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PHD-DESIGN  September 2014

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Subject:

Oxford English Dictionary -- Thing 2/2

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 23:52:15 +0200

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10. Used of a human being or person. Cf. creature n. 2a, 2c.

a. Without qualification. In later use only in contempt or reproach, usu. suggesting unworthiness to be called a person (cf. sense 15). Now rare.

OE Ælfric Old Test. Summary: Kings (Julius) in W. W. Skeat Ælfric’s Lives of Saints (1881) I. 406 Þa het Hieu him to gebringan þæra æðelinga heafdu ealle þæs on mergen, and he acwealde siððan ælc þincg ðæs cynnes.

c1275 (▸?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 139 Witen he wolde..wat þing hit were þat þeo wimon hefde on wombe.

1598 Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 iii. iii. 115 Go you thing, go.

a1616 Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iii. ii. 56 Reuenge it on him, (for I know Thou dar’st) But this Thing dare not.

1631 Bp. J. Hall Occas. Medit. (ed. 2) (2nd state) §cxxx, What can wee make of this thing (Man I cannot call him)?

1691 J. Dunton Voy. round World III. i. 16 He [sc. Mark Antony] lost the World for a Cleopatra, a Woman, a thing in Petticoats.

1758 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 8 Nov. (1967) III. 187 By what accident they have fallen into the hands of that thing Dodsley I know not.

1860 J. L. Motley Hist. United Netherlands I. ii. 37 To accept the sovereignty of a thing like Henry of Valois.

1928 W. Deeping Old Pybus xix. 215 To them she was not a fastidious, self-created, individual woman, but a thing in petticoats, a pair of hands, a pair of legs.

b. With modifying word or clause. In later use chiefly in contempt, pity, or affection; formerly also in commendation or honour.

bright young thing: see bright adj. 7b (dear) old thing: see old thing n. 1.

c1225 (▸?c1200) St. Katherine (Bodl. 34) (1981) 10 (MED), Se ȝung þing as ha wes, hwet hit mahte geinin þah heo hire ane were aȝein se kene keiser?

c1275 (▸?a1216) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) 1335 (MED), Þu liest iwis, þu fule þing.

c1300 St. Lucy (Laud) 150 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 105 Ȝwan he ne miȝhte þis clene þing [sc. St Lucy] ouer-come mid al is lore.

c1330 (▸?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 6482 Þe kinges steward..wedded þat swete þing.

a1400 (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 7285 Samuel..was a selcuth dughti thing, Þe first þat smerld man to king.

a1400 (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 2077 (MED), O caym, þe cursd..Fle me fra, þou wared thing.

a1500 (▸?a1475) Guy of Warwick (Cambr. Ff.2.38) 26 A may ȝynge, The Erlys doghtur, a swete thynge.

1533 J. Heywood Play of Wether sig. Diiii, A goodly dame an ydyll thynge iwys.

1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 241v, Augustus beeyng yet a young thyng vnder mannes state.

a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) i. f. 14v, If he be bashefull, and will soone blushe, they call him a babishe and ill brought vp thyng.

a1616 Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) iv. v. 117 But that I see thee heere Thou noble thing, more dances my rapt heart [etc.].

1689 A. Behn Novels (1871) I. 70 The worst-natur’d, incorrigible, thing in the world.

1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 4. ⁋5 At a Play..looking..at a young thing in a Box before us.

1727 D. Defoe Ess. Hist. Apparitions iv. 43, I don’t wonder such as these go a mobbing among those meanest of mad Things call’d Free-Masons.

1758 Johnson Idler 8 July 105 My Wife often tells me, that Boys are dirty things.

1797 R. M. Roche Children of Abbey (ed. 2) III. iii. 126 Poor thing, she is going fast indeed, and the more’s the pity, for she is a sweet creature.

1839 Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xxvii. 258 Why don’t you go and ask them to walk up, you stupid thing?

1874 J. G. Holland Mistress of Manse xii. 56 Change That would degrade her to a thing Of homely use and household care.

1898 F. Montgomery Tony 12 The very smallest and youngest thing that had ever worn an Eton jacket.

1927 I. Gershwin Sweet So-and-So (song) in R. Kimball Compl. Lyrics I. Gershwin (1993) 125/1 You darling, you ducky, you sweet so-and-so! You sweet thing, you neat thing, you’ve set me a-glow!

1992 B. Anderson Portrait of Artist’s Wife (1993) iv. 67 To think that a son of Nelson’s could get any girl into trouble, least of all a nice little thing like Sarah.

2003 Radio Times (Midlands ed.) 7 June 92/3 The poor thing is much too shy and gauche to deal with their predatory wiles.

11.

a. A material object, an article, an item; a being or entity consisting of matter, or occupying space. (Often used as a vague word for an object which it is difficult to denominate more exactly; see also sense 16b.)

OE Blickling Homilies 91 On þæm dæge gewiteþ heofon & eorþe, & sæ, & ealle þa þing þe on þæm syndon.

?c1200 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 18825 Þatt arrke þatt iss wrohht off tre..iss whilwendlike þing.

?a1325 in W. Heuser Kildare-Gedichte (1904) 103 Þe tren sul blede..Þe þing þat bodi no flesse naþ non.

a1400 (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 9383 Al-king thing was þan to trow Wel pithier þan þai ar now.

a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm. 1396) 141 Woundis..maad wiþ a swerd or wiþ sum dinge ellis þat woundiþ.

1547 J. Hooper Declar. Christe viii. H vij, Mens yeyes be obedient unto the creatour that they may se on think and yet not a nother.

1570 H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. i. f. 6v, Thinges equall to one and the selfe same thyng: are equall also the one to the other.

c1595 Capt. Wyatt in Voy. R. Dudley to W. Indies (1899) 16 Leavinge behinde us certaine letters inclosed in a thinge of wood provided of purpose.

1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words, Fends, things hung over a Ships side to keep another Ship from rubbing against it.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 270 A three Corner’d..Thing, like..a Shoulder of Mutton Sail.

1757 W. Provoost Let. 25 Aug. in Beekman Mercantile Papers (1956) II. 659 Please to send me the following things Vizt. 1 Dozen of Black mitts. 1 piece of Black Durant fine.

1842 Tennyson Vision of Sin in Poems (new ed.) II. 217 Callest thou that thing a leg?

1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) III. 509 Stones and shells and things of earth and rock.

1904 M. E. W. Freeman Givers 28 ‘How much do you s’pose that thing cost?’ says I. Then I saw she had left the tag on.

1940 A. M. Lindbergh Diary 24 June in War within & Without (1980) 117, Both the men are so attentive, jumping up to shut doors lest I catch cold, rushing to pick up things I drop.

1994 M. Gee Crime Story (1996) i. 16 The thing was antique and carved with leaves and bunches of grapes.

2001 C. Glazebrook Madolescents 69 My hand finds a little wooden thing, about the size of a packet of tabs.

b. A material substance, usually of a specified kind; a material; a concoction, a compound; an ingredient. In later use chiefly applied to substances used as food or drink, or considered in respect of its medical, physiological, etc., effects.

eOE Bald’s Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) ii. xxiii. 210 Oþre wætan [read hwætene] metegearwa & cocnunga ealle sint to forbeodanne & eal þa wætan þing & þa smerewigan & osterhlafas & eall swete þing... Ge, þa scearpan afran þing sint to fleonne.

