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Subject:

Oxford English Dictionary -- Thing 1/2

From:

Ken Friedman <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Mon, 22 Sep 2014 23:51:43 +0200

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text/plain

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Parts/Attachments

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Oxford English Dictionary, noun, Thing

thing, n.1

Pronunciation:

Brit. /θɪŋ/ , U.S. /θɪŋ/

Forms: 

α. eOE ðieng (rare), OE–eME ðing, OE–eME ðyng, OE–ME þing, OE–ME þyng, lOE ðingges (genitive), lOE– thing, eME dingæ (plural, transmission error), eME ðhing, eME þigges (plural, transmission error), eME þimgan (dative plural, transmission error), eME þinȝ, eME þinhes (plural, prob. transmission error), eME þinng (transmission error), eME þring (plural, transmission error), ME dinge (prob. transmission error), ME þenge, ME thenge, ME theyng, ME thieng, ME thying, ME thyngg, ME thyngge, ME þin (transmission error), ME þinge, ME þingge (plural), ME þingges (plural), ME þinghe, ME þingue (south-west.), ME tygh (transmission error), ME tyng, ME þynge, ME þyngge, ME yinge, ME–16 thinge, ME–16 (17–18 arch.) thynge, ME–16 (18 arch.) thyng, lME pynchis (plural, transmission error), lME þeing (transmission error), lME þengges (plural), lME thinggis (plural), lME þinggis (plural), lME þinggus (plural), lME tynge (plural), lME yng, lME–15 thingges (plural), 19– ting (Caribbean); Sc. pre-17 theing, pre-17 theng, pre-17 theyng, pre-17 thinge, pre-17 thyinge, pre-17 thynnge, pre-17 tyng, pre-17 17– thing, pre-17 17– ting (now Shetland and Orkney), pre-17 18 thynge, pre-17 18– thyng, 19– hing, 19– t’ing (Orkney); also Irish English 18 dhing (Wexford), 18– ting.

β. OE dingc (transmission error), OE ðinc, OE ðingc, OE þyncg (rare), OE ðyngc (rare), OE–eME þincg, OE–eME ðincg, OE–eME þingc, OE–ME þinc, eME yink, ME þenke, ME thenke, ME thynck, ME thynk, ME thynke, ME þink, ME þynk, ME–15 think; Sc. pre-17 think, pre-17 thynk, pre-17 tynkgis (plural).

Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian thing , ting court, lawsuit, legal principle, thing, object, event (West Frisian ding object, something not specified by name, large or small example of something, something abstract, business, (euphem.) penis, (plural) affairs in general), Old Dutch thing (Middle Dutch dinc , dync , ding court, jurisdiction, lawsuit, thing in general, occupation, matter, condition, agreement, talk, penis, Dutch ding lawsuit (now obsolete), object, entity, idea, matter, something or somebody not specified by name, genitals, (plural, now regional) clothes, household goods), Old Saxon thing assembly, law court, lawsuit, legal transaction, deed, event, matter, affair, object, thing (Middle Low German dinc , ding court, court-day, meeting, public assembly, conference, negotiation, case, business, matter, possession, event, conditions, something not specified by name, affair, thing, object, (euphem.) penis), Old High German thing , ding , dinc court, court-day, trial, case, assembly, discussion, meeting, council, thing, matter, object, peculiarity, characteristic, circumstance, position, reason, cause (Middle High German dinc thing, legal or administrative assembly, court, legal case, genitals, German Ding assembly, meeting, court, agreement, unspecified event, action, or state, entity, affair, matter, situation, property, means, possessions, being, unspecified illness, genitals, coitus), Old Icelandic þing assembly, meeting, parliament, council, interview, parish (compare Thing n.2), (plural) belongings, articles, valuables, Norwegian ting (neuter) public assembly, court, parliament, creature, being, (masculine) affair, matter, thing, object, property, Old Swedish þing assembly, meeting for legal proceedings (Swedish ting parliament, court, assembly, thing, object, matter), Old Danish thing , ting (Danish ting (neuter) assembly, court, parliament, (common) thing, object, matter), and further with Gothic þeihs occasion, time, probably ultimately < an extended form of the Indo-European base of classical Latin tempus time (see tempo n.1).

With the semantic development of the English word and its cognates, compare that of German Sache , Dutch zaak affair, thing, originally ‘strife, dispute, lawsuit, cause, charge, crime’ (see sake n.1), and French chose , Italian cosa , Spanish cosa thing < classical Latin causa judicial process, lawsuit, cause (see cause n.); compare also classical Latin rēs affair, thing, also ‘a case in law, lawsuit, cause’ (see res n.1).

In Old English a strong neuter; the unchanged plural reflecting this declension survives well into the Middle English period (compare quot. a1500 at sense 8a) in southern English and until the present day in Scots, alongside a new analogical plural in -s . The plural thing , ting in Caribbean usage (compare and thing phr. at Phrases 3b) probably rather reflects a more general tendency in Caribbean English to omit plural inflections.

The β. forms reflect devoicing of the final plosive, attested sporadically in Old English (although forms such as þincg , þingc are ambiguous), and in this word perhaps favoured by the preceding nasal in the group ng .

Attested from the Old English period in place names (in sense 1), as probably e.g. Tingehele , Tingehalle (1086; now Thinghill , Herefordshire), Tingrei (1086; now Tingrith , Bedfordshire), Tingden , Tingdene (1086; now Finedon , Northamptonshire), etc.; in some instances, especially from Danelaw counties and in combination with elements of Scandinavian origin, probably rather reflecting the early Scandinavian cognate.

