Emily Dickinson Lexicon

THICK'SKULL-ED, a.

Dull; heavy; stupid; slow to learn.

THICK'SPRUNG, a. [thick and sprung.]

Sprung up close together. Entick. Shak.

THIEF, n. [plur. Thieves. Sax. theof; Sw. tiuf; D. dief; G. dieb; Goth. thiubs; Dan. tyv.]

1. A person guilty of theft.
2. One who secretly, unlawfully and feloniously takes the goods or personal property of another. The thief takes the property of another privately; the robber by open force. Blackstone.
3. One who takes the property of another wrongfully, either secretly or by violence. Job xxx. A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his raiment. Luke x.
4. One who seduces by false doctrine. John x.
5. One who makes it his business to cheat and defraud; as, a den of thieves. Matth. xxi.
6. An excrescence or waster in the snuff of a candle. May.

THIEF-CATCH-ER, n. [thief and catch.]

One who catches thieves, or whose business is to detect thieves and bring them to justice.

THIEF-LEAD-ER, n. [thief and lead.]

One who leads or takes a thief. [Not much used.]

THIEF-TAK-ER, n. [thief and taker.]

One whose business is to find and take thieves and bring them to justice.

THIEVE, v.i. [from thief.]

To steal; to practice theft.

THIEVE-RY, n.

1. The practice of stealing; theft. [See Theft.] Among the Spartans, thievery was a practice morally good and honest. Sauth.
2. That which is stolen. Shak.

THIEV-ISH, a.

1. Given to stealing; addicted to the practice of theft; as, a thievish boy. Or with a base and boist'rous sword enforce / A thievish living on the common road. Shak.
2. Secret; sly; acting by stealth; as, thievish minutes. Shak.
3. Partaking of the nature of theft; as, a thievish practice.

THIEV'ISH-LY, adv.

In a thievish manner; by theft.

THIEV'ISH-NESS, n.

1. The disposition to steal.
2. The practice or habit of stealing.

THIGH, n. [Sax. thegh, theo or theoh; D. dye; G. dick-bein, thick-bone. The German explains the word; thigh is thick.]

That part of men, quadrupeds and fowls, which is between the leg and the trunk. As the word signifies, it is the thick part of the lower limbs.

THILK, pron. [Sax. thilc.]

The same. [Obs.] Spenser.

THILL, n. [Sax. thil or thill.]

The shaft of a cart, gig or other carriage. The thills are the two pieces of timber extending from the body of the carriage on each side of the last horse, by which the carriage is supported in a horizontal position.

THILL'ER, or THILL'-HORSE, n.

The horse which goes between the thills or shafts, and supports them. In a team, the last horse. Cyc. Shak.

THIM'BLE, n. [I know not the origin or primary sense of this word. Possibly it may be from thumb. In Gaelic, temeheal is a cover.]

1. A kind of cap or cover for the finger, usually made of metal, used by tailors and seamstresses for driving the needle through cloth.
2. In sea language, an iron ring with a hollow or groove round its whole circumference, to receive the rope which is splised about it. Mar. Dict.

THIM'BLE-RIG, n.

A low game with three thimbles and a ball.

THIME, n. [See THYME.]

THIN, a. [Sax. thinn, thynn; G. dünn; D. dun; Sw. tunn; Dan. tynd; W. tenau, teneu; L. tenuis; Gaelic, tanadh; Russ. tonkei. Qu. Gr. στενος, narrow. It appears to be connected with W. ten, tan, stretched, extended, Gr. τεινω. Qa. Ar. وَدَنَ wadana. In sense it is allied to Syr. Heb. Ch. and Eth. קטן, but I know not whether the first consonant of this word is a prefix. See Class Dn, No. 12, 25.]

