thing Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a special situation
    • this thing has got to end
    • it is a remarkable thing
  2. noun an action
    • how could you do such a thing?
  3. noun a special abstraction
    • a thing of the spirit
    • things of the heart
  4. noun an artifact
    • how does this thing work?
  5. noun an event
    • a funny thing happened on the way to the...
  6. noun a vaguely specified concern
    matter; affair.
    • several matters to attend to
    • it is none of your affair
    • things are going well
  7. noun a statement regarded as an object
    • to say the same thing in other terms
    • how can you say such a thing?
  8. noun an entity that is not named specifically
    • I couldn't tell what the thing was
  9. noun any attribute or quality considered as having its own existence
    • the thing I like about her is ...
  10. noun a special objective
    • the thing is to stay in bounds
  11. noun a persistent illogical feeling of desire or aversion
    • he has a thing about seafood
    • she has a thing about him
  12. noun a separate and self-contained entity

WordNet

Thing noun
Etymology
AS. þing a thing, cause, assembly, judicial assembly; akin to þingan to negotiate, þingian to reconcile, conciliate, D. ding a thing, OS. thing thing, assembly, judicial assembly, G. ding a thing, formerly also, an assembly, court, Icel. þing 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. þeihs time, perhaps akin to L. tempus time. Cf. Hustings, and Temporal of time.
Definitions
  1. Whatever exists, or is conceived to exist, as a separate entity, whether animate or inanimate; any separable or distinguishable object of thought.
    God made . . . every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind. Gen. i. 25.
    He sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt. Gen. xiv. 23.
    A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Keats.
  2. An inanimate object, in distinction from a living being; any lifeless material.
    Ye meads and groves, unsonscious things! Cowper.
  3. A transaction or occurrence; an event; a deed.
    [And Jacob said] All these things are against me. Gen. xlii. 36.
    Which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. Matt. xxi. 24.
  4. A portion or part; something.
    Wieked men who understand any thing of wisdom. Tillotson.
  5. A diminutive or slighted object; any object viewed as merely existing; -- often used in pity or contempt.
    See, sons, what things you are! Shak.
    The poor thing sighed, and . . . turned from me. Addison.
    I'll be this abject thing no more. Granville.
    I have a thing in prose. Swift.
  6. pl. Clothes; furniture; appurtenances; luggage; as, to pack or store one's things. Colloq. ✍ Formerly, the singular was sometimes used in a plural or collective sense.
    And them she gave her moebles and her thing. Chaucer.
    ✍ 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.
    In the garden [he] walketh to and fro, And hath his things [i. e., prayers, devotions] said full courteously. Chaucer.
    Hearkening his minstrels their things play. Chaucer.
  7. (Law) Whatever may be possessed or owned; a property; -- distinguished from person.
  8. In Scandinavian countries, a legislative or judicial assembly. Longfellow.

Webster 1913