The forms any thing , every thing , no thing , some thing (in which thing is an unemphatic stressless use of sense 8 or 11), are now written each as one word (see anything pron., n., and adv., everything pron., nothing pron., n., adv., and int., something n. and adv.).

I. A meeting, or the matter or business considered by it, and derived senses.

†1. A meeting, an assembly; esp. a deliberative or judicial assembly, a court, a council. Cf. Thing n.2 Obs.

OE Maxims I 18 Þing sceal gehegan frod wiþ frodne; biþ hyra ferð gelic.

OE Crist III 926 Þonne he frean gesihð ealra gesceafta ondweardne faran mid mægenwundrum mongum to þinge.

OE Andreas (1932) 157 Swa hie symble ymb þritig þing gehedon nihtgerimes.

OE Beowulf (2008) 426 Ond nu [ic] wið Grendel sceal..ana gehegan ðing wið þyrse.

lOE Laws of Hloðhære & Eadric (Rochester) viii. 10 Gif man oþerne sace tihte & he þane mannan mote an medle oþþe an þinge.

a1200 Roger of Hoveden Chron. II. 233 In quibusdam vero provinciis Anglici vocant lede quod isti [Danes] þinge dicunt; Quod quoque in þinges diffiniri non poterat, ferebatur in schiram.

▸a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 180, Þey ben sogette to þinges [L. iudicibus] þat þey chesen of hem self from ȝeere to ȝeere þat releueþ þe comunete among hem.

†2.

a. A cause; spec. a matter brought before a court of law; a charge brought. Obs.

In later use passing into sense 3.

OE King Ælfred tr. Psalms (Paris) (2001) xxxiv. 22 (23) Drihten, min God, aris to minum þinge, and to minre þearfe [L. exsurge et intende iudicio meo Deus meus et Dominus meus in causam meam].

lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Domitian A.viii) anno 1050, Ða gernde se eorl griðes & gisla ðæt he mo[ste] hine betellan at æ[l]c ðara ðinga þe him man on lede.

lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1022, [He] hine þæs ælces þinges geclænsode þe him mann on sæde.

1469 King Edward IV in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 394 Chargeinge yow..to appeare afore the said lords of our councell..there to answeare to such thinges as..by them shall be layde and objected against yow.

1534 T. Cromwell in R. B. Merriman Life & Lett. Cromwell (1902) I. 387 Ye..shall repayre hither to answer unto suche thinges as then shalbe leyed and obiected to you.

1548 Hall’s Vnion: Henry VI f. clj, The duke..sufficiently answered to all thynges to hym obiected.

[1769 J. Pettingal Use & Pract. Juries among Greeks & Romans i. 61 What the Greeks called πραγμα a Cause, the Saxons and Danes called a Thing or litigated Cause; the Lawyers Thingmen, a Judge Thingrave.]

b. Cause, reason, account; sake. Cf. nothing pron., n., adv., and int. Phrases 2d. Obs.

OE St. Euphrosyne (Julius) in W. W. Skeat Ælfric’s Lives of Saints (1900) II. 342 Gif ic nu fare to fæmnena mynstre, þonne secð min fæder me þær, and me þær findað, þonne nimð he me neadunga þanon for mines brydguman þingan.

OE West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) viii. 47 Þæt wif..geswutulude beforan eallum folce for hwylcum þinge heo hit [sc. hys reafes fnæd] æthran.

a1225 MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 67 (MED), Forȝefe ȝe þin sunful efenling, luue him for godes þing.

c1275 (▸?a1216) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) l. 434 Ech wiht is glad formine [read for mine] þinge.

c1330 (▸?a1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) p. 448 Wiltow fiȝt for mi þing?

▸c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Macc. vi. 24 The sonys of oure peple for this thing [L. propter hoc] alieneden hem fro vs.

c1405 (▸c1387–95) Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 278 He woolde the see weere kept for any thyng Bitwixen Myddelburgh and Orewelle.

a1500 Eng. Conquest Ireland (Rawl.) (1896) 9 Robert was a trew man, and for nothyng wold do thynge wher-of he myght be ther-aftyr reprovid of vntrowth.

a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) ii. xvi. sig. K.vv, Alwaye they thought yt doe it [sc. kyll them selfe] they woulde not for no thing.

1581 J. Marbeck Bk. Notes & Common Places 258 But there present he would not bee for nothing.

1711 J. Greenwood Ess. Pract. Eng. Gram. iii. iii. 223, I should have a clearer notion of Quamobrem, if you said it was a Composition of Quam ob rem, i. e. Ob quam rem, for what Thing or Reason.

1818 Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. II. xii. 297 ‘He has done that, they say,’ replied Saddletree, ‘for less thing.’

3.

a. A matter with which one is concerned (in action, speech, or thought); an affair, a business, a concern, a subject. Now usu. in pl.: affairs, matters, circumstances.

In early use sometimes sing. in collective sense.

as things go: see go v. Phrases 3a(b). as things stand: see stand v. 38b. how are things?, how’s things?: see how adv. 2a. state of things: see state of things n..

public thing, thing public: see public adj. and n. Special uses 2.

eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xviii. 129 Sio giornfulnes eorðlicra ðinga abisgað &git [eOE Junius ðæt ondgit].

OE (Mercian) Rushw. Gospels: Matt. xviii. 19 Si duo ex uobis consenserint super terram de omni re quacumque petierint fiet illis: gif twegen eower geþafigaþ on eorþan be ængum þinge swa hwæs swa he gebiddan geweorþe heom.

OE Blickling Homilies 13 Lufian we hine nu..næs no on gesundum þingum anum, ac eac swylce on wiðerweardum þingum.

OE Paris Psalter (1932) cviii. 30 He sylfa gestod on ða swyðran hand, þær he þearfendra þinga teolode.

