think transitive verb [imperfect or past participle Thought; present participle or verbal noun Thinking.] [OE. thinken, properly, to seem, from AS. þyncean (cf. Methinks), but confounded with OE. thenken to think, fr. AS. þencean (imp. þōhte); akin to D. denken, dunken, OS. thenkian, thunkian, G. denken, dünken, Icel. þekkja to perceive, to know, þykkja to seem, Goth. þagkjan, þaggkjan, to think, þygkjan to think, to seem, OL. tongere to know. Cf. Thank, Thought.]

1. To seem or appear; – used chiefly in the expressions methinketh or methinks, and methought.

☞ These are genuine Anglo-Saxon expressions, equivalent to it seems to me, it seemed to me. In these expressions me is in the dative case.

2. To employ any of the intellectual powers except that of simple perception through the senses; to exercise the higher intellectual faculties.

For that I am
I know, because I think. Dryden.

3. Specifically: – (a) To call anything to mind; to remember; as, I would have sent the books, but I did not think of it.

Well thought upon; I have it here. Shak.

(b) To reflect upon any subject; to muse; to meditate; to ponder; to consider; to deliberate.

And when he thought thereon, he wept. Mark xiv. 72.

He thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? Luke xii. 17.

(c) To form an opinion by reasoning; to judge; to conclude; to believe; as, I think it will rain to-morrow.

Let them marry to whom they think best. Num. xxxvi. 6.

(d) To purpose; to intend; to design; to mean.

I thought to promote thee unto great honor. Num. xxiv. 11.

Thou thought’st to help me. Shak.

(e) To presume; to venture.

Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father. Matt. iii. 9.

☞ To think, in a philosophical use as yet somewhat limited, designates the higher intellectual acts, the acts preeminently rational; to judge; to compare; to reason. Thinking is employed by Hamilton as “comprehending all our collective energies.” It is defined by Mansel as “the act of knowing or judging by means of concepts,”by Lotze as “the reaction of the mind on the material supplied by external influences.” See Thought.

To think better of

See under Better.

To think much of

or

To think well of

to hold in esteem; to esteem highly.

Syn. – To expect; guess; cogitate; reflect; ponder; contemplate; meditate; muse; imagine; suppose; believe. See Expect, Guess.

Think, transitive verb
1. To conceive; to imagine.

Charity . . . thinketh no evil. 1 Cor. xiii. 4,5.

2. To plan or design; to plot; to compass. [Obs.]

So little womanhood
And natural goodness, as to think the death
Of her own son. Beau. & Fl.

3. To believe; to consider; to esteem.

Nor think superfluous other's aid. Milton.

-- Webster's unabridged 1913