thou

plural ye · objective thee · reflexive thyself · determiner possessive thy · determiner possessive thine · possessive pronoun without noun thine · alternative tha · alternative Scotland thow · alternative Scotland thu · alternative Scotland du · alternative Orkney thoo · alternative obsolete yͧ

1. archaicdialectalliterarynominativesingularlifestyleNominative singular of ye (“you”).First known use chiefly up to early 17th c.

   [...] Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall giue thee light.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ephesians 5:14

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   Art thou in earnest about thy soul? and canst thou tell the Searcher of Hearts, Thou, O God, art the thing that I long for? Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I would love thee?

   1742 April 4, Charles Wesley, A Sermon Preached on Sunday, April 4, 1742. Before the University of Oxford, London: Printed by J. Paramore, […], published 1783, →OCLC, page 10

   Oh cold, cold, rigid, dreadful Death, set up thine altar here, and dress it with such terrors as thou hast at thy command: for this is thy dominion!

   1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Four. The Last of the Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 137

present singular third person thous · participle present thouing · participle past thoued · past thoued

1. transitiveTo address (a person) using the pronoun thou, especially as an expression of contempt or familiarity.

   Don’t thou them as thous thee! – a Yorkshire English admonition to overly familiar children

   5 more examples

   Avaunt, caitiff, dost thou thou me! / I am come of good kin, I tell thee! / My mother was a lady of the stews' blood born, / And (knight of the halter) my father ware an horn; / Therefore I take it in full great scorn, / That thou shouldest thus check me.

   c. 1530, “Hickscorner”, in W[illiam] Carew Hazlitt, editor, A Select Collection of Old English Plays. Originally Published by Robert Dodsley in the Year 1744. […], 4th edition, volume I, London: Reeves and Turner, […], published 1874, page 180

   [T]aunt him with the licenſe of Inke: if thou thou'ſt him some thrice, it ſhall not be amiſſe, and as many Lyes, as will lye in thy ſheete of paper, although the ſheete were bigge enough for the bedde of Ware in England, ſet 'em downe, go about it.

   c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 266

   Attorney. [Edward Coke, Attorney General for England and Wales] All that he [Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham] did was by thy Inſtigation, thou viper; for I thou thee, thou Traitor. / Raleigh. [Walter Raleigh] It becometh not a Man of Quality and Virtue, to call me ſo: But I take comfort in it, it is all you can do.

   1603 November 26, “The Tryal of Sir Walter Raleigh Kt. at Winton, on Thursday the 17th of November, Anno. Dom. 1603. in the First Year of King James the First”, in [Thomas Salmon], editor, A Compleat Collection of State-Tryals, and Proceedings upon Impeachment for High Treason, and Other Crimes and Misdemeanours; […] In Four Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for Timothy Goodwin, […]; John Walthoe […]; Benj[amin] Tooke […]; John Darby […]; Jacob Tonson […]; and John Walthoe Jun. […], published 1719, →OCLC, page 177, column 2

   What! doſt thou not believe that God's Thouing and Theeing was and is ſound Speech? [...] And Theeing & Thouing of one ſingle Perſon was the language of Chriſt Jeſus, and the Holy Prophets and Apoſtles both under the Diſpenſations of Law and Goſpel, [...]

   1677, William Gibson, “An Answer to John Cheyney’s Pamphlet Entituled The Shibboleth of Quakerism”, in The Life of God, which is the Light and Salvation of Men, Exalted: […], [London]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 134

   The emperors before Rodolphus I. ſent all their mandates in Latin, thouing every prince, as the grammar of that language allows. This thouing of the counts of the empire was continued in the German language which diſallows ſuch expreſſions.

   1755, [Voltaire [pseudonym; François-Marie Arouet]], “Ferdinand III. Forty-seventh Emperor.”, in Annals of the Empire from the Reign of Charlemagne […] In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 257

   Synonyms: thee · Antonyms: you

2. intransitiveTo use the word thou.

   The hardcore role-players will wake up one day feeling, like a dead weight on their chest, the strain of endless texting in Renaissance Faire English—yet dutifully go on theeing and thouing all the same.

   2006, Julian Dibbell, chapter 5, in Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, →ISBN

   1 more example

   You want to hear the word of God, and be challenged to go out and change the world. Instead, you are, for the fifth Sunday in a row, mewling on about purple-headed mountains (which is a bit of an imaginative stretch, since you live in East Anglia) and "theeing" and "thouing" all over the place.

   2009, David R. Keeston [pseudonym; Alan D. Jenkins], “Seeing God in the Ordinary”, in The Hitch Hikers’ Guide to the Gospel, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 39

   Synonyms: thee · Antonyms: you

plural thous

1. A unit of length equal to one thousandth of an inch (25.4 µm).

   We just wanted to take off a few thou, which we easily did with fine sandpaper.

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   But to continue, "At Horwich they had gone all scientific, and talked in 'thous.,' though apparently some of their work was to the nearest half-inch. […]."

   1946 November and December, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 344

   All these methods remove metal and can, in fact, remove a few thou from the surface. For accurately machined parts, therefore, none of these methods are suitable but wet blasting with a fine alumina which gives a polishing–cleaning action may be operated within the required tolerances.

   1984, Robert D. Adams, William C. Wake, “Surface Preparation”, in Structural Adhesive Joints in Engineering, Barking, Essex: Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, published 1986, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 220–221

   Make no mistake, we’re talking about some major repositioning; the rear ends of the cones didn’t move just a few thou’ or even 1/4 or 1/2 inch in one direction. These beauties moved around big time.

   2000, Mike Bishop, Vern Tardel, “Bells and Whistles”, in How to Build a Traditional Ford Hot Rod, revised edition, Osceola, Wis.: MBI Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 131, column 2

   Synonyms: mil, mill

plural thous

1. slangA thousand, especially a thousand of some currency (dollars, pounds sterling, etc.).

   Whoa there, big spender — that'll cost you a few thou. Are you sure you can afford it?

   4 more examples

   Butch [Cassidy] gave him 3 thous in cash 1 thous for the lawyer another thous if the lawyer wins & 1 thous for Tom O'Day.

   1977, Larry Pointer, “Belle Fourche”, in In Search of Butch Cassidy (Red River Books), Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1988, →ISBN, page 132

   He has a few thou in the account, enough to make your everyday living expenses, not enough to keep current with the bigger bills.

   1999, Don Winslow, chapter 58, in California Fire and Life, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN; 1st Vintage Crime/Black Lizard edition, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, September 2007, →ISBN, page 169

   Well, we'll need a few thou, Carlos. Got to get together a few thou first. For rent, you know. Rent and making contacts with artists, all that.

   2000 November, Sheri S[tewart] Tepper, “Benita”, in The Fresco, New York, N.Y.: Eos, HarperCollins, →ISBN; 1st Eos paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Eos, HarperCollins, February 2002, →ISBN, page 17

   Loder (Paxton): Gonna be a game changer. Cut our onscene time in half. And I’m setting up a dedicated dispatch. No more listening and driving. You like the Canon 300s? Bloom (Gyllenhaal): I never used one. Loder: Six thou a piece. 2.4 megapixels, night vision, 18-to-1 zoom, image stabilizing. I got one with your name on it.

   2014, Dan Gilroy, edited by John Gilroy, directed by Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler (motion picture), spoken by Joe Loder and Louis "Lou" Bloom (Bill Paxton and Jake Gyllenhaal)

   Synonyms: grand, G, large, K, k

1. misspellingnot comparableMisspelling of though.

1. misspellingMisspelling of though.

1. honorificHonorific alternative letter-case form of thou, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.