?c1200 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 8954 Ne þatt me birrþ beon hoȝhefull. Abutenn hise þingess?

?c1200 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 3640 All þiss middell ærdess þing Aȝȝ turrneþþ her & wharrfeþþ. Nu upp nu dun.

a1325 (▸c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2996 To swilc ðing cuðen he non red.

▸a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John’s Cambr.) (1869) II. 131 (MED), Whan kyng Edwyn was i-slawe, and þinges [L. rebus] were destourbed, Paulynus wente þennes by water wey in to Kent.

c1425 (▸c1400) Laud Troy-bk. l. 2724 That thei with Paris to Grece schulde wende, To brynge this thyng to an ende.

1487 (▸a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John’s Cambr.) xx. 142 Quhill thai had wit to steir thar thing.

1524 in B. Cusack Everyday Eng. 1500-1700 (1998) 58 Item to mr comptroller for dyuers thyng boȝth for my ladys & oþer charges..xviijli.

1550 in Acts Privy Council (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.

1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xvi. 154 If ye abase your thing or matter by ignorance or errour in the choise of your word.

a1616 Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iv. v. 115 You shall heare how things goe.

1622 J. Mabbe tr. M. Alemán Rogue i. 11 These things (I meane your Law-suites) will require a great deale of care.

a1625 J. Fletcher Wild-goose Chase (1652) i. i. 4 De G. Well, there is something, Sister. Or. If there be, Brother, ‘Tis none of their things, ‘tis not yet so monstrous; My thing is Mariage.

1743 J. Bulkeley & J. Cummins Voy. to South-seas 190 He acquainted us, that the Brigadier had order’d Things in another Manner.

1776 S. Foote Bankrupt i. 8 Never fear, things are in a very good way.

1843 Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) xii. 158 How have things gone on in our absence?

1867 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. iv. 252 Things changed greatly in the course of a year.

1901 W. B. Yeats Let. early Oct. (1994) III. 117 Come over & help us to stir things up still further.

1955 E. A. Powell Adventure Road xxv. 261 Had things all fixed up to marry the gel secretly, but the priests got wind of it.

1998 National Geographic Dec. 45/2 Common sense, or the ability to make money, arrange things, and get things done.

b. 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.

1967 N.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.’

1983 M. Mackie Exploring Gender Relations v. 150 Similarity provides a basis for shared activities, in this case, doing ‘boy things’ or ‘girl things’.

1991 J. 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.

1993 Vibe 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.

1997 K. 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.

2002 U.S. News & World Rep. 21 Jan. 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.

4.

a. That which is done or to be done; a deed, an act, a transaction. Also: that which occurs; an event, an occurrence, an incident; a fact, a circumstance, an experience.

worse things happen at sea: see worse things happen at sea at sea n. 10c.

OE tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Vitell.) (1984) xix. 64 Drince [þ]onne fæstende n[igon da]gas, [bin]nan [þ]am fæce þu on[gyt]st on þam wun[d]orlic ðingc.

OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) ix. 5 Nu to merigen deð Drihten þas þing [L. uerbum istud] on eorðan.

OE West Saxon Gospels: Mark (Corpus Cambr.) x. 21 An þing þe is wana: gesyle eall þæt ðu age & syle hit þearfum.

c1275 (▸?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 8006 Leofue freond Merling, sæie me of þan þinge þe me to cumen sonden.

c1275 (▸?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 135 Vnder-ȝetene weren þe þinges Þat þeo wimon was mid childe.

▸c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Cor. xvi. 14 Be alle ȝoure thingis don in charite.

1449 in Cal. Proc. Chancery Queen Elizabeth (1830) II. Pref. 55 In witnes of which thyng the forseid parties to these endentures chaungeable haue sette her seales.

1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Chron. II. clxxxvi. f. ccxxxii/2, It was a thyng prepensed by false traytours, to put the realme to trouble.

1574 J. Baret Aluearie P 730 To Prouide that a thing happen not. Præcaueo.

1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iii. xl. 252 When two of them Prophecyed in the Camp, it was thought a new and unlawfull thing.

1685 W. Stanley Disc. Devot. Ch. Rome 63 We take care that all these things be performed in a due measure, proportionably to the strength of the Person, and the Nature and Design of the Duty.

1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 284. ⁋4, I hate writing, of all Things in the World.

?1768–9 Encycl. Brit. (1771) I. 583/1 He shall find his thoughts so much embarassed and over-charged, by attending at once to so many different things as occur here.

1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas I. i. xvii. 164 Have not I done the thing genteelly?

1841 A. Helps On Pract. Wisdom in Ess. (1842) 4 Men who have done great things in the world.

1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 512 Theft is a mean, and robbery a shameless thing.

1930 B. Johnston Let. 1 June in Lett. Home 1926–1945 (1998) 47 The best thing you could do would be to park the car and come up to Upper Club.

1958 Economist 22 Mar. 1006/1 A hydrogen-bomb war would be an unspeakably terrible thing.

2002 Community Care 18 July 19/3 There are things happening in Peterborough that might not be happening in Chelsea.

b. colloq. A significant, notable, or sensational circumstance. In later use esp. in to make a thing about (also of) (colloq.): to preoccupy oneself greatly with (a matter); to make an issue out of, or exaggerate the importance of (something). Cf. something n. 4a, 4c.

1813 J. Austen Pride & Prejudice III. x. 188 It would have been such a thing for me! The quiet, the retirement of such a life, would have answered all my ideas of happiness!

1850 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Times (Electronic text) 8 Aug., It was quite a thing for me to be in Boston and on Bunker Hill, and to see the sea.

