Deeper Dive: things
things (thĭng), noun [AS. þing a thing, cause, assembly, judicial assembly; akin to þingan to negotiate, þingian to reconcile, conciliate, D. ding a thing, OS. thing thing, assembly, judicial assembly, G. ding a thing, formerly also, an assembly, court, Icel. þing a thing, assembly, court, Sw. & Dan. ting; perhaps originally used of the transaction of or before a popular assembly, or the time appointed for such an assembly; cf. G. dingen to bargain, hire, MHG. dingen to hold court, speak before a court, negotiate, Goth. þeihs time, perhaps akin to L. tempus time. Cf. Hustings, and Temporal of time.]
1. Whatever exists, or is conceived to exist, as a separate entity, whether animate or inanimate; any separable or distinguishable object of thought.
God made . . . every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind. Gen. i. 25.
He sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt. Gen. xiv. 23.
A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Keats.
2. An inanimate object, in distinction from a living being; any lifeless material.
Ye meads and groves, unconscious things! Cowper.
3. A transaction or occurrence; an event; a deed.
[And Jacob said] All these things are against me. Gen. xlii. 36.
Which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. Matt. xxi. 24.
4. A portion or part; something.
Wicked men who understand any thing of wisdom. Tillotson.
5. A diminutive or slighted object; any object viewed as merely existing; – often used in pity or contempt.
See, sons, what things you are! Shak.
The poor thing sighed, and . . . turned from me. Addison.
I’ll be this abject thing no more. Granville.
I have a thing in prose. Swift.
6. pl. Clothes; furniture; appurtenances; luggage; as, to pack or store one's things. [Colloq.]
☞ Formerly, the singular was sometimes used in a plural or collective sense.
And them she gave her moebles and her thing. Chaucer.
☞ Thing was used in a very general sense in Old English, and is still heard colloquially where some more definite term would be used in careful composition.
In the garden [he] walketh to and fro,
And hath his things [i. e., prayers, devotions] said full courteously. Chaucer.
Hearkening his minstrels their things play. Chaucer.
7. (Law) Whatever may be possessed or owned; a property; – distinguished from person.
8. [In this sense pronounced tĭng.] In Scandinavian countries, a legislative or judicial assembly. Longfellow.
Things personal (Law)
Same as Personal property, under Personal.
Things real
Same as Real property, under Real.
-- Webster's unabridged 1913
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