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 96 (MED), Þe tyeres weren uour wel preciouses þinges..þet of his preciouse lemes yourne, þet weren tyeares, zuot, weter, and blod.

c1400 (▸?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 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.’

a1450 Dis. Women (Sloane) in B. Rowland Medieval Woman’s Guide to Health (1981) 92 (MED), And suche thingis þat ben good herefore ys gallia muscata, muske, xilocassie.

c1503 R. Arnold Chron. f. xxxij/2, Yf ony persone caste or put ony Rubyes dunge..or ony other noyos thinge in thamys at walbrok.

c1540 (▸?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 120, Þai wold stuf hom full stithly..With mete..& mony othir thynges.

1589 J. Chilton in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations iii. 590 Annele..is a kinde of thing to dye blew withall.

1631 R. Byfield Doctr. Sabbath Vindicated 204 We drinke some warme thing.

1694 W. Salmon Pharmacopœia Bateana i. vi. 197/1 It..is a most excellent thing in Feavers.

1737 W. Whiston tr. Josephus Jewish Antiq. xi. viii. §7 Accused by those at Jerusalem of having eaten things common.

a1756 E. Haywood New Present (1771) 44 It is a very good thing to thicken gravy with.

1839 Countess of Blessington Idler in Italy I. 154 Plying their professional skill on cutlets, poulets, entrees and entrements, with vegetables and sweet things in abundance.

1884 Chambers’s Jrnl. 4 Oct. 655/2 The best thing to apply to a burned or scalded part is Carron oil spread on lint.

1969 Daily Tel. 24 July 17/6 They [sc. children] want to eat savoury things most of all.

2005 Maclean’s 7 Nov. 29/1 A lecture on how dope impairs concentration and learning, and may not be the best thing for the lungs.

c. euphem. The genitals.

c1405 (▸c1395) Chaucer Wife of Bath’s Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 121 Oure bothe thynges smale Was eek to knowe a femelle from a male.

a1500 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 632 Menticula, a mane hys thyng.

?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in Poems (1998) 51, I..leit neuer enter in my thoght that he my thing persit.

1612 B. Jonson Alchemist v. i. sig. L2, The Boy of six yeare old with the great thing.

1700 G. Farquhar Constant Couple iv. ii. 40 Lure. And what shall I give you for such a fine thing. Wild. You’ll give me another, you’ll give me another fine thing.

1740 Dialogue between Married Lady & Maid iii. 30 Coming between my Legs with his Breeches and Drawers down, and his Thing stiff and red, he was just going to try to enter me, when we heard the Key turn in the Door.

?1837 Little Icky-wickey Songster 21, I did cling to the hair of her thing.

1865 in T. P. Lowry Story Soldiers wouldn’t Tell (1994) xii. 124 [He] said he wanted to see what she had for a thing; he then put his foot on her leg, pulled up her dress and threw a [flaming] torch between her legs.

1930 S. Parker tr. W. Stekel Sexual Aberrations I. 263, I had wished to kill him because I did not wish him to put his thing in.

1955 J. P. Donleavy Ginger Man vi. 51 Men wagging their things at you from doorways. Disgusting.

1970 T. Southern Blue Movie ii. viii. 98 So I began kissing her,..and caressing her—her sides and hips, and legs..and finally, her thing.

1999 R. T. Davies Queer as Folk: Scripts Episode 1. 15 He says, I can see your thing... Next thing you know, he’s wanking me off behind the pub in broad daylight.

12.

†a. As a mass noun: that which one possesses; property, wealth, substance collectively. Obs.

OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xxii. 357 Ne heora nan næfde synderlice æhta, ac him eallum wæs gemæne heora þing.

?c1200 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 4520 Þatt tu nan oðerr manness þing Ne ȝeorne nohht to winnenn.

a1225 (▸?c1175) Poema Morale (Lamb.) 263 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 175 (MED), Þis is þet fur..Þer inne boð..Þe þet is oðers monnes þing loure þene hit sculde.

a1325 (▸c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 3378 He let bi-aften de more del To kepen here ðing al wel.

c1325 (▸c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 10196 Persones þing he solde men þat mest wolde þeruore ȝiue.

c1390 in C. Horstmann Minor Poems Vernon MS (1892) i. 347 Ffor he wolde haue offryng And liue bi oþur mennes þing.

a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1959) vi. xiv. 94 That art ful myghty bot of litil thing.

b. As a count noun: an item of property, an individual possession; (usu. in pl.) possessions, belongings, goods; esp. (colloq.) those which one has or carries with one at the time, e.g. on a journey. Also with possessive adjective.

things personal (Law): personal property (see personal adj. 7b). things real (Law): real property (see real adj.2 7c).

OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxxiv. 291 Þæt wæron hundeahtatig muneca..and him eallum wæron heora ðing gemæne, æfter regollicere gesetnysse ne hi naht synderlices næfdon.

OE Ælfric’s Colloquy (1991) 34 Uis uendere res tuas hic sicut emisti illic? : wilt þu syllan þingc þine her ealswa þu hi gebohtest þær?

c1230 (▸?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 213 Ne wite ȝe in ower hus of oðer monne þinges, ne ahte, ne claðes.

c1300 Holy Cross (Laud) 459 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 14 Mid þat gold and þe riche þingues þat he fond al-so þere Þe churchene..þare-with he liet a-rere.

?1387 T. Wimbledon Serm. (Corpus Cambr.) (1967) 92 (MED), He..bryngeþ forþ fals wittenesse and occupieþ dede mennys þyngis [v.r. goodis].

1481 Caxton tr. Siege & Conqueste Jerusalem (1893) xlv. 85 They had born theder alle theyr thynges.

a1500 (▸a1460) Towneley Plays (1897–1973) 54 Where ar oure thyngis, ar thay past Iordan?

1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. cxixv, The parson and vicar wyll haue for a mortuary..the best thynge that is about the house.

1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie i. v. f. 4, The Mariners lost the most part of theyr apparrel, & things.

1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 599 Busie in packing vp his things against his departure.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. J. Albert de Mandelslo 17 in Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors, We..went..to the Custome House to have our things search’d by the Officers there.

1759 Johnson Let. 23 Mar. (1992) I. 184, I have this day moved my things, and you are now to direct to me at Staple Inn.

1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. 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.

1841 Mrs. Mozley Lost Brooch II. xxi. 154 They will come and search the house, and all our things will be turned upside down.

1841 H. J. Stephen New Comm. Laws Eng. I. 157 Things real are usually said to consist in lands, tenements, or hereditaments.

1858 H. J. Stephen New Comm. Laws Eng. (ed. 4) I. 168 Things personal, (otherwise called personalty).

1866 Trollope Belton Estate III. iv. 114 She packed up all her things.

1919 Outing Mar. 308/3 We quietly put our things together and tried to slip away, because by this time we did not feel so sure of the venture.