1863 M. Oliphant Salem Chapel I. xii. 204 Oh, what a thing for me, Arthur, that you are grown up and a man, and able to do what is right in such a dreadful difficulty as this!

1934 E. 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.

1952 E. Grierson Reputation for Song (1955) 22 Steady on, Laura... Don’t let’s make a thing of it.

1954 Times 25 May 3/2 It was quite a thing to be a member of Parliament.

1973 Ada (Oklahoma) Evening News 7 Mar. 6/2 President Nixon made something of a thing about reductions in his personal staff.

1993 V. Sage Mirror for Larks 14 The TV was making a thing of it, interviewing everyone they could find and calling it a concerted wave of néo-nazisme.

c. colloq. With preceding noun, noun phrase, or adjective: the matter or business which pertains to or is associated with the specified place, phenomenon, etc.

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.

1909 St. 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.

1930 Chicago Tribune 9 Nov. ii. 3/7 All of us would like to help a pal in any emergency... But on the ticket thing: Ixnay! Ixnay!

1955 F. O’Connor Let. 18 May in Habit of Being (1980) 82, I will be real glad when this television thing is over with.

1968 T. Wolfe Electric Kool-aid Acid Test i. 13 Thousands of kids were moving into San Francisco for a life based on LSD and the psychedelic thing.

1982 H. Engel Murder on Location 145 Where have you been? I’ve been trying to get you since this Miranda thing broke.

2003 T3 Mar. 32/1 There’s an FM/MW tuner inside to pick up any slowcoaches who haven’t cottoned on to the digital thing yet.

d. colloq. With possessive adjective: a person’s particular interest, speciality, or talent. Freq. in negative contexts.

1936 G. B. Stern Monogram 204 If pottery’s your thing. Mountains are not my thing. The sea is my thing.

1951 ‘M. Innes’ Operation Pax vi. vi. 285 Roof-climbing used to be one of my things, rather.

1991 A. Huth Invitation 72 You know how it is. I’m not into ironing. It’s not my thing.

e. colloq. A preoccupation, obsession, or neurosis (about something); a predilection or passion for something or someone. Freq. in to have a thing about .

1936 ‘J. Tey’ Shilling for Candles xix. 201 You got a ‘thing’ about astrology?

1938 D. Smith Dear Octopus ii. i. 59 It’s one of my things like turning bath-taps off.

1940 N. Mitford Pigeon Pie ii. 25, I nearly fainted. I can’t bear knees, I’ve got a thing about them.

1967 T. 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.

1988 G. Swift Out of this World 80 She was an independent girl with a thing about older..men.

1994 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 19 June 19/5 Sally Beaumann clearly has a thing for fat books.

2006 Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) Aug. 229/2 I’d had a thing for my friend Jon since I’d met him two years earlier, but because we were part of a group of friends, we’d done nothing more than flirt.

f. colloq. A love affair, a romance; esp. in to have a thing (with a person) .

1959 P. D. Cummins tr. D. Dolci Rep. from Palermo (U.S. ed.) 136 One of my pals..found out he was having a thing with a gorgeous blonde.

1967 M. 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.’

1978 ‘R. Lewis’ Uncertain Sound v. 128, I know Sandy Kyle, had a thing going with her.

2005 J. Weiner Goodnight Nobody xxviii. 238 Phil and Lisa had indeed been having a thing, but it had ended..after Lisa had gotten herself saved at some sort of campus rally and turned her life over to Jesus.

5.

a. That which is stated or expressed in speech, writing, etc.; a saying, an utterance, an expression, a statement.

Used with various connotations, e.g.: a charge or accusation made against a person (cf. sense 2a); †a form of prayer (pl. prayers, devotions) (obs.); a story, a tale; a witty saying, a jest (see also good thing n. 2); a part or section of an argument or discourse.

OE Ælfric Homily (Cambr. Ii.4.6) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1967) I. 348 Fela þing he sæde syððan his apostolum, æfter his æriste, þe hi ær ne mihton eaðe understandan.

a1225 (▸c1200) Vices & Virtues 71 (MED), Maniȝe gode þinges ðu hafst iherd and ilierned.

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 103 Huanne ich zigge ‘þet þou art ine heuene’, ich zigge tuo þing: þet he is kyng and þet he is at paradis.

a1400 (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 990/375* In alle thinkez þat þe prophetz han spoken.

c1405 (▸c1390) Chaucer Pardoner’s Prol. & Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 37 Lat hym telle vs of no ribawdye Tel vs som moral thyng.

c1405 (▸c1390) Chaucer Shipman’s Tale (Hengwrt) (1978) l. 1281 Daun Iohn..hath hise thynges [sc. prayers, offices] seyd, ful curteisly.

a1480 (▸c1450) Barlaam & Iosaphat (Peterhouse) (1986) 6 (MED), Y shal ȝeue þe an answere of al þynge þat þou wylt aske of me.

a1500 (▸1428) in C. Monro Lett. Margaret of Anjou (1863) 43, I can not remembre me that ever I wrote to yow any thing that shulde cause my saide lorde of Warrewyk to be thus displesed towardes my personne.

1551 T. Wilson Rule of Reason sig. Kiiij, This man is no rethoricien, because he cannot place his thynges in good ordre.

1570 T. Wilson tr. Demosthenes 3 Orations iii. 63 That thing which I shall say, though it seeme against the opinion of all men: yet it shal be true for all that.

1638 in Acts Gen. Assembly Church of Scotl. (1843) 2 He appointed the day following, to any to object any thing they could say.

1686 tr. J. Chardin Trav. Persia 122 The first thing she said to me.

1738 Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 34, I never heard a better Thing.

