkind collision with the thingness of things.
1697J. Sergeant Solid Philos. 239 We can have..a Notion of the Thing..precisely according to its *Thingship (as we may say) or Reality.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 19 He that gives it a little reality or *thingsomeness, cannot..be so sparing as to..give it no more.
▸ orig. U.S. With modifying noun: an activity or action suited (only) to, or particularly characteristic of, a specified group, subject, role, etc.; a situation explicable only in terms of the group, etc., specified; esp. in it's a—— thing.
1967N.Y. Times 9 Nov. 49/1 Few whites are journeying to Harlem for entertainment. ‘It's a black thing now... It's by blacks and for blacks and you don't see many whites up here.’ 1983M. Mackie Exploring Gender Relations v. 150 Similarity provides a basis for shared activities, in this case, doing ‘boy things’ or ‘girl things’. 1991J. Phillips You'll never eat Lunch in this Town Again 183, I entertain us both with a brief negotiation, not something I care to do, but I know if I don't he'll think I'm a wuss and feel compelled to rip me off. Not his fault. It's a guy thing. 1993Vibe Sept. 80/1 If you're not down with bass style, don't trip on it. It's a Florida thing, you wouldn't understand. 1997K. O'Riordan Boy in Moon ii. 44, I just don't want him to be afraid all the time—... Maybe it's a father thing. 2002U.S. News & World Rep. 21 Jan.–4 Feb. 64/2 The glacial pace of the game [sc. curling] and the central role of sweeping the ice (it's a physics thing) don't help either.
▸ and thing phr. (freq. in form an' ting) Caribbean and the like, and so on.
1957S. Selvon Ways of Sunlight 161 The series went on and West Indies making some big score and bowling out them English fellars for duck and thing. 1980W. R. Johnstone Bahamian Jottings 80 De lady dere sellin' her punkin an' ting on de dock. 1988M. Matura Playboy of West Indies 10 Yer does get plenty police an ting coming here dis place behind. 2000R. Antoni in N. Hopkinson Whispers from Cotton Tree Root 212 Everybody was drinking rum, and eating roti, and playing music and thing.
▸ colloq. (orig. U.S.). With modifying noun. to do the—— thing: to engage or participate in——; to behave (self-consciously) in the manner (stereotypically) associated with——. Cf. sense 4c.
1970R. Thorp & R. Blake Music of their Laughter 126/1, I did the journeying thing, hitchhiking around and thinking—the whole bit—just trying to see what was going on around me. 1987San Diego Union 7 Jan. c2/4 You sleep on it, but we have to act fast, I hear Tom Cruise is very interested. We'll do the lunch thing tomorrow. 1992Premiere Mar. 10/1 Robert Loggia and Brian Dennehy do the bad-guy thing. 1999T. Lott White City Blue 114, I was going to ask Tony there, oil us all with a few bevvies, and then do the best-man thing.
▸ things that go bump in the night: ghosts or other supposed supernatural beings, regarded as the cause of unexplained or frightening noises heard at night; (hence) something that inspires groundless or non-specific fear.
The phrase probably has its origins in the rhyme quoted in quot. a 1926, although printed attestation is lacking.
1918Bull. School Oriental Stud. 1 46 To a people..who..believe in genii, ghosts, goblins, and those terrific things that ‘go bump in the night’, protective charms are eagerly sought for. a1926Cornish or W. Country Litany in F. T. Nettleinghame Polperro Prov. & Others (1926) 7 From Ghoulies and Ghosties And Long Leggetty Beasties And things that go bump in the night Good Lord, deliver us. 1949L. Hogben From Cave Painting to Comic Strip vii. 249 To go places with the magic lantern..the electric carbon-arc, to assure a sufficiently bright image of entities other than devils, ghosts, skeletons and things that go bump in the night. 1987J. Franklin Molecules of Mind (1988) i. 20 We all have our allotment of shyness, stage fright, and things that go bump in the night. 2002Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) (Nexis) 20 Nov. 5 My furred friend shakes to the bone during ear-splitting thunderstorms, growls rudely at me and barks at things that go bump in the night.
▸ to have another thing comingarising from misapprehension of to have another think coming at think n. 1c = to have another think coming at think n. 1c.
1919Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 12 Aug. 8/3 If you think the life of a movie star is all sunshine and flowers you've got another thing coming. 1959Lethbridge (Alberta, Canada) Herald 22 Aug. 20/3 Magistrate Edward Robey told them: ‘Please tell your friends in France that if any more come over here thinking they can put money in slot machines and get money galore, they have got another thing coming.’ 1971N.Y. Times 26 Feb. 37/4 One of those taken into custody identified himself as ‘very prominent in the community’ and declared, ‘After this, if the police think they are getting a raise they've got another thing coming.’ 1981J. Sullivan Only Fools & Horses (1999) I. 1st Ser. Episode 1. 57 Del. If you think I'm staying in a lead-lined nissan hut with you and Grandad and a chemical bloody khazi you've got another thing coming. 1998A. O'Hanlon Talk of Town (1999) I. iv. 60 If you think you're getting into my knickers, you have another thing coming.
▪ II. thing, v.
[OE. þingian, as sense 1 below, also to make terms, come to terms, settle, determine, speak, discourse, address; Com. Teut. = OFris. thingja to plead (WFris. tingen, NFris. tingje), OS. thingôn to confer, transact business, deal (MDu. dinghen, Du. and LG. dingen to bargain, etc.), OHG. dingôn to hold a court, conduct a process or suit, negotiate, come to an agreement, arrange a compromise or terms of peace, to stipulate, etc. (Ger. dingen to discuss, bargain, hire, engage on terms), ON. þinga to hold a (public) meeting, confer, consult, discuss terms (Sw. tinga to agree as to terms, engage, Da. tinge to bargain, etc.):—OTeut. þingôjan, f. þingom thing n.1, the original sense being more distinctly retained in the vb.]
†1. intr. To plead a cause, supplicate, intercede, make intercession (with dat. = for); trans. to bring to reconciliation. Obs.
a1000Ecgberti Poenitentiale iv. c. 62 Gif he wyle..him sylfum þingian [L. supplicare]. c1000Cædmon's Satan 510 Ic [Christ] eow þingade, þa me on beame beornas sticedon. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 15 Þe lauerd sainte poul..þingie us to þe holie fader of heuene, þat he geue us mihte. Ibid. 43 Do we ec mid ure wel dede þingen us wið ure helende. c1200Ormin 8997 To þingenn uss wiþþ ure Godd Þurrh bedess & þurrh lakess. Ibid. 18124 Ure Laferrd Jesu Crist Iss Prest..Hiss follc to þingenn wel inoh Towarrd Drihhtin off Heffne.
2. To represent by things, i.e. concrete objects. Hence thinger |ˈθɪŋə(r)|.
1883G. Massey Nat. Genesis I. i. 16 Symbolism was not a conscious creation of the human mind; man..did not begin by thinging his thoughts in intentional enigmas of expression. Ibid., Things were pourtrayed before thoughts by those who were thingers rather than thinkers.
▪ III. thing
obs. form of think v.1 and v.2 |