1930 Harvard Law Rev. 43 761 As to things that are juris privati, he divides them into the well known classification of things personal and things real.

1995 A. Tyler Ladder of Years xix. 275, I can get my things myself, if you’ll just pop the trunk.

c. colloq. In pl. Articles of apparel; clothes, garments; (sometimes) spec. those worn over one’s other clothes when going outdoors. Also with possessive adjective.

1605 P. Erondelle French Garden i. sig. D8v, Where be all my thinges? goe fetch my cloathes.

1634 W. Wood New Englands Prospect i. xii. 50 A long coarse coate, to keepe better things from the pitched ropes and plankes.

1690 J. Crowne Eng. Frier ii. 11 Now I think on’t I’ll go to Court, put on your things again.

1713 E. Budgell in Guardian 23 Mar. 1/2, I know every part of their Dress, and can name all their Things by their Names.

1748 S. Richardson Clarissa V. xviii. 174 But having her things on, as the women call every-thing,..she thought it best to go.

a1777 S. Foote Cozeners (1778) i. 23, I have had but just time to huddle on my things.

1833 T. Hook Parson’s Daughter II. viii. 156 Take off your things—and we will order..tea.

1848 E. C. Gaskell Mary Barton I. ix. 151 He sat down by the fire in his wet things, unheeding.

1885 ‘F. Anstey’ Tinted Venus vi. 66, ‘I haven’t bought my winter things yet,’ said Matilda.

1902 R. Bagot Donna Diana viii. 100 Diana left the room to put on her things for driving.

1926 J. C. Lincoln Big Mogul iii. 49 Better take off your things, hadn’t you?

2000 V. Routledge in J. Adams et al. Girls’ Night In 399 Maura pulled off her things without looking at herself or Debbie.

d. Chiefly colloq. In pl. Implements or equipment for some special use; utensils. Freq. with preceding modifying word.

1662 Duchess of Newcastle Matrimonial Trouble ii. v. xlv, in Playes Written 487 (stage direct.) The Servants take away all the meat and things, and after all was gone Enter two Maid-Servants.

1697 J. Vanbrugh Provok’d Wife iii. 25 Here; take away the things: I expect Company.

1738 Ochtertyre House Bks. (1909) 154 For mending the Kitchen things.

1748 L. Pilkington Mem. I. 69 The Things being taken away; ‘Now good Sir, said I, tell me what I do amiss?’

1844 tr. M. T. Asmar Mem. Babylonian Princess II. 304 With the breakfast things the waiter brought the morning paper.

1891 C. T. C. James Romantic Rigmarole 156, I hadn’t any proper hunting things.

1898 G. B. Shaw Man of Destiny in Plays Pleasant & Unpleasant 160 Clearing the table and removing the things to a tray on the sideboard.

1912 G. K. Chesterton Manalive i. iii. 86 Diana Duke..began putting away the tea things.

1974 H. Secombe Twice Brightly 75 ‘I’ve finished anyway,’ he said, gathering up his toilet things.

2004 New Yorker 3 May 96/2 He put an order to it all, as he had done with the things on the table—the dishes and food in mouseproof cannisters on the table beside the icebox.

13. An individual work of literature or art, a composition; a piece of writing, music, etc.

OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) iii. iii. 162 Swa þas þing synd gesette þe man nemð Ylias and Odissia Omeri and Eneidos Virgilii.

▸c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 2 Cor. xiii. 10, I, absent, write this thing.

c1405 (▸c1387–95) Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) 327 Ther to he [sc. the Sergeant of the Law] koude endite and make a thyng.

c1405 (▸c1395) Chaucer Squire’s Tale (Hengwrt) l. 70 Herknynge his Mynstrals hir thynges pleye.

1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. (1586) i. 17 b, Yt they haue imploied all their time in reading some good thing or other.

1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xxii. 216 One of our late makers, who in most of his things wrote very well.

a1616 Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iv. ii. 67 You would haue them alwaies play but one thing.

1732 Swift Let. 12 June in Pope Wks. (1741) II. 123, I have a thing in prose, begun above twenty-eight years ago, and almost finish’d.

1831 Examiner 213/2 A dozen things of Handel’s;..some things of Avison’s, one of the poorest of musicians.

1913 H. James Let. 14 Sept. (1920) II. 332 Scribner’s (or Macmillan’s) collective and revised and prefaced edition of my things.

1996 T. Parker Violence of our Lives iii. 109 His things’d always had a great effect on me:..they coincided with my own experiences and reactions like nothing else I ever read.

14. An actual being or entity as distinguished from a word, symbol, or idea by which it is symbolized or represented; that which is signified.

†in thing: in reality, really, actually (opposed to in name at name n. 5a).

a1477 Bk. of Curtesye (Oriel 79 (2)) (1882) 343 His [sc. Chaucer’s] longage was so feyre and pertinent, That semed vnto mennys heryng, Not only the worde, but verrely the thing.

1483 Rolls of Parl. (2005) VI. 208/2 That the deane..and chanons..be oon body corporate in thyng and name.

1533 J. Frith Bk. answeringe Mores Let. sig. Giij, But the thinge it selfe, whose sacrament thys is, is receyued.

1534 T. More Treat. Passion in Wks. 1332/2 The thyng of a sacrament is properly called that holye thinge that the sacrament betokeneth.

a1626 Bacon Elements Common Lawes (1630) 93 This ambiguitie..is when one name and appellation doth denominate divers things, and the second, is when the same thing is called by divers names.

1663 S. Butler Hudibras: First Pt. i. 1. 61 [Bear-baiting] is an Antichristian Game, Unlawful both in thing and name.

1707–8 G. Berkeley Philos. Comm. (1989) 79 The supposition that things are distinct from Ideas takes away all real truth.

1725 I. Watts Logick 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.

1827 J. Robinson Archæol. Græca (ed. 2) x. p. lxiii, The philosophy of Aristotle is rather the philosophy of words than of things.

1850 Tennyson In Memoriam lxxiii. 102 What practice howsoe’er expert In fitting aptest words to things..Hath power to give thee as thou wert?

1870 J. R. Lowell Let. 15 Oct. (1894) II. 74 As to words, I am something of a purist, though I like best the word that best says the thing.

1934 J. A. Thomson & E. J. Holmyard Biol. for Everyman I. xiii. 281 Many of them suffer from physogastry, an ugly word for an ugly thing.

1968 J. Lyons Introd. Theoret. Linguistics i. 15 The principles whereby the word, as a ‘sign’, was related on the one hand to the human intellect and on the other to the thing it represented, or ‘signified’.

2004 Yale French Stud. 106 73 Paulhan’s Terrorist-Rhetorician debate turns on the radical split between word and thing or idea, form and content, sign and meaning, signifier and signified.

15. A being without life or consciousness; an inanimate object, as distinguished from a person or living creature.

In some instances a special application of sense 14.

1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xix. 198 We do sodainly flye out & either speake or exclaime at some other person or thing..as..a louer to his vnkind mistresse.

