Thing

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
thing
    n 1: a special situation; "this thing has got to end"; "it is a
         remarkable thing"
    2: an action; "how could you do such a thing?"
    3: a special abstraction; "a thing of the spirit"; "things of
       the heart"
    4: an artifact; "how does this thing work?"
    5: an event; "a funny thing happened on the way to the..."
    6: a vaguely specified concern; "several matters to attend to";
       "it is none of your affair"; "things are going well" [syn:
       {matter}, {affair}, {thing}]
    7: a statement regarded as an object; "to say the same thing in
       other terms"; "how can you say such a thing?"
    8: an entity that is not named specifically; "I couldn't tell
       what the thing was"
    9: any attribute or quality considered as having its own
       existence; "the thing I like about her is ..."
    10: a special objective; "the thing is to stay in bounds"
    11: a persistent illogical feeling of desire or aversion; "he
        has a thing about seafood"; "she has a thing about him"
    12: a separate and self-contained entity
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Thing \Thing\ (th[i^]ng), n. [AS. [thorn]ing a thing, cause,
   assembly, judicial assembly; akin to [thorn]ingan to
   negotiate, [thorn]ingian to reconcile, conciliate, D. ding a
   thing, OS. thing thing, assembly, judicial assembly, G. ding
   a thing, formerly also, an assembly, court, Icel. [thorn]ing
   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. [thorn]eihs 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.
      [1913 Webster]

            God made . . . every thing that creepeth upon the
            earth after his kind.                 --Gen. i. 25.
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            He sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the
            good things of Egypt.                 --Gen. xiv.
                                                  23.
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            A thing of beauty is a joy forever.   --Keats.
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   2. An inanimate object, in distinction from a living being;
      any lifeless material.
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            Ye meads and groves, unconscious things! --Cowper.
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   3. A transaction or occurrence; an event; a deed.
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            [And Jacob said] All these things are against me.
                                                  --Gen. xlii.
                                                  36.
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            Which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by
            what authority I do these things.     --Matt. xxi.
                                                  24.
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   4. A portion or part; something.
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            Wicked men who understand any thing of wisdom.
                                                  --Tillotson.
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   5. A diminutive or slighted object; any object viewed as
      merely existing; -- often used in pity or contempt.
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            See, sons, what things you are!       --Shak.
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            The poor thing sighed, and . . . turned from me.
                                                  --Addison.
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            I'll be this abject thing no more.    --Granville.
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            I have a thing in prose.              --Swift.
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   6. pl. Clothes; furniture; appurtenances; luggage; as, to
      pack or store one's things. [Colloq.]
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   Note: Formerly, the singular was sometimes used in a plural
         or collective sense.
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               And them she gave her moebles and her thing.
                                                  --Chaucer.
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   Note: 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.
         [1913 Webster]

               In the garden [he] walketh to and fro,
               And hath his things [i. e., prayers, devotions]
               said full courteously.             --Chaucer.
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               Hearkening his minstrels their things play.
                                                  --Chaucer.
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   7. (Law) Whatever may be possessed or owned; a property; --
      distinguished from person.
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   8. [In this sense pronounced t[i^]ng.] In Scandinavian
      countries, a legislative or judicial assembly.
      --Longfellow.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Things personal}. (Law) Same as {Personal property}, under
      {Personal}.

   {Things real}. Same as {Real property}, under {Real}.
      [1913 Webster] Thing
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Thing \Thing\, Ting \Ting\, n. [Dan. thing, ting, Norw. ting, or
   Sw. ting.]
   In Scandinavian countries, a legislative or judicial
   assembly; -- used, esp. in composition, in titles of such
   bodies. See {Legislature}, Norway.
   [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
    
from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
285 Moby Thesaurus words for "thing":
      accomplished fact, accomplishment, achievement, act, acta, action,
      activities, activity, adventure, affair, affairs, affection,
      affinity, an existence, apparatus, apparel, area, article,
      artifact, aspect, attire, attitude, aversion, bag, baggage, being,
      belongings, bent, bias, blow, body, business, case, chance,
      chattels, chore, chosen kind, circumstance, circumstances, clobber,
      clothes, clothing, commerce, concern, concernment, concerns,
      constituent, contrivance, count, coup, crap, craze, creature,
      critter, cry, cup of tea, datum, dealings, deed, detail,
      detestation, device, dingus, dislike, dofunny, dohickey, doing,
      doings, dojigger, dojiggy, domajig, domajigger, doodad, dowhacky,
      dress, druthers, duds, effects, effort, element, employ,
      employment, endeavor, entelechy, enterprise, entity, episode,
      eppes, equipment, etwas, event, events, existence, existent,
      exploit, facet, fact, factor, fad, fait accompli, fancy, fashion,
      favor, fear, feat, feature, feeling, fetish, field, fixation,
      flumadiddle, forte, function, furore, gadget, gear, gest,
      gigamaree, gimmick, gizmo, go, goods, habiliments, hand, handiwork,
      hang-up, happening, happenings, hickey, hootenanny, hootmalalie,
      horror, idee fixe, impedimenta, implements, incident, incidental,
      inclination, individual, instance, instrument, interest, item,
      jigger, job, junk, labor, lares and penates, leaning, life, liking,
      line, loathing, long suit, lookout, love, luggage, main interest,
      maneuver, mania, manner, material, material thing, matter, matters,
      measure, mechanism, metier, minor detail, minutia, minutiae, mode,
      monad, movables, move, object, obsession, occasion, occupation,
      operation, opportunity, organism, overt act, paraphernalia,
      partiality, particular, particular choice, passage, passion,
      performance, person, persona, personal choice, personality,
      pet subject, phobia, point, possession, possessions, possibility,
      predilection, predisposition, preference, prejudice, preoccupation,
      prepossession, proceeding, proclivity, production, pursuit,
      quelque chose, quirk, rage, raiment, reaction, regard, res gestae,
      respect, responsibility, right, rightfulness, rightness, sentiment,
      service, shit, something, soul, specialism, speciality,
      specialization, specialty, step, stroke, strong point, stuff,
      stunt, style, subject, substance, task, taste, technicality,
      tendency, terror, the last word, the latest thing,
      the latest wrinkle, the proper thing, the rage, the seemly,
      the thing, thing done, things, thingum, thingumabob, thingumadad,
      thingumadoodle, thingumajig, thingumajigger, thingumaree,
      thingummy, togs, tools, tour de force, transaction, traps, trend,
      tricks, turn, type, undertaking, unit, utensil, utensils, vocation,
      vogue, way, weakness, what is done, what is right, what should be,
      whatchy, widget, work, works

    

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