1772 Ann. Reg. 1771 Misc. Ess. 184/2 This Greek spoke many handsome things of Marseilles, and of our colonies.

1775 A. Adams in Familiar Lett. (1876) 115, I have written many things to you that..I never could have talked.

1812 Scott Let. 20 Dec. (1932) III. 205 When you have twenty things to tell it is better to be slatternly than tedious.

1859 G. A. Sala Twice round Clock (1861) 132 The people who went about saying things.

1882 Cent. Mag. Feb. 622/2 If people who write essays about Emerson..would only stop saying fine things about him and tell us what he means.

1909 Nation 3 Apr. 13/2 The right thing will say itself—and will say itself with awful precision.

1922 M. A. von Arnim Enchanted April 16 ‘She shouldn’t say things like that,’ thought Mrs Arbuthnot. ‘The vicar—’ Yet she felt strangely stirred.

1961 J. Carew Last Barbarian 38 He was never at a loss for the right thing to say.

2005 A. Smith Accidental 37 He says things like well cool, quality, quite dodgy really.

b. That which is thought; a thought, an idea; a notion; a belief, an opinion.

OE Ælfric Homily (Cambr. Ii.4.6) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1967) I. 480 Þu eart æðele lareow on Israhela þeode, and ðu þas þing nast?

OE tr. Felix St. Guthlac (Vesp.) (1909) ii. 109 Þa gelamp sume niht, mid þam þe he com of farendum wege, and he hys þa werigan lima reste, and he menig þing mid his mode þohte, ða wæs he færinga mid godes ege onbryrd.

a1300 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 19 (MED), Wanne i ðenke ðinges ðre ne mai hi neure bliðe ben.

a1413 (▸c1385) Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1882) iv. l. 158 Þan þought he þynges tweye.

a1500 (▸c1410) Dives & Pauper (Hunterian) (1976) i. 274 (MED), Þynke heuenely þingis.

1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. I. i. i. sig. A.j/2, I will..lay foorthe vnto you..those things, which a godly man ought to thinke.

1601 A. Dent Plaine Mans Path-way to Heauen 31 A foole beleeueth euery thing, that Copper is Golde, and a Counter an Angell.

1681 Arraignm.,Tryal & Condemnation S. Colledge 132 ‘Tis a strange sort of thing to believe..that he should fall a damning and sinking against Colledge.

1736 W. Popple Double Deceit v. 71 Tho’ I owe you no Justification, that basely can believe so vile a thing of me, yet I owe it to myself.

1762 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. i. vi. 71 With equal reason, we may infer the same thing of earth.

1842 Tennyson Dora in Poems (new ed.) II. 35 Mary sat..and thought Hard things of Dora.

1885 ‘F. Anstey’ Tinted Venus i. 8 Putting things in the poor girl’s head.

1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 14/3 Don’t think such things. They couldn’t put Lafe in a wicked death-chair—they couldn’t.

1970 A. K. Armah Fragments (1974) 160, I was knocked flat hearing that Production Assistant talk about the things he believed.

1991 ‘C. Fremlin’ Dangerous Thoughts x. 78 You know, Mum, what Dad’s like when he gets things into his head! Worries them to pieces like a terrier.

6.

a. a thing (without qualifying word or expression): (in indefinite sense) anything, something. Now rare (chiefly regional in later use).

Formerly also without article.

▸a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1963) 1 Kings xiv. 12 Steȝeth vp to vs & wee schul shewen ȝou a thyng.

a1400 (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 14952 (MED), Þai wil me neuer luue, i-wiss, For thing i mai þam tell.

1483 (▸1413) Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) iv. xxv. f. lxxv, Neuer ne dyde he body thyng withouten thyn assent.

c1500 Melusine (1895) 24, I pray you to telle it to me, yf it is thinge that I may knowe.

1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Chron. II. lxxxvi. [lxxxii.] 255 They neuer dyd thynge that they wolde haue ben gladder.

1598 Shakespeare Love’s Labour’s Lost v. i. 138 Shall I tell you a thing?

1664 J. Wilson Cheats sig. A4, Nor let the sisters pule,—(I’ll tell y’ a thing) He may be libb’d, and yet have left, a string.

1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim’s Progress i. 142 Ho, turn aside hither, and I will shew you a thing.

1831 T. C. Grattan Jacqueline of Holland I. iii. 60 I’ll tell you a thing, Bishop Zweder; you know as little of the bold candour of chivalry as this English earl does of the guile of priestcraft.

1863 J. S. Le Fanu House by Churchyard III. iv. 33 Well, then, Moggy Sullivan and Elizabeth Burke, harkee both, while I tell you a thing.

1939 E. Sheehy God send Sunday 27 ‘Ma, Ma, don’t mind that. Let me tell you a thing.’ ‘Don’t talk to me. I’m going to bed.’

b. In negative contexts, following indefinite article: anything.

Freq. used emphatically.

1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews II. viii. 236 The sweetest, best-temper’d Boy, who never did a thing to offend me.

1844 R. W. Emerson New Eng. Reformers in Ess. 2nd Ser. 282 We are shut up in schools, and colleges, and recitation-rooms, for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bag of wind, a memory of words, and do not know a thing.

1881 W. E. Norris Matrimony I. i. 17 It gave him the jumps to that extent that he couldn’t eat a thing afterwards.

1929 R. S. Lynd & H. M. Lynd Middletown xx. 330, I can’t see that loyalty to the church accomplishes a thing.

1956 M. Dickens Angel in Corner (1960) 169, I haven’t done a thing all day, and I’m as tired as a dog.

1992 USA Today (Nexis) 18 May 2 d, Little annoyances don’t mean a thing, not a thing.

2001 National Geographic Adventure Jan. 90/1 The snow..created a wave around me that swept over my head. I couldn’t see a thing.

