thought imperfect or past participle of Think.

noun [OE. þoght, þouht, AS. þōht, geþōht, fr. þencean to think; akin to D. gedachte thought, MHG. dāht, gedāht, Icel. þōttr, þōtti. See Think.]

1. The act of thinking; the exercise of the mind in any of its higher forms; reflection; cogitation.

Thought can not be superadded to matter, so as in any sense to render it true that matter can become cogitative. Dr. T. Dwight.

2. Meditation; serious consideration.

Pride, of all others the most dangerous fault,
Proceeds from want of sense or want of thought. Roscommon.

3. That which is thought; an idea; a mental conception, whether an opinion, judgment, fancy, purpose, or intention.

Thus Bethel spoke, who always speaks his thought. Pope.

Why do you keep alone, . . .
Using those thoughts which should indeed have died
With them they think on? Shak.

Thoughts come crowding in so fast upon me, that my only difficulty is to choose or to reject. Dryden.

All their thoughts are against me for evil. Ps. lvi. 5.

4. Solicitude; anxious care; concern.

Hawis was put in trouble, and died with thought and anguish before his business came to an end. Bacon.

Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink. Matt. vi. 25.

5. A small degree or quantity; a trifle; as, a thought longer; a thought better. [Colloq.]

If the hair were a thought browner. Shak.

☞ Thought, in philosophical usage now somewhat current, denotes the capacity for, or the exercise of, the very highest intellectual functions, especially those usually comprehended under judgment.

This [faculty], to which I gave the name of the “elaborative faculty,” – the faculty of relations or comparison, – constitutes what is properly denominated thought. Sir W. Hamilton.

Syn. – Idea; conception; imagination; fancy; conceit; notion; supposition; reflection; consideration; meditation; contemplation; cogitation; deliberation.