1648 T. Hill Spring of Grace 31 We..use Pictures for a while, till we get apprehension of the thing or person realized to us, then throw them away.

1690 W. Temple Ess. Anc. & Mod. Learning in Wks. (1731) I. 302 Things..such as have been either of general Use or Pleasure to Mankind.

1729 W. Law Serious Call iv. 47 Things..are all to be used according to the will of God.

1790 F. Grose Provinc. Gloss. (ed. 2) , Whitherer, a lusty, strong, or stout person, or thing.

1841 Dickens Barnaby Rudge iii. 249 Consideration of persons, things, times, and places.

1850 T. T. Lynch Memorials Theophilus Trinal viii. 149 ‘He that getteth a wife getteth a good thing’; that is at least, if his wife be more than a thing.

1853 F. D. Maurice Prophets & Kings Old Test. xvi. 279 The human being was sacrificed; the person was given up for the thing.

1939 Z. N. Hurston Moses xvii. 162 Moses was amazed that the writhing serpent on the ground could have become so quickly the lifeless thing in his hands.

1985 O. Imasogie Afr. Trad. Relig. (ed. 2) ii. 14 Tylor’s theory was that the primitive man thought the anima was capable of leaving the one body for another, be it animal, person or thing.

2007 Mid Devon Gaz. (Nexis) 9 Jan. 4 Another [suggestion] was that the pouch in question was not a thing but a person named Pouch.

16. colloq. = thingummy n.

a. With capital initial. Substituted (esp. after a title, as Mrs Thing, etc.) for the actual name of a person. Miss Thing: see miss n.2 Compounds.

[1839 F. Marryat Diary in Amer. II. xiii. 242 The clerk of the office inquired of him [sc. Mr. Whitepimple] what other name he would have, and he..replied carelessly,..’Oh, any thing;’ whereupon the clerk enrolled him as Mr. Thing.]

1858 H. C. Jenkin Violet Bank III. ix. 188 No, no, indeed,—just to let you get that Miss Thing out of the way.

1882 Harper’s Mag. May 926/1 Old Mr. Thing, passin’ by on his way from town, stopped with a box outen the express office.

1909 A. Bierce Coll. Wks. IV. 202 ‘Tis right if he goes dining at The Pup With Mrs. Thing.

1960 ‘R. East’ Kingston Black xiv. 136 Old Mrs. Thing at the exchange may listen in.

1977 M. Kenyon Rapist vi. 70 Keane could not remember the name of..the colonel. Too many names. Colonel Thing.

1999 J. Burchill Married Alive ix. 133 Is this Siobhan any relation whatsoever to Siobhan O’Thing, the teenaged mannequin of your acquaintance?

b. Used to denote a thing which the speaker cannot or does not care to specify precisely.

1922 P. B. Kyne Cappy Ricks Retires xxxvi. 265 Man, man, I want it—a thing—a what-you-may-call-’em—a—Oh, the devil!

1943 F. MacManus Greatest of These i. 21 Or is there anything wrong with the what-you-may-call-um, the thing, O you know, the fuse?

1961 N. Coward Diary 17 Mar. (2000) 467 He tottered off to the loo and came back a few minutes later minus his plate, which he had dropped down the ‘thing’ while he was being sick.

2004 A. Sileika Woman in Bronze 303 Josephine was fumbling with the clasp of her skirt. ‘Oh damn, I can’t reach the thing. Unhitch me, will you?’

Phrases

P1. among (also amongst) other things : as only part of a wider range; specifically, but not solely.

Used to indicate that a summary or list is selective.

c1405 (▸c1387–95) Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 759 After souper pleyen he bigan And spak of murthe amonges othere thynges.

a1425 St. Anthony l. 45 in Anglia (1881) 4 135 Schewyng, emong oþer thyngys, he be-hyght hym þat he suld make hys name to be knawne be al þe warld.

a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) II. f. xix, A Parlyament was holden..where amonge other thyngys, the Lordis and Barony of the Lande graunted vnto the Kynge & to his heyres Kyngys the warde & maryage of theyr heyres.

1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie iii. 7 The Authour of that booke..which amongst other things gaue this blason to the houndes of that Lords kennell.

1605 R. Verstegan Restit. Decayed Intelligence vii. 205 A principal courtier..willed him among other things to equippe his horses.

1756 T. Nugent Gr. Tour, Netherl. I. 102 Among other things there is..the hand of a mermade..and several other curiosities.

1779 T. Forrest Voy. New Guinea 283 Amongst other things, was a bulse of gold dust.

1895 A. Roberts Adventures by Rail iii. 45, I had a box stolen. Amongst other things, it contained my band-parts.

1926 A. Topham Chron. Prussian Court xx. 245 We discussed among other things the Titanic disaster which had recently happened.

1953 Jrnl. Brit. Interplanetary Soc. 12 66 Amongst other things, artificial ‘moonquakes’ would be set off by explosives, so that seismic records could be made.

2002 Independent on Sunday 14 Apr. 12/6 She has worked as, among other things, an amateur actress, a barmaid and a bereavement counsellor.

P2.

a. one thing or another (also other) : something; any of various things. Cf. something or other at something n. 6a.

1541 Schole House of Women sig. Dii, Nowe this nowe that, they craue alway One thynge or other, they neuer rest.

1581 T. Rogers tr. N. Hemmingsen Faith of Church Militant vi. 70 Sometime Christ by onely commanding, shewed miracles..; somtime by ye vse of one thing or another, as by clay or spittle, to shew that God worketh somtime by meanes.

1744 M. Bishop Life Matthew Bishop 260 Most of them were very industrious in selling one Thing or other by Way of turning the Peny to a good Use.

1854 M. Faraday Lect. on Educ. 72/2 The mind naturally desires to settle upon one thing or another; to rest upon an affirmative or a negative.

2005 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 22 Dec. ii. 2/1 Jeanne..creates clothes for women who are always celebrating one thing or another.

b. one thing: something acceptable or satisfactory (or at least not as bad), contrasted with another (thing) that is unacceptable or unsatisfactory (or even worse). Also: something fairly easy contrasted with another (thing) that is much harder. Freq. in it is one thing (to do something), and another (to do something else).

1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. iv. 50 It is one thing to change ones selfe [Fr. autre chose est se changer], & another thing to will yt there should be a chaunge.

a1678 H. Scougal Life of God (1726) 392, I do not condemn all chearfulness and freedom, nor the innocent exercises of wit: but it is one thing to make use of these now and then when they come in our way, and another to search and haunt after them.

1735 G. Berkeley Def. Free-thinking in Math. xxxvii. 44 It is one thing when a Doctrine is placed in various lights: and another, when the principles and notions are shifted.

1828 Scott Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. viii. 244 It is one thing to employ the revenues of the Church..in the suitable and dutiful reception of your royal Majesty, and another to have it wrenched from us by the hands of rude and violent men.

1904 H. James Golden Bowl I. v. 97 It was one thing to have met the girl casually at Mrs. Assingham’s and another to arrange with her thus for a morning practically as private as their old mornings in Rome.