1. Having little thickness or extent from one surface to the opposite; as, a thin plate of metal; thin paper; a thin board; a thin covering.
2. Rare; not dense; applied to fluids or soft mixtures; as, thin blood; thin milk; thin air. In the day when the air is more thin. Bacon.
3. Not close; not crowded; not filling the space; not having the individuals that compose the thing in a close or compact state; as, the trees of a forest are thin; the corn or grass is thin. A thin audience in church is not uncommon. Important legislative business should not be transacted in a thin house.
4. Not full or well grown. Seven thin cars. Gen xli.
5. Slim; small; slender; lean. A person becomes thin by disease. Some animals are naturally thin.
6. Exile; small; fine; not full. Thin hollow sounds, and lamentable screams. Dryden.
7. Not thick or close; of a loose texture; not impervious to the sight; as, a thin vail.
8. Not crowded or well stocked; not abounding. Ferrara is very large, but extremely thin of people. Addison.
9. Slight; not sufficient for a covering; as, a thin disguise.

THIN, adv.

Not thickly or closely; a scattered state; as, seed sown thin. Spain is thin sown of people. Bacon.

THIN, v.t. [Sax. thinnian; Russ. tonyu; L. tenuo. See Attenuate.]

1. To make thin; to make rare or less thick; to attenuate; as, to thin the blood.
2. To make less close, crowded or numerous; as, to thin the ranks of an enemy; to thin the trees or shrubs of a thicket.
3. To attenuate; to rarefy; to make less dense; as, to thin the air; to thin the vapors. Thin out, in geology: when strata diminish in thickness until they disappear, they are said to thin out.

THINE, a. [pronominal adj. Goth. theins; theina; Sax. thin; G. dein; Fr. tien; probably contracted from thigen. See Thou.]

Thy; belonging to thee; relating to thee; being the property of thee. It was formerly used for thy, before a vowel. Then thou mightest eat grapes thy fill, at thine own pleasure. Deut. xxxii. But in common usage, thy is now used before a vowel in all cases. The principal use of thine now is when a verb is interposed between this word and the noun to which it refers. I will not take any thing that is thine. Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory. In the following passage, thine is used as a substitute for thy righteousness. I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. Ps. lxxi. In some cases it is preceded by the sign of the possessive case, like nouns, and is then also to be considered as a substitute. If any of thine be driven out to the utmost parts of heaven. Deut. xxx. It is to be observed that thine, like thou, is used only in the solemn style. In familiar and common language, your and yours are always used in the singular number as well as the plural.

THING, n. [Sax. thing, a thing, a cause; for his thingon, for his cause or sake; also, thing and gething, a meeting, council or convention; thingan, thingian, to hold a meeting, to plead, to supplicate; thingere, an intercessor; thingung, intercession; G. ding, a thing, a court; dingen, to go to law, to hire or haggle; Dingstag, Tuesday, (thing's day;) beding, condition, clause; bedingen, to agree, to bargain or contract, to cheapen; D. ding, thing, business; dingen, to plead, to attempt, to cheapen; dingbank, the bar; dingdagen, session-days; dinger, dingster, a pleader; dingtaal, plea; Dingsdag, Tuesday; beding, condition, agreement; bedingen, to condition; Sw. ting, thing, cause, also a court, assizes; tinga, to hire, bargain or agree; Dan. ting, a thing, affair, business, case, a court of justice; tinger, to strike up a bargain, to haggle; tingbog, records of a court, (thing-book;) tingdag, the court day, the assizes; tinghold, jurisdiction; tingmænd, jurors, jury, (thing-men;) tingsag, a cause or suit at law, (thing-sake.) The primary sense of thing is that which comes, falls or happens, like event, from L. evenio. The primary sense of the root, which is tig or thig, is to press, urge, drive or strain, and hence its application to courts, or suits at law; a seeking of right. We observe that Dingsdag, Dingdag, in some of the dialects signifies Tuesday, and this from the circumstance that that day of the week was, as it still is in some states, the day of opening courts; that is, litigation day, or suitors' day, a day of striving for justice; or perhaps combat-day, the day of trial by battle. This leads to the unfolding of another fact. Among our ancestors, Tig or Tiig, was the name of the deity of combat and war, the Teutonic Mars; that is, strife, combat deified. This word was contracted into tiw or tu, and hence Tiwes-dæg or Tues-dæg, Tuesday, the day consecrated to Tiig, the god of war. But it seems this is merely the day of commencing court and trial; litigation day. This Tiig, the god of war, is strife, and this leads us to the root of thing, which is to drive, urge, strive. So res, in Latin, is connected with reus, accused. For words of like signification, see Sake and Cause.]

