thank youphr.n.
A. phr.
1. A phrase used in courteous acknowledgement of a favour or service. thank you for nothing: see thank v. 3f. So, rarely, thank thee n. Cf. thankee phr. Occasionally with intensifying adverbs and phrases: cf. thank n. Phrases 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > gratitude > expressions of thanks [phrase]
thank you14..
thank thee1631
thankee1824
thanks for the buggy-ride1927
14.. Why I can't be a Nun 159 in Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 142 ‘Thanke yow, lady’, quod I than.
1631 B. Jonson Divell is Asse iv. ii. 21 in Wks. II Eith. Thanke you good Madame... Tay. Thanke thee, good Eyther-side.
1705 J. Vanbrugh Confederacy i. i. 1 Thank you kindly, Mrs. Amlet, thank you kindly.
1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 140 No, thank ye, Colonel.
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxiv. 200 It's you who want to introduce beggars into my family? Thank you for nothing, Captain.
1862 C. M. Yonge Countess Kate ii. 24 She..said something meant for ‘No, thank you’; but of which nothing was to be heard but ‘q’ [i.e. ——k you].
1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) III. 206 [He] goes about learning of others, to whom he never even says Thank you.
1885 A. Edwardes Girton Girl III. x. 182 Oscar Jones looked radiant. ‘Thank you, awfully, Miss Bartrand.’
1967 K. Giles Death in Diamonds ix. 155 Thank you a million.
2.
a. Used to add emphasis to a preceding expression of a wish or opinion (usually one implying a denial or refusal).
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1904 E. Nesbit Phoenix & Carpet xi. 212 He didn't mean stay and be roasted... No boys on burning decks for me, thank you.
1928 E. O'Neill Strange Interlude iv. 148 No, I've enough guilt in my memory now, thank you!
1940 Punch 5 June 624/1 I still have some remnants of self-respect, thank you.
1959 Times 27 Apr. 11/3 It was there..that the emissaries of Noah came to give warning of the impending flood, only to be told that the Macneils had a boat of their own, thank you.
1963 N. Marsh Dead Water (1964) vii. 170 ‘Do you mean that you confronted her?’ ‘Me! No, thank you!’
1974 M. Forster Seduction of Mrs. Pendlebury x. 105 I don't want to do her good, I just want to keep her out of sight and mind, thank you very much.
1983 Listener 27 Jan. 25/3 Those of us who felt that nuclear weapons were quite enough to be worrying about, thank you very much, were given a nasty jolt by the documentary Overcast, with Outbreaks of Yellow Rain.
b. Used in imitation of direct speech to imply self-satisfaction or complacency on the part of a person just referred to; chiefly in to do very well, thank you and variants.
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1931 S. Jameson Richer Dust xix. 524 He himself was doing very well, thank you.
1969 Guardian 4 July 7/1 One of them was Louise Purnell, and you know she's doing very nicely, thank you.
1971 S. Jepson Let. to Dead Girl viii. 85 Merchant bankers..encouraged people like John Kinnon and..did very well out of it thank you.
1972 National Observer (U.S.) 27 May 8/4 Pat dresses stylishly, favoring white boots, and gets around just fine, thank you.
3. In negative contexts, used like thank v. 3h.
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1935 D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night xvii. 365 That's what the man wants. He wouldn't say thank you for a critic on the hearth.
1969 W. J. Burley Death in Willow Pattern v. 56 I wouldn't say thank you for it!
1970 D. Bagley Running Blind ix. 199 Nordlinger's Chevrolet was too long... I wouldn't have given a thank you for it.
B. n. (written with hyphen or as one word): An utterance of this phrase.
1. Also, an unspoken expression of thanks.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > gratitude > [noun] > thanks > an instance or expression of
a thankc1400
gramercyc1485
God-a-mercy1549
gratitude1660
thank you1792
mahalo1891
Q1925
asante sana1996
1792 F. Burney Jrnl. May (1972) I. 174 He looked even extremely gratified..& Bowed expressively a thank you.
1824 J. Keble Let. 1 Sept. in G. Battiscombe John Keble (1963) i. iv. 80 And so with as hearty a thank-you and farewell as ever you received I am your obliged and very faithful John Keble.
1887 Christian World 4 Aug. 589 He utters a hearty ‘Thank-you!’
1894 Westm. Gaz. 21 Aug. 3/3 The majority of passengers retreated from the tables regardless of their running fire of ‘thankyous’, which were thankyous for nothing.
1900 Westm. Gaz. 6 Sept. 2/1 We had not said nearly enough ‘thank-yous’.
2. attributive, designating something written or done to convey thanks (in quot. 1922, that merits thanks); esp. thank-you letter, thank-you note.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > gratitude > [adjective] > conveying thanks
thank you1912
1912 J. Webster Daddy-Long-Legs 57 I meant this to be just a short little thank-you note.
1915 J. Webster Dear Enemy 111 I spend my entire time composing thank-you letters that aren't exact copies of the ones I've sent before.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. vii. [Aeolus] 128 Saving princes is a thank you job.
1939 F. S. Fitzgerald Let. 5 Apr. (1964) 55 Got a nice thank-you letter from Frances Turnbull for the check I sent her.
1948 ‘P. Quentin’ Run to Death x. 83 Vera and I said, ‘thank-you’ speeches to Mrs. Snood and left.
1979 R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) ii. i. 183 After she saw his play she wrote him a thank-you note.
1981 P. Dickinson Seventh Raven xiii. 189 The thank-you party..for the children—ice-cream and sausage rolls and lemonade.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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