1994 Chicago Tribune 15 Apr. iv. 3/1 Bad pitching is one thing. Pitiful pitching is quite another.

2002 Northern Woodlands Spring 22/2 It’s one thing to talk in the abstract about protecting forestland... It’s another thing altogether to give up the development rights to land you’ve owned most of your life.

c. (what with) one thing and another : (in consequence of) two or more things; (on account of) various things, or things in general. Cf. what 2b.

1633 J. Done tr. ‘Aristeas’ Aunc. Hist. Septuagint 68 Amazement..for the manner and decoration of one thing and another.

1653 J. Rogers Ohel or Beth-Shemesh ii. vi. 442 The Pastor wondred; began to say one thing and another.

1718 D. Jones Compl. Hist. Turks I. iv. iv. 429 So that what with one thing and another, when Mustapha came to review them afterwards..he found he had lost 40000 Men.

1770 Trial W. Wemms 93, I saw several soldiers pass and repass, some with bayonets, some with clubs and one thing and another.

1811 J. Austen Sense & Sensibility I. xx. 270 We began talking of my brother and sister, and one thing and another.

1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd II. xxii. 276 What with one thing and another, I see that my work is well cut out for me.

1928 J. Galsworthy Swan Song iii. vi, in Mod. Comedy (1929) 992 With the telephone and one thing and another they got through.

1990 Premiere July 66/2 What with one thing and another, he’s neglecting his yoga and karate and aikido.

d. one thing leads to another: a predictable or inevitable sequence of events takes place.

Now often used euphemistically, implying an outcome involving sex or violence.

1739 Inq. into Fitness of attending Parl. 11 People in such Circumstances, where one Thing leads to another, are unavoidably driven far beyond their first Intentions.

1803 Farmer’s Mag. Feb. 11 Give encouragement to a few individuals..—one thing leads to another. People collect; money is brought into the country; and immigration knocked on the head.

1881 Science Apr. 194/2 Just as one thing leads to another in knowledge and virtue, so does one thing lead to another in ignorance and vice.

1925 A. Loos Gentlemen prefer Blondes 189 One thing led to another until somebody rang for an ambulants [sic] and then the police came in.

1992 I. Banks Crow Road (1993) ix. 231 We..had a few drinks ended up back here one thing led to another know how it is always liked older women they’re more experienced know what I mean.

2001 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 19 Aug. 14/2 They decide to knock off a minimart in a well-heeled suburb... But one thing leads to another and before they know it, the minimart owner is dead.

2004 Washington Post (Home ed.) 6 Mar. c12/5 One thing led to another with Brian, too, and we have done the deed many times.

e. for one thing: as one point to be noted; in the first place. Similarly for another thing.

1767 J. Abercrombie Every Man his Own Gardener 235 These plants must now, for one thing, be duly supplied with water.

1790 Bystander 139 For one thing, he [sc. 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.

1820 J. Foster Ess. Evils Pop. Ignorance 21 For one thing,..there would be a vast number of things and occasions by which it would not..be called into exercise... For another thing, [etc.].

1878 J. Morley Diderot I. v. 173 For one thing, physical science had in the interval taken immense strides.

1925 Amer. Mercury Oct. 249/1 For another thing, they are both diligent students of the New Physiology, and find the primary springs of human character in the ductless glands.

1951 L. P. Hartley My Fellow Devils ix. 80 We don’t want to be married in London; it’s so banal for one thing.

2006 Philadelphia Inquirer 22 Dec. a17/3 For one thing, what will people call this not-quite-marriage ceremony? Unification? Civil union?

f. to be only one thing for it and variants: there is only one possible course of action; also in similar phrases. Cf. nothing for it at nothing pron., n., adv., and int. Phrases 1d.

1817 Literary Gaz. 13 Sept. 166/3 ‘There is but one thing for it now,’ said the Colonel.

1893 R. Boldrewood Robbery under Arms xiii. 91 There was only one thing for it, that was to go straight out of the country.

1927 Times 19 Jan. 13/3 The only thing for it was to work the Constitution for all it was worth.

1968 Times 22 Aug. 21/3 They had..decided that the best thing for it was for Plessey to merge with English Electric.

2005 Daily Tel. (Sydney) (Nexis) 6 Jan. (Features section) 26 There’s only one thing for it: I’m going to take sword-fighting classes.

g. colloq. (just) one of those things : something inevitable or inexplicable; a fact or happening about which one cannot do anything.

1922 R. D. Paine Roads of Adventure xxii. 228, I wonder if we could blast the secret out of a French dictionary. Probably not. We shall never know. It is just one of those things.

1935 C. Porter (title of song) Just one of those things.

1941 C. Morgan Empty Room i. 46 ‘What is it, Carey?’ She smiled. ‘Nothing. One of those things.’

1974 M. Babson Stalking Lamb xviii. 136 The price was too high..to be shrugged off as ‘just one of those things’.

1991 Gardener Jan. 15/2 For those of you wondering why annual wildflowers continue to renew themselves and their seeds germinate satisfactorily when they have been shed naturally, but rarely do so when scattered with grass seed from a packet, I can only comment that it is just one of those things.

h. colloq. (orig. Austral.). like one thing: = like anything at like adv., prep., and conj. 1b.

1938 F. Noble Flying Fox & Drifting Sand 112 It bled like one thing, and my boots was filled with blood.

1962 P. White Four Plays (1965) 94 ‘Can’t resist the bananas.’ ‘Yeah. They say you go for them like one thing when you’re preggo.’

1972 J. 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.’

2000 Dominion (Wellington, N.Z.) (Nexis) 9 Sept. 12 He was curled up and shivering like one thing so the guy..tried to keep him warm by putting some ferns on top of him.

P3.

a. colloq. and things: and other things of the same kind (as that or those already mentioned); and such like; et cetera.

1601 B. Jonson Fountaine of Selfe-love iv. iv. 15 And with-all calles me at his pleasure; I knowe not how many Cocatrices, and things.

a1616 Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) iv. iii. 56 With Ruffes and Cuffes, and Fardingales, and things.

1827 A. N. Royall Tennessean xix. 193 Them cursed broths and things, that they fed me upon when I was sick.

1894 To-day 13 Jan. 14 The Japanese supper with the Japanese room and mats and things.

1919 C. Orr Glorious Thing ii. 20 We’re exceedingly preoccupied with the war—Zepp. raids and things.

1995 Atlantic July 62/1 You don’t want river water... What about liver flukes and things, and bilharzia?

b.

and thing phr. (freq. in form an’ ting) Caribbean and the like, and so on.

1957 S. 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.

1980 W. R. Johnstone Bahamian Jottings 80 De lady dere sellin’ her punkin an’ ting on de dock.

1988 M. Matura Playboy of West Indies 10 Yer does get plenty police an ting coming here dis place behind.

2000 R. Antoni in N. Hopkinson Whispers from Cotton Tree Root 212 Everybody was drinking rum, and eating roti, and playing music and thing.

P4. colloq. —— of a thing: a person or thing resembling or likened to a ——.

bit of a thing: a small or inconsequential thing; a small or slight person.

