thing
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: thĭng
ipa: /θɪŋ/
ipa: /θiŋ/
note: /æ/ raising
ipa: [θeɪŋ]
ipa: /tɪŋ/
note: Local Dublin
ipa: /tɪn/
ipa: /θɪŋ(ɡ)/
ipa: /θiːŋ(ɡ)/
rhymes: -ɪŋ
Forms: form: things
form: thang
raw_tags: used to denote a known fad or popular activity
form: thin'
form: thinge
form: thynge
form: ting
Etymology: From Middle English thing, from Old English þing, from Proto-West Germanic *þing, from Proto-Germanic *þingą.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Ding (“thing”), West Frisian ting, ding (“thing”), Dutch ding (“thing”), German Low German Ding (“thing”), German Ding (“thing”), Swedish, Danish and Norwegian ting (“thing”), Faroese ting (“parliament, assembly”), Icelandic þing (“congress, assembly”).
The word originally meant "assembly", then came to mean a specific issue discussed at such an assembly, and ultimately came to mean most broadly "an object". Compare Latin rēs, also meaning "legal matter", and same transition from Latin causa (“legal matter”) to "thing" in Romance languages. Modern use to refer to a Germanic assembly is likely influenced by cognates (from the same Proto-Germanic root) like Old Norse þing (“thing”), Danish ting, Swedish ting, and Old High German ding with this meaning.
Senses: examples: text: Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us...
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 1:1:
text: The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you […], "share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.
ref: 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 48:
glosses: That which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept.
glosses: A word, symbol, sign, or other referent that can be used to refer to any entity.
glosses: An individual object or distinct entity.
topics: law
glosses: Whatever can be owned.
topics: law
glosses: Corporeal object.
examples: text: Hold on, let me just grab my things.
glosses: Possessions or equipment; stuff; gear.
examples: text: To go to bed late, to rise late, to breakfast late, to dine late, and to visit late, is to be “quite the thing,” or in good English, which you may understand better than the first phrase, to be in the fashion.
ref: 1802, Anne Ormsby, "Memoirs of a Family in Swisserland", quoted in The Monthly Review, Or, Literary Journal page 45
text: After a slow start it became the thing to do; 'everyone went to see Pbi-Pbi, no one talked of anything but Pbi-Pbi[…]'
ref: 2002, Roger Nichols, The Harlequin Years: Music in Paris 1917-1929, Univ of California Press, →ISBN:
glosses: The latest fad or fashion.
raw_tags: with the
examples: text: Cheek kissing is a French thing; you get used to it after a while.
glosses: A custom or practice.
examples: text: Bacon pie? Is that a thing?
text: Now I don't know how many of those male flight attendants are male lesbians -- you know... (Laughter) Well, it's a thing. I mean, there's a -- it's a -- there's a feminist professor down in Tampa who's discovered a male lesbian
ref: 1993 November 24, The Rush Limbaugh Show (radio), Rush Limbaugh (actor):
text: Frequent statements of the kind “'Race' is not a thing”, “'races,' put simply, do not exist”, “'race' (as each essay subtly shows) simply does not exist” aim to discredit Todorov's claim that a relapse to an ontology of race is at place […]
ref: 2014, Marianna Papastephanou, Torill Strand, Anne Pirrie, Philosophy as a Lived Experience:
text: Clémence would say that his style was normcore before normcore became a thing. She had to admit that she still found him attractive.
ref: 2014, Harper Lin, Croissant Murder:
text: Conservative philosophy, in other words, is, as we say now, a thing and deserves a serious listen.
ref: 2019, Adam Gopnik, A Thousand Small Sanities, Riverrun, published 2019, page 88:
glosses: A genuine concept, entity or phenomenon; something that actually exists (often contrary to expectation or belief).
raw_tags: with a
examples: text: Could you get me a thing of apple juice at the store?
text: I just ate a whole thing of jelly beans.
text: And he invited us all in there and then he kicked the girls out a little bit later and brought me in a couple things of alcohol. And just before he brought in my second bottle of alcohol[…]
ref: 1998 March 24, Geraldo (television):
text: I remember my friend Ben saying in the old days that he would never go to Costco and buy one of those big things of toilet paper[…]
ref: 2011, 1:19:48 from the start, in We Were Here:
text: I came home and ate a whole thing of ice cream.
ref: 2011, Juliette Fay, Deep Down True: A Novel, Penguin, →ISBN:
glosses: A unit or container, usually containing consumable goods.
examples: text: The car looks cheap, but the thing is, I have doubts about its safety.
glosses: A problem, dilemma, or complicating factor.
examples: text: That's the thing: we don't know where he is.
glosses: The central point; the crux.
raw_tags: with the
examples: text: “Oh Gertie it’s true. It’s all true. They’ve got a horrid gash instead of a thrilling thing.”
ref: 1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press, page 150:
glosses: A penis.
examples: text: ‘They reckon she lets her dogs lick her thing.’
ref: 1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 65:
glosses: A vulva or vagina.
examples: text: you poor thing
text: sweet young thing
text: she's a funny old thing, but her heart's in the right place
text: I met a pretty blond thing at the bar
glosses: A living being or creature.