7. colloq. With the.

a. In predicative use: the relevant or correct thing; that which is proper, requisite, befitting, or fashionable (in later use chiefly with modifying word or phrase, as just the thing, the thing to do , etc.). Also, with reference to a person: the embodiment or epitome of stylishness, fitness (physical or otherwise), good condition, etc.; on good form, up to the mark (now somewhat arch.). Freq. in negative contexts.

the done thing: see done adj.1 and n. Phrases 1. the very thing: see very adj. 10d.

1734 Pope Ess. Man iv. 58 Condition, Circumstance is not the thing: Bliss is the same, in Subject or in King.

1752 G. A. Stevens Distress upon Distress p. x, Cæsar had certainly something smart about him: Mark Anthony was a very jemmy Fellow, and Cleopatra quite the Thing to be sure.

1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World II. 55 [The silk] is at once rich, tastey, and quite the thing.

1775 F. Burney Jrnl. 3 Apr. in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1990) II. 101 Mr. Bruce was quite the Thing; he addressed himself with great gallantry to us all alternately.

1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1781 II. 381 [Johnson] Why, Sir, a Bishop’s calling company together in this week [sc. Passion Week], is, to use the vulgar phrase, not the thing.

1832 J. Romilly Diary 20 Sept. (1967) 19 Better today: tho not quite the thing: dined at home.

1845 C. Winterfield Adventures on Frontier Texas & Mexico in American Rev. Nov. 507 Confess it frankly—at even a rough sketch of a hero so exquisitely ‘just the thing’—that the delicious fluttering tumult at your hearts has waked.

1854 C. M. Yonge Heartsease I. ii. i. 115 And how are you? You don’t look quite the thing.

1864 G. Meredith Emilia in Eng. I. xix. 290 Wilfrid took his arm and put it gently down on the chair, saying: ‘You’re not quite the thing to-day, sir.’

1867 Galaxy 15 Jan. 205 Should sorrow o’er thy brow Its darkened shadow fling, Go buy a hat of Jiggles—You’ll find it just the thing.

1874 Times 1 June 11/5 Mont Blanc became the thing to do.

1897 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 12 Jan. 5/1 They are used in the long gold chains which are so pre-eminently the thing.

1901 ‘L. Malet’ Hist. Richard Calmady v. vii, I am not quite the thing this morning.

1912 W. G. Beymer On Hazardous Service 219 But here’s the thing: us scouts risked our lives to deliver those messages.

1921 Idaho Yarn 16 Sept. 6/1 It is evident to all hands that our bugle squad is about ‘the’ thing. They have all sorts of ‘pep’ and are delivering the goods.

1952 M. Kennedy Troy Chimneys 6 He seems to have been very much the thing, an M.P. and all that, went everywhere, knew everybody, and cut quite a dash.

1986 P. Leigh Fermor Between Woods &Water (1988) v. 112 ‘She’s not feeling quite the thing,’ the Count said.

1993 L. Colwin More Home Cooking xxiii. 118 Every once in a while an old-fashioned picnic is just the thing.

2005 FHM Jan. 241/3 Ponchos are the thing to wear in bird-world this season.

b. The special, important, or notable point; esp. that which is specially required; (more generally) that which is to be considered, the truth or the facts of the matter (esp. in the thing is (that) … , used to draw attention to a following statement; also in here’s (also that’s) the thing , drawing attention to either a preceding or a following statement.

1748 S. Richardson Clarissa V. x. 55 But here’s the thing;—I have given her cause enough of offence, but not enough to make her hold her tongue.

1787 County Mag. July 304/1 The Grand Messiah chiefly we will sing, Thy tunes bring home the test, and that’s the thing.

1818 T. Moore Mem. (1856) VIII. 248 Saleability is the thing with the booksellers.

1850 Thackeray Pendennis II. xxxvii. 364 But he has got the rowdy, which is the thing.

1873 M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma Pref. p. xi, The question [of a state church]..is..so absolutely unimportant! The thing is, to recast religion.

1892 J. A. Symonds Life Michelangelo (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.

1909 Harper’s Monthly Mag. Nov. 857/1 But here’s the thing: us scouts risked our lives to deliver those messages.

1915 J. Galsworthy Freelands xxiv. 250 Look here, old man, the thing is, of course, to see it in proportion.

1959 D. Lessing Each in his Own Wilderness 19 You see, the thing is, people have no imagination. You’ve got to rub their nose in it.

1971 C. 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.

1978 R. Yates Good School iii. 59 And he was sort of smiling at me—that’s the thing; if he hadn’t been smiling I wouldn’t have said it.

1986 D. J. Steffensmeier Fence viii. 171 Here’s the thing, even your good thief spends money something fierce—easy come, easy go.

2007 J. Mansell Thinking of You xxxiii. 233 The thing is, you call them beautiful girls in bikinis. I call them a bunch of old slappers.

II. An entity of any kind.

8. 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; an entity, a being. (Including persons, in contexts where personality is not significant.)

a. In unemphatic use. Usu. modified by an adjective, or other defining word or phrase.

the (four) last things: see last adj. 2c, 9a(b). main thing: see main adj.2 5c. no such thing: see such adj. and pron. 27c. thing of nought: see nought pron. 3b. thing of the past: see past n. 1a. (that or this) sort of thing: see sort n.2 10. thing of nothing: see nothing pron. and n. 3b.

eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) xxxiii. 76 Þonne þa fif þing..eall gegadorede bioð, þonne bið hit eall an þing, & þæt an ðing bið God.