1665 J. Brown Apologeticall Relation Sufferings Church Scotl. xiv. 264 Men who would be accounted loyal subjects..think it their duty to..contend for a small & inconsiderable bit of thing.

1706 E. Ward Hudibras Redivivus II. v. 24 You taudry Fop, with Diamond Ring; You little Thingum of a Thing.

1794 W. Godwin Things as they Are I. iv. 67 Look at this Falkland! A puny bit of a thing!

1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast ix. 76 She was a lump of a thing, what the sailors call a butter-box.

1922 D. H. Lawrence Aaron’s Rod iii. 33 She too was a tall stag of a thing.

1990 A. Munro Friend of my Youth 265 She rented..a van.., an old blue crock pot of a thing.

2006 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 4 Nov. m1 She might be a bit of a thing, even in high heels... But she’s also a tough nut.

P5. (the) first thing : (used adverbially) as that which is done (or to be done) first, or which occurs first; in the first place, firstly. Similarly (the) next thing : in the next place, next; (the) last thing : in the last place, lastly.

the next thing one knows, etc.: see next adj. 4c.

[1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Chron. (1812) II. cciv, The fyrst thynge he dyd he wente to the Churche of saynt Peter.

1598 Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 iii. iii. 184 Rob me the exchequer the first thing thou doest.]

1670 Acct. Causes Distempers 64 Take of the Tincture 60, 80, or 100 Drops,..taking it the first thing in the Morning, and the last thing at Night.

1684 in Colonial Rec. Pennsylvania (1852) I. 99 Ordered That a pole Proportionably Layd, be debated ye first thing tomorrow.

1733 S. Harrison House-keeper’s Pocket-bk. 195 Do this especially the first thing in a Morning, fasting an Hour after it, and the last thing at Night.

1767 R. Warner tr. Plautus Captives v. v, in B. Thornton et al. tr. Plautus Comedies I. 339 Phil. O let your son be lighten’d of those chains... Heg. ‘Tis my purpose; I’ll do it the first thing.

1832 E. Bulwer-Lytton Eugene Aram II. iv. ii. 219 A face that puts one in good-humour with the world, if one sees it first thing in the morning.

1848 Trollope Kellys & O’Kellys II. xii. 281, I must see her the last thing,—about nine.

1871 Routledge’s Every Boy’s Ann. June 370 He often goes round the last thing..to make sure that all is right.

1875 A. M. Diaz Schoolmaster’s Trunk viii. 57 Sometimes her woodpile would be all ‘logs and sog’, and next thing ‘twould be all ‘light stuff’.

1885 ‘F. Anstey’ Tinted Venus 74 I’ll buy a cloak for her the first thing to-morrow morning.

1889 Harper’s Mag. Aug. 417/1 It’s impossible to lie here another instant, and see that History of Windham, Connecticut. The next thing you’ll be proposing to read it aloud to me.

1914 M. Gyte Diary 1 Nov. (1999) 34 Very misty and dull first thing but clears up a little later in the day.

1935 Discovery Apr. 95/2 It [sc. the pump] is run last thing at night.

1942 J. Thomas Blue Ridge Country ii. 92 William Trumbo..made a remark to a man by the name of Price. And the next thing they were in a wrangle.

1975 B. Donoughue Diary 13 Feb. in Downing St. Diary (2005) xi. 311 HW left for Moscow first thing this morning.

2001 K. Sampson Outlaws (2002) 285 He was only up there a minute and next thing the walls was shuddering like a twister had hit big.

P6.

a. With modifying adjective. to do the —— thing : to do that which is considered to be ——.

1721 C. Cibber Refusal iii. 44 Why; have you the Confidence to suppose I won’t do the fair thing by the Gentleman.

1782 F. Burney Cecilia III. vi. i. 218, I can’t pretend for to say I think Mr. Harrel did quite the honourable thing by us.

1814 Scott Let. 7 Jan. (1932) III. 398 The Magistrates..have done the genteel thing (as Winifred Jenkins says)..and presented me with the freedom of the City.

1902 W. S. Maugham Mrs. Craddock v. 46 Your idea of a happy life is always to do the disagreeable thing.

2003 Daily Mirror 1 Apr. 59/1 Derby should do the decent thing and officially part company with John, instead of leaving him hanging in mid-air.

b. to do one’s (own) thing : to do what one wants, to follow one’s interest or inclination.

Only occasionally found before the late 20th cent. The spread of the phrase was associated with the 1960s counterculture.

1841 R. W. Emerson Ess. ii. 54 But do your thing and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself.

1861 R. W. Dixon Christ’s Company 98 Go thy way, all things say, Thou hast thy way to go..Do thy thing.

1909 H. G. Wells Ann Veronica xvi. 328 Every human being..exists to do new things... Well, this is our thing.

1967 Fresno (Calif.) Bee 1 June 7 b/3 The hippie’s ‘right’..to ‘do my own private thing as long as it hurts no one’.

1968 It 1–14 Nov. 8/4 Freedom to freak-out, yes; freedom to do your thing, sure.

1971 M. 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.’

1981 R. Barnard Sheer Torture x. 109 A ghastly warning against..aiming at total self-fulfilment, doing your own thing regardless.

2006 Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) Aug. 124/1 You could arrange to meet up for lunch, but do your own thing for the rest of the day. You don’t have to be joined at the hip all holiday.

c. 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.

1970 R. 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.

1987 San 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.

1992 Premiere Mar. 10/1 Robert Loggia and Brian Dennehy do the bad-guy thing.

1999 T. 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.

P7. colloq. a thing or two : several things; a considerable or significant number of things. Chiefly with verbs relating to the possession or imparting of information, expertise, etc., as to know (also learn, show, teach, tell) (a person) a thing or two .

1760 G. A. Stevens Hist. Tom Fool I. xxvi. 175, I think I know a Thing, or two,—I think I do,—only ask Tomkyns after me; and if he says I’m to be had,..gi’me an Angel, and I’ll give you 500.

1779 F. Pilon Liverpool Prize i. ii. 7 You see, master Debenture, he understands a thing or two.

1816 Sporting Mag. 48 173 The training-groom was up to a thing or two.

1856 C. Reade Never too Late lii, Jackey showed Robinson a thing or two.

1859 Thackeray Virginians xviii, I think I have shown him that we in Virginia know a thing or two.

1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. 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?

1919 ‘K. Mansfield’ Let. 4 Oct. (1993) III. 7, I always feel she thinks it ‘so nice and homey’ to occasionally smash a thing or two.

1930 P. G. Wodehouse 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.’

1932 L. Golding Magnolia St. iii. ix. 592 It’s taught us both a thing or two.

1973 M. Bence-Jones Palaces of Raj xi. 191 Simla could teach Naini Tal a thing or two as regards dances.

2003 Radio Times (Midlands ed.) 1 Nov. 14/1 Tara Palmer-Tomkinson knows a thing or two about holidays.

P8. colloq. no great things: (in predicative use): nothing great, nothing much, of ordinary quality or character. Cf. to be no great shakes at shake n.1 7. Now rare (chiefly Irish English in later use).