examples: text: Oh yeah, I'm supposed to promote that vision thing.
text: Don’t forget to have Gomez postpone that shooting thing. (in reference to the execution of Fernandez)
ref: 1914, Eugene Gladstone O'Neill, The Movie Man [playscript]
glosses: Used after a noun to refer dismissively to the situation surrounding the noun's referent.
examples: text: it's not really my thing
text: Tool talk [is] not my thing.
ref: 2002, Joss Whedon et al, "Never Leave Me", Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV episode)
text: The Internet isn't my thing. I so much rather talk on the phone.
ref: 2006, Corbin Bleu, interview with Tigerbeat magazine
glosses: That which is favoured; personal preference.
raw_tags: in the negative
used possessively
examples: text: let me do my thing; I'm here doing my thing
text: But I'm just a guy from Missoula, Montana, doing my thing, going down the road like everybody else.
ref: 2006, David Lynch, Catching the Big Fish, Tarcher 2006, "Darkness", p. 91
glosses: One's typical routine, habits, or manner.
raw_tags: used possessively
with "do"
examples: text: In accordance with Old Germanic custom men came to the thing fully armed, [...]
ref: 1974, Jón Jóhannesson, translated by Haraldur Bessason, A History of the Old Icelandic Commonwealth: Íslendinga Saga, page 46:
text: The goðar seem both to have received payment of thing-fararkaup from those who stayed home and at the same time compensated those who went to the thing, and it cannot be seen whether they had any profit from these transactions.
ref: 1974, Jakob Benediktsson, Landnám og upphaf allsherjarríkis, in Saga Íslands, quoted in 1988 by Jesse L. Byock in Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas, and Power, page 85
text: All Icelandic things were skap-thing, meaning that they were governed by established procedure and met at regular legally designated intevals at predetermined meeting places.
ref: 1988, Jesse L. Byock, Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas, and Power, page 59:
glosses: A public assembly or judicial council in a Germanic country.
examples: text: I can screw you in front of everyone. I don't care, we have a thing going on, you know. I love you,” she said.
ref: 2020, David Gomadza, EVELINA: The Alpha:
glosses: A romantic relationship.
examples: text: Are John and Jennifer a thing again? I thought they broke up.
glosses: A romantic couple.
glosses: Alternative form of ting.
examples: text: Look at the nyash on that thing!
glosses: Girl; attractive woman.
Synonyms: sense: referent that can be used to refer to any entity
word: item
sense: referent that can be used to refer to any entity
english: uncountable equivalent
translation: uncountable equivalent
word: stuff
sense: referent that can be used to refer to any entity
word: yoke
sense: penis
word: penis
sense: personal preference
word: predilection
Derived terms: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing
a little learning is a dangerous thing
all good things come to an end
all good things must come to an end
all things being equal
all things come to those who wait
all things considered
all things to all men
all things to all people
a mind is a terrible thing to waste
among other things
and another thing
another thing
any old thing
anything
a thing or two
bad things come in threes
be another thing
be a thing
be one thing
best thing since sliced bread
best thing since sliced pan
big things come in small packages
bright young thing
by the looks of things
chance'd be a fine thing
chance would be a fine thing
close thing
current thing
cute girls doing cute things
done thing
do one's own thing
do one's thing
do the decent thing
do the handsome thing
do the right thing
everything
finer things
first thing
first things first
for another thing
for one thing
good thing
good things come in small packages
good things come in threes
good things come to those who wait
grand scheme of things
greatest thing since sliced bread
have another thing coming
have a thing
have a thing going on
hear things
here's the thing
how are things
how's every little thing
how's things
if it's not one thing it's another
if it's the last thing I do
internet of things
in the nature of things
in the swim of things
just one of those things
last big thing
last thing
last thing one needs
leave things alone
leave things be
let things alone
let things be
living thing
main thing
make a big thing out of
man is the measure of all things
minor thing
near thing
next big thing
next thing one knows
no such thing
nothing
of all things
one of those things
one thing after another
one thing leads to another
one thing led to another
orange bitey thing
over-things
real thing
render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's
said the thing
scheme of things
things
show someone a thing or two
soft thing
something
spell things out
stranger things have happened
sure thing
sweet young thing
swing of things
tea-things
that's the thing
the best things in life are free
the best things in life aren't things
the next best thing
there ain't no such thing as a free lunch
there is no such thing as bad press
there is no such thing as bad publicity
there's no such thing as a free lunch
there's no such thing as a stupid question
these things happen
the shape of things to come
the thing
the thing is
the thing of it
the very thing
the way things are going
they're only after one thing
thick of things
thingal
thingamajig
thinger
thinghood
thing-in-itself
thing is
thinglike
thingly
thingness
thingo
thing of nothing
thing of the past
things that go bump in the night
thing theory
thingy
this is why we can't have nice things
this, that, and the other thing
throw things at the wall and see what sticks
time heals all things
too much of a good thing
unthing
vision thing
wild thing
worse things happen at sea
Related terms: word: thingy
word: thingie
word: thingo [Aus]