?c1200 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 1839 Niss nani þing þatt muȝhe ben Wiþþ godd off efenn mahhte.

c1275 Kentish Serm. in J. Hall Select. Early Middle Eng. (1920) I. 216 (MED), Wer-bi we moue hatie þo ileke þinges þet he hatedh..and luuie þo ilek þinkes þat he luued.

a1300 (▸?OE) Royal Charter: Edward the Confessor to Church of St. Benet of Holme (Sawyer 1055) in J. Conway Davies Chartae Antiquae Rolls 11–20 (1960) 83 On eallweldandes drihtnes namen þe ealle þing geworhte and him seluum to anwelde hyld, and seld þam þe his willa is.

a1400 (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 695 Ilkin thing, on serekin wise Ȝeld til adam þar seruise.

a1425 (▸c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Psalms cxlviii. 6 He seide, and thingis weren maad; he comaundide, and thingis weren maad of nouȝt [L. quia ipse dixit, et facta sunt: ipse mandavit, et creata sunt].

?a1450 (▸?c1400) Lay Folks’ Catech. (Lamb.) 35 Þer ys but O god in trinite... This god is most myȝty þyng þat may be.

a1500 (▸?a1425) Antichrist (Peniarth) in R. M. Lumiansky & D. Mills Chester Myst. Cycle (1974) I. App. 499 (MED), All thinge I made thrugh my myght, son and mone, day and nyght.

1529 T. More Dialogue Heresyes iv, in Wks. 264/1 The fire can..burne al combustible thinges that it may towch.

1549 H. Latimer 2nd Serm. before Kynges Maiestie (new ed.) 5th Serm. sig. Ri, All thynges are solde for mony [printed many] at rome.

1594 1st Pt. Raigne Selimus sig. A3v, He knowes not what it is to be a King, That thinks a scepter is a pleasant thing.

1600 Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 v. v. 56 Presume not that I am the thing I was.

1667 Milton Paradise Lost ii. 921 To compare Great things with small.

1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron I. i. xi. 39 A Man of parts is one thing, and a Pedant another.

1788 J. Milner in M. Milner Life I. Milner (1842) iv. 44 Regencies are generally turbulent things.

1818 Keats Endymion i. 3 A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.

1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. 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.

1880 T. Hardy Fellow-townsmen v. 44 The triangular situation—himself, his wife, Lucy Savile—was the one clear thing.

1906 E. Wharton Let. 14 Aug. (1988) 107 We found Auvergne, in some respects, the most interesting thing we had seen in France.

1936 C. Day Lewis Friendly Tree vi. 80 That was one thing which had not died on her—the love of birds.

1990 A. N. Wilson C. S. Lewis v. 87 Their friendship had remained a thing of pure neighbourliness, without blossoming into any sort of spiritual or intellectual intimacy.

b. An attribute, quality, or property of an actual being or entity. Also: a point, a particular, a respect (chiefly in qualifying phrases, as in all things, etc.).

OE Blickling Homilies 13 Þa wæs heo on eallum þingum þe eaþmoddre.

a1225 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 15 Ðre þing ben þat elch man habben mot..þat on is rihte bileue, þat oðer is fulohtninge, þe þridde þe faire liflode.

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 194 Þe oþer þing þet behoueþ ine elmesse is, þet me hit do zone and hasteliche.

a1400 (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 292 In þe sune..Es a thing and thre thinges sere; A bodi round, hote, and light, Þir thre we find all at a sight.

?1520 A. Barclay tr. Sallust Cron. Warre agaynst Iugurth xxxvi. f. 50, Their ennemies myght lytell thyng preuayle agaynst them.

1558 J. Knox First Blast f. 26, Augustine defineth ordre to be that thing, by the whiche God hath appointed and ordeined all thinges.

1627 M. Drayton Moone-calfe in Battaile Agincovrt 165 In euery thing she must be monstrous: Her Picadell aboue her crowne vp-beares; Her Fardingale is set aboue her eares.

c1660 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1644 (1955) II. 235 The whit[e]nesse & smothnesse of the excellent pargeting was a thing I much observed.

1724 J. Scrope Let. 10 Apr. in I. Newton Corr. (1977) VII. 272 Depute some person..to inspect and see that the said Coynage be in all things conformable to the said Patent.

1825 E. Bulwer-Lytton Falkland 8, I could wish..that this simile were in all things correct.

1867 M. E. Herbert Cradle Lands iii. 93 The most curious thing about this fountain is the irregular flow of the water.

1937 Better Homes & Gardens Mar. 48/2 Another thing wrong with a great many baby showers, besides the sameness of the gifts, is the sameness of the party itself.

1960 J. Barth Sot-weed Factor ii. xxvii. 408 The surest thing about Justice, Truth, and Beauty is that they live not in the world, but as transcendent entities.

2002 enRoute (Air Canada) July 77/1 The only thing fancy about the school where I ended up was its name.

c. Used indefinitely to denote something which the speaker or writer is not able or does not choose to particularize, or which is incapable of being precisely described. Cf. something n. 5b.

a1325 (▸?c1300) Northern Passion (Cambr. Gg.1.1) l. 275 Angeles let him þer se Moni tokninges of priuete..þar he sachȝ manie a selkouȝ þing.

c1405 (▸c1395) Chaucer Summoner’s Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 435 Bynethe my buttok ther shaltow fynde A thyng that I haue hyd in pryuetee.

a1450 (▸a1401) Chastising of God’s Children (Bodl.) (1957) 169 (MED), Þe firste is clepid a corporal vision..whanne any bodili þing bi þe ȝift of god is shewid to a mans bodili siȝt.