1776 Battle of Brooklyn i. 11 Bet. Now, mem, is not Harrison a dirty fellow, in every shape, that you can view him? Lady G. No great things, girl, to be sure, from your account of him.

1786 C. Johnstone Adventures Anthony Varnish II. xxiii. 142 As for the matter of that, my life is no great things.

1816 ‘Quiz’ Grand Master vii. 184 Now I shall give,—’the Governor’,—He’s no great things, between us, Sir.

1842 Thackeray Miss Tickletoby’s Lect. vi, His scholarship..I take it, was no great things.

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 352 That old place at Bowning..I don’t believe it was any great things.

1895 J. Barlow Strangers at Lisconnel iv. 52 Pitting himself singly against three opponents, two of them better men than he, who was ‘no great things at all, let alone havin’ one knee quare’.

1924 H. A. Robinson Further Memories Irish Life xi. 132 He told me it was a piece of wooden statuary swathed in flannel... It was ‘no great things’ at securing general all-round blessings, so my informant assured me.

P9. of all things: of all conceivable possibilities (often parenthetically implying that the eventuality is surprising or unexpected).

1778 H. Brooke Charitable Assoc. ii. ii, in Coll. Plays & Poems IV. 235 Butl. I heard it whisper’d, indeed, as how Master Kindly had got some jealous whim in the noggin of him, touching our young mistress being come before her day. Cook. Whew—of all things!—Jealous of our young mistress, sayst thou?

1834 F. D. Hemans Let. 4 July in H. F. Chorley Memorials Mrs. Hemans (1836) II. vii. 317, I was only sorry that one dwelling, and that, of all things, a cottage orné, stood on its bank.

1857 W. B. Bernard Life’s Trial i. ii. 13 This danger of the bank—the Colonel’s bank, of all things—the old Carmarthen bank that we all thought as lasting as the banks of Newfoundland.

1925 T. Dreiser Amer. Trag. II. ii. xii. 170 Well, well, of all things! Well, I’ll be damned!

1934 P. Bowles Let. Mar. in In Touch (1994) 133 The music is facile and Lisztlike, with pages of Weill thrown in, and of all things, the 3rd movement of my Sonata included practically verbatim as to the first theme!

1997 C. McPherson Weir 31 And the priest took us into the sacristy, and the job, of all things was to dig a grave in the yard.

P10. to make a good thing of (also out of) : to turn to profit, make gain out of.

1800 C. Dibdin Compl. Hist. Eng. Stage II. iv. x. 381 These vigilant ministers of justice, fancying they should make a good thing of this discovery, paid his reckoning and conveyed him to London.

1813 F. Hamilton in Jrnl. Surv. Shahabad 20 Jan. (1926) 129 The Pujaris who are making a good thing of the ghost have lately been disturbed by a..young Brahman.

a1822 Shelley Peter Bell III vi, in Poet. Wks. (?1840) 245/2, I have found the way To make a better thing of metre Than e’er was made.

1873 Greenwood in St. Paul’s Mag. 12 657 These dealers in ragged merchandize make a good thing of it.

1899 C. J. C. Hyne Further Adventures Capt. Kettle x, You are making a good thing for us out of tramping the ‘Parakeet’.

1933 H. Allen Anthony Adverse III. viii. lvii. 920, One A. Taylor, the son of a baker, who peddles hot buns to the chairs and has made a good thing of it.

1967 ‘O. Mills’ Death enters Lists v. 47 Someone’s making a good thing out of the contracts, believe you me.

2001 Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 19 Aug. (Sport section) 77 The Aussies came into yesterday’s meeting with an unassailable lead. They made a good thing of it, with Brett Scott winning the steeplechase on favourite Camargo.

P11. thing in itself [after German Ding an sich (Kant)] (a) Philos. a thing as it is independently from human modes of perception and thought; a noumenon; = Ding an sich n.; (b) (more generally) a thing distinguishable as an entity in its own right.

[1659 H. More Immortality of 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.]

1798 A. F. M. Willich Elements Crit. Philos. 21 The position of the sufficient ground, in general, depends..upon things in themselves.

1817 S. T. Coleridge Biographia Literaria I. x. 195 Of this sheet of paper..as a thing in itself, separate from the phænomenon or image in my perception.

1871 A. C. Fraser Life Berkeley ii. 41 He recognises substance, or, as we might say, the thing-in-itself.

1891 E. B. Bax Outlooks from New Standpoint iii. 182 This is the truth at the bottom of the ‘thing-in-itself’, so much decried by the orthodox Hegelians.

1919 E. E. Cummings Let. 25 Nov. (1969) 64 There is a binding rhythm which integrates the whole thing and makes it a single moving ThingInItself.

1955 P. G. Lucas tr. G. Martin Kant’s Metaphysics & Theory Sci. 199 In the category of actuality the fundamentally aporetic character of the thing in itself again stands out especially sharply.

1968 Guardian 13 Sept. 8/6 Is a Hovercraft a ship or a plane?.. Whitehall says it’s neither, but a Thing In Itself.

2003 Bull. Symbolic Logic 9 442 There are in fact various interpretations of Kant’s notion of the ‘thing in itself’, according as it is thought of as an independent object or, for example, as a mere (negative) idea of a limit to our knowledge.

P12. (the) things of the heart : matters relating to love, romance, etc. Similarly (the) things of the mind : matters of a specifically intellectual or cerebral character (cf. the life of the mind at life n. Phrases 14b).

1822 New Monthly Mag. 4 87 Town friendships do not make part of ourselves—the things of the heart, which those in the country in some measure do.

1857 Harper’s Mag. Sept. 544/2 Every thing appeared to him arranged in mathematical progression—things of the mind as those of the heart.

1925 B. Carman Far Horizons 27 The sceptre passes and glory fades, Only the things of the heart stand sure.

1965 New Society 15 July 10/3 The superiority of the things of the mind over the externals of bodily appearance and success in competitive enterprises.

2004 W. W. McDonald Russell Kirk & Age of Ideology vii. 181 Its crowdedness alone fosters an atmosphere inimical to the things of the mind.

P13. colloq. (orig. U.S.). With reference to a previous statement: to do that (small, etc.) thing : to act in the manner indicated (esp. when taking up a suggestion).

1866 Harper’s Mag. Aug. 371/1 We know they will [pay their subscription dues], for some of them have been promising to ‘do that little thing’ every few days for a year or two.

1931 A. Abdullah Veiled Woman xii. 294 ‘You might give him a kiss and a hug—from me.’ ‘I’ll do that small thing.’

1963 N. Freeling Because of Cats i. 23 ‘I’ll plan that.’ ‘You do that thing.’

1977 J. Tarrant Rommel Plot ix. 89 ‘I’ll be there in twenty minutes.’ ‘You do that small thing.’

2004 H. Schulz Betrayal x. 162 ‘Mr. Chairman. If you do that I intend to obtain a court injunction to stop this convention.’ The building almost burst..as many of the five hundred delegates..shouted themselves hoarse: ‘Hah, hah, hah, you do that little thing.’