1. An event or action; that which happens or falls out, or that which is done, told, or proposed. This is the general signification of the word in the Scriptures; as, after these things, that is, events. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight, because of his son. Gen. xxi. Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the Lord. Gen. xxiv. And Jacob said, All these things are against me. Gen. xlii. I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Matth. xxi.. These things said Esaias when he saw his glory. John xii. In learning French, choose such books as will teach you things as well as language. Jay to Littlepage.
2. Any substance; that which is created; any particular article or commodity. He sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt. Gen. xlii. They took the things which Micah had made. Judges xviii.
3. An animal; as, every living thing; every creeping thing. Gen. i. [This application of the word is improper, but common in popular and vulgar language.]
4. A portion or part; something. Wicked men who understand any thing of wisdom. Tillotson.
5. In contempt. I have a thing in prose. Swift.
6. Used of persons in contempt. See, sons, what things you are. Shak. The poor thing sigh'd. Addison. I'll be this abject thing no more. Granville.
7. Used in a sense of honor. I see thee here, / Thou noble thing! Shak.

THINK, v.i. [pret. and pp. thought, pron. thaut. Sax. thincan, thencan; Goth. thagkyan; Sw. tycka and tænka; Dan. tykker and tænker; D. denken, to think, and gedagt, thought; G. denken, to think, and gedächtniss, remembrance; gedanke, thought; nachdenken, to ponder or meditate; Gr. δοκεω; Syr. and Ch. דוק; allied to L. duco. We observe n is casual, and omitted in the participle thought. The sense seems to be to set in the mind, or to draw out, as in meditation. Class Dg, No. 9.]

1. To have the mind occupied on some subject; to have ideas, or to revolve ideas in the mind. For that I am / I know, because I think. Dryden. These are not matters to be slightly thought on. Tillotson.
2. To judge; to conclude; to hold as a settled opinion. I think it will rain to-morrow. I think it not best to proceed on our journey. Let them marry to whom they think best. Numb. xxxvi.
3. To intend. Thou thought'st to help me. Shak. I thought to promote thee to great honor. Numb. xxiv.
4. To imagine; to suppose; to fancy. Edmund, I think, is gone / In pity of his misery, to dispatch / His 'nighted life. Shak. Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. 1 Cor. x.
5. To muse; to meditate. While Peter thought on the vision. Acts x. Think much, speak little. Dryden.
6. To reflect; to recollect or call to mind. And when Peter thought thereon, he wept. Mark xiv.
7. To consider; to deliberate. Think how this thing could happen. He thought within himself, saying, What shall I do? Luke xii.
8. To presume. Think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father. Matth. iii.
9. To believe; to esteem. To think on or upon, to muse on; to meditate on. If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. Phil. iv. #2. To light on by meditation. He has just thought on an expedient that will answer the purpose. #3. To remember with favor. Think upon me, my God, for good. Neh. v. To think of, to have ideas come into the mind. He thought of what you told him. I would have sent the books, but I did not think of it. To think well of, to hold in esteem; to esteem.

THINK, v.t.

1. To conceive; to imagine. Charity thinketh no evil. 1 Cor. xiii.
2. To believe; to consider; to esteem. Nor think superfluous others' aid. Milton.
3. To seem or appear, as in the phrases, me thinketh or methinks, and methought. These are genuine Saxon phrases, equivalent to it seems to me, it seemed to me. In these expressions, me is actually in the dative case; almost the only instance remaining in the language. Sax. “genoh thuht,” satis visum est, it appeared enough or sufficient; “me thincth,” mihi videtur, it seems to me; I perceive. To think much, to grudge. He thought not much to clothe his enemies. Milton. To think much of, to hold in high esteem. To think scorn, to disdain. Esth. iii.