1603 Shakespeare Hamlet i. i. 19 What hath this thing appear’d againe to night.

1717 J. Gay Three Hours after Marriage iii. 71 Let him come in. One of my Retale Indian Merchants, I suppose, that always brings me some odd Thing.

1807 Wordsworth To Cuckoo iv, in Poems II. 58 No Bird; but an invisible Thing, A voice, a mystery.

1842 Tennyson Walking to Mail in Poems (new ed.) II. 48 ‘Yes, we’re flitting,’ says the ghost, (For they had pack’d the thing among the beds).

1893 R. L. Stevenson Catriona xv. 173 Wi’ the bang and the skirl the thing had clean disappeared.

1920 E. Wharton Age of Innocence ii. xxiii. 236 He drew out a note-case and one of the new stylographic pens. ‘I’ve even got an envelope... There—steady the thing on your knee, and I’ll get the pen going in a second.’

1991 R. R. McCammon Boy’s Life iii. ii. 223 That thing got on my roof last night and neither me nor Ellen could sleep a wink for all the racket it was makin’! The thing even did its business all over my car!

d. Chiefly Philos. 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 sense 14.

thing in itself: see Phrases 11.

1817 S. T. Coleridge Biogr. Lit. I. xii. 267 An infinite independent thing, is no less a contradiction, than an infinite circle or a sideless triangle.

1820 Byron Marino Faliero v. i. 288 True words are things, And dying men’s are things which long outlive, And often times avenge them.

1862 H. Spencer First Princ. i. iii. §15. 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.

1884 tr. H. Lotze 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.

1910 Christie in Contemp. Rev. Feb. 194 ‘Things’..are, as Lotze tried to show, but the activities of the One everlasting Spirit.

1972 Philos. & Phenomenol. Res. 33 199 The issue as to whether things are something ‘over and above’ their properties, or are simply ‘bundles’ of properties.

e. Freq. with capital initial. A particular supernatural or other dreadful monster. Also in extended use.

1822 Byron Heaven & Earth i. iii, Thou..awful Thing of Shadows, speak to me!

1888 R. Kipling Smith Admin. (1891) 64 The burning-ghât, where a man was piling logs on some Thing that lay wrapped in white cloth.

1896 B. Mitford Sign of Spider xxvii. 274 The fearful Thing..shoggled away in the direction whence it had come.

1954 L. 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.

1991 Esquire Jan. 34/2 A tube would be passed down my throat into my lung to get as close as possible to the Thing.

f. colloq. Used vaguely, with a preceding noun used appositively or as a more general indication of the kind of object or entity in question.

1868 L. M. Alcott Little Women I. iv. 66 She drew a picture of Mr. Davis, with..the words ‘Young ladies, my eye is upon you!’ coming out of his mouth in a balloon thing.

1932 Punch 21 Dec. 692 (caption) Look, Henry, I’ve just discovered a funny lever thing. I wonder if it works a secret panel somewhere.

1979 B. Bainbridge Another Part of Wood iv. 44 I’m making a rice thing for lunch.

1998 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Jrnl. Sentinel (Nexis) 5 Aug., Lexus has a new wagon, er, sport-utility truck, er, thing.

9. A living organism; an animal or plant. Usu. with modifying word, as living thing, growing thing, etc.

eOE Bald’s Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) i. lxxii. 146 Blodlæs is to forganne fiftyne nihtum ær hlafmæsse..forþon þonne ealle æterno þing fleogaþ & mannum swiðe deriað.

OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) vii. 22 Ælc ðingc ðe lif hæfde wearð adyd on ðam deopan flode.

a1250 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 40 Godes riche..þer ne mei..non liuiinde þing woc þer nis ne ȝeomer.

c1300 (▸?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) l. 12804 He saide þat þar was icome a luþer þing to londe..a wel loþliche feond.

1372 in E. Wilson Descriptive Index Lyrics John of Grimestone’s Preaching Bk. (1973) 26 (MED), Man is but a frele þing Fro þe time of is genning.

a1400 (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 385 (MED), Alkin things grouand sere..in þam self þaire seding bere.

▸?1440 tr. Palladius De Re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) i. 935 For eddris, spritis, monstris, thyng of drede.

1556 J. Heywood Spider & Flie i. 2 What time euery growing thinge That ripeth by roote, hath liuely taken hart.

1580 J. Frampton tr. N. Monardes Bk. Medicines agaynst Venome in Ioyfull Newes f. 138, Least any venomous thing fall therein, as spyders.

1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. ii. 71 Noah..sau’d a seed-pay’r of all liuing things.

1667 Milton Paradise Lost ix. 194 When all things that breath,..send up silent praise To the Creator.

1708 J. Oldmixon Brit. Empire in Amer. I. 93 Of Creeping things, besides those in common with other Places on the Continent of America, the Rattle-snake is the most noted and dangerous.

1796 J. Aikin & A. L. Barbauld Evenings at Home VI. 125 Where it [sc. heat] most prevails,..nature is most replenished with all sorts of living and growing things.

1820 Shelley Prometheus Unbound i. i. 34, I wish no living thing to suffer pain.

1858 G. Glenny Gardener’s Everyday Bk. 120/1 Nemophila, Coreopsis, and other free-growing things.

1905 F. Treves Other Side of Lantern ii. xvii. 115 A common of worn earth from which a million feet have scuffed whatever living thing has grown upon it.

1920 E. Wharton Let. 26 Dec. (1988) 437 My terraces were just beginning to be full of bursting sprouting things.

1981 N. Bawden Walking Naked (1993) iii. 117 Andrew is frightened of maggots and crawling things and of being shut in.

2004 U.S. News & World Rep. 12 Apr. 38/1 On Earth, most methane..comes from living things, such as the microbe-rich goop in swamps.


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