P14. colloq. (orig. U.S.). any old thing: anything whatsoever.

1895 Newark (Ohio) Daily Advocate 21 Oct. 6/3 Spain seems to be in favor of any old thing but the truth.

1897 Harper’s Mag. Aug. 484/1 Golf is a game that is easily king, Since ‘tis played with golf clubs, not with any old thing.

1911 R. W. Chambers Common Law ii. 63 ‘Would you like to have a chance to study?’.. ‘Study? What?’ ‘Sculpture—any old thing!’

1990 R. Blount First Hubby 283 I’ve never felt free enough, before, to say any old thing that pops into my head, with feeling.

P15. to have another thing coming [arising from misapprehension of to have another think coming at think n. 1c] = to have another think coming at think n. 1c.

1906 G. Wilshire Wilshire Editorials 214 Now if we should try and think up some one person who is satisfied with the existing order of things.., we would most likely have thought that we should find him in the editor of the Wall Street Journal. But if we did, then we have another thing [1904 Wilshire’s Mag. think] coming.

1919 Syracuse (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.

1959 Lethbridge (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.’

1971 N.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.’

1981 J. 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.

1998 A. O’Hanlon Talk of Town (1999) I. iv. 60 If you think you’re getting into my knickers, you have another thing coming.

P16. colloq. (chiefly Brit.). there’s a thing: used to indicate (freq. emphatically) that something is remarkable; (now usually more generally) expressing (mild) surprise.

1910 D. C. Calthrop Tinsel & Gold v. 41 ‘Now, there’s a thing,’ she said, banging her strong hand on the table.

1928 W. McFee Pilgrims of Adversity viii. 106 ‘Now there’s a thing,’ mused James... ‘Why did he curse those two boatmen in English when they were Spanish chaps and he knows their lingo?’

1946 Times 5 Oct. 7/6 (advt.) Wool... Now there’s a thing... Always in season, never too hot—never too cold.

1989 J. Sullivan Only Fools & Horses (2000) II. 6th Ser. Episode 6. 127/1 Cassandra (Has picked up Del’s voxphone). Oh that’s a coincidence. My dad’s just come home with one of these. Del. Has he? Oh well, there’s a thing. Hope your mum’s pleased.

1994 S. Dawson Forsytes (1996) i. iv. 31 There’s a thing, now—never thought of the Forsytes as a paradigm!

P17. 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. a1926, although printed attestation is lacking.

1918 Bull. 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.

a1926 Cornish 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.

1949 L. 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.

1987 J. Franklin Molecules of Mind (1988) i. 20 We all have our allotment of shyness, stage fright, and things that go bump in the night.

2002 Sun-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.

Compounds

C1. General attrib. and objective.

1663 R. Boyle Some Considerations Usefulnesse Exper. Nat. Philos. i. 123 Matter cannot move it self, but requires to be mov’d by a Tectonic thing-creating Power.

1879 J. P. Yeatman Shemetic Origin Nations Western Europe iii. 48 It is admitted that originally the Scythians worshipped but one God, and that He was not identified with humanity, or the degrading thing-worship of the Egyptians.

1909 G. Tyrrell in Q. Rev. July 108 Those..who, as priests..are interested in the ‘thing-aspect’ of religion.

1909 G. Tyrrell in Q. Rev. July 108 His tendency to cleave to this ‘thing-element’ in religion.

1961 W. Percy Moviegoer iv. ii. 190 As the train rocks along on its unique voyage through space-time, thousands of tiny thing-events bombard us like cosmic particles.

1990 C. Paglia Sexual Personae i. 30 Thing-making, thing-preserving is central to male experience.

C2.

thing-word n. [compare German Dingwort noun (1829 or earlier)] Grammar (rare) a noun; (sometimes) spec. (a) a concrete noun; (b) (in O. Jespersen’s terminology) a count noun.

a1853 T. K. Arnold Henry’s Eng. Gram. (1853) 5 The names of all things are called substantives; that is, things that subsist, or have a substance. A substantive, therefore, is a ‘thing-word’.

1877 H. 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.

1914 O. 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.

1937 A. Smeaton tr. R. Carnap 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.

2001 Diacritics 31 51 The impulse needs to be understood in itself and independently of its instrument, the thing-word.

Derivatives

ˈthingal adj. rare relating to or concerned with things; = real adj.2 4a (in quot. 1857 used as n.).

1857 J. Hinton in Life (1885) vii. 132 This love might lead us away from thoughts of the real or thingal.

1884 Mind July 398 What he [sc. James Hinton] would probably call ‘thingal beauty’.

1974 A. J. Bahm Metaphysics ix. 34 The mutual ownership of all these aspects by each other constitutes ‘organicity’, which is itself an aspect of that which is substantial, of that which is functional, of that which is spatial, and of that which is thingal.

ˈthingish adj. having the nature of a thing; = thingy adj. 1.

1890 Open Court (U.S.) 5 June 2316/2 Yet is space no thingish entity, no tangible object.

1929 Philos. Rev. 38 222 A substrate does not have to be of a thingish nature; it may be purely imaginary.

1997 H. B. Wiebe Visions of Jesus v. 151 William James observed a century ago that the focus had shifted to consciousness or mental events—terms that have the advantage of sounding much less ‘thingish’ than soul or even mind.

ˈthinglet n. rare a little thing; a diminutive object or creature.

1839 T. Moore Jrnl. 11 June (1988) V. 2069 So bedizened was he with rings, ringlets and thinglets in all directions.

1890 Australian Girl I. xv. 203 Creatures on foot and on wing—thinglets that fly one moment and fall down helplessly the next.

2000 Slate Mag. (Nexis) 9 Aug., You can download the Reader plus some other stuff (including a cool little thinglet that lets you turn any Microsoft Word file into an eBook).

2007 Evening Standard (Nexis) 15 Jan. 13 The grownup female who cannot bear to read another word about a preening thinglet in her mid-twenties making more than a million a movie.

ˈthingling n. rare = thinglet n.

1652 E. Benlowes Theophila v. xxiv. 70 Poor thingling Man!

1772 T. Hollis Let. 28 Oct. in F. Blackburne Mem. T. Hollis (1780) I. 452 The character of the present Pope is interesting to me, a thingling, and in retreat.

1950 O. Nash Family Reunion 45 I’d rather shake hands with Mr. Ringling And tell him his circus is a beautiful thingling.

1971 J. Aiken Cuckoo Tree iii. 74 Come along then, come in quick before the Night Lady fly over. Come along, little thingling.

ˈthingship n. rare = thinghood n.

1697 J. Sergeant Solid Philos. 239 We can have..a Notion of the Thing..precisely according to its Thingship (as we may say) or Reality.

1917 H. C. Brown in J. Dewey et al. Creative Intelligence 157 Every reality is more than one thing... All attribution of ‘thingship’ is abstraction, and all particular things may be said to participate in higher, i.e., more abstract, levels of thingship.

† thingsomeness n. Obs. rare (app.) substantiality, substance.

1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 19 He that gives it a little reality or thingsomeness, cannot..be so sparing as to..give it no more.

—


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