subs. (old colloquial).—1. In familiar usage (admiration, pity, scorn, or endearment) = a living creature, male or female: e.g., SWEET THING (an old endearment); a POOR THING (a pitiful object); ‘YOU THING!’; a THING OF A MAN (contemptuously: also A THING TO THANK GOD ON (SHAKESPEARE); a MERE THING in one’s hands = a puppet, a nonentity; ALL THAT SORT OF THING = hardly worth notice, NO CLASS (q.v.), etc., etc.
c. 1440. Eglamour [Camden Society], 616.
| Seyde Organata that SWETE THYNGE, | |
| ‘Y schalle geve the a gode golde rynge, | |
| Wyth a fulle ryche stone.’ |
[?]. Guy of Warwick [E.E.T.S., 4521].
| Gye starte to þat maydyn ȝynge, | |
| And seyde, ‘make no dole, my SWETE ÞYNGE.’ |
1363. LANGLAND, Piers Plowman [E.E.T.S.], 262. [A beggar is called] ‘a POURE THING.’
d. 1536. TYNDALE, Works, ii. 120. [Tyndale speaks of Christ as] ‘a THING soft and gentle.’
1542. UDALL, The Apophthegmes of Erasmus, 270. Augustus beyng yet a YOUNG THING vnder mannes state.
1565. ASCHAM, The Scholemaster (1711), i. 42. If he be bashful, and will soon blush, they call him a babish and ill brought up THING.
1598. SHAKESPEARE, 1 Henry IV., iii. 3. 129. For womanhood Maid Marian may be the deputy’s wife of the ward to thee; go, YOU THING, go.
1633. FORD, The Broken Heart, ii. 3.
| THING of talk, begone! | |
| Begone, without reply! |
1707. WARD, Hudibras Redivivus, II. v. 24. You little Thingum of a THING.
2. (venery).—(a) The penis: see PRICK; (b) the pudendum: see MONOSYLLABLE. Hence (GROSE) ‘Mr Thingstable, a ludicrous affectation for Mr Constable.’ Fr. chose.
1610. JONSON, The Alchemist, v. 1.
| Sure he has got | |
| Some bawdy pictures … or the new motion | |
| Of the knight’s courser covering the parson’s mare; | |
| The boy of six year old with the great THING. |
d. 1631. DONNE, Satires, vi. [CHALMERS, English Poets, v. 160. 2].
| I found him thoroughly taught | |
| In curing burns. His THING had had more scars | |
| Than T—— himself. |
1653. URQUHART, Rabelais, i. xi. Madam, do you cut little children’s THINGS? Were his cut off, he would be then Monsieur Sans-queue.
1700. FARQUHAR, The Constant Couple, iv. 3. Lady L. And what shall I give you for such a fine thing [a ring]? Sir H. You’ll give me another, you’ll give me another fine THING.
17[?]. POPE, Sober Advice from Horace (WARTON, vi.).
| Did I demand, in my most vigorous hour, | |
| A THING descended from the Conqueror | |
| (‘Magno prognatum deposco connue cunnum’)? |
1707. WARD, Terræ Filius, I. v. 7. Pray Mr Whorehound of a THINGSTABLE.…
1772. BRIDGES, A Burlesque Translation of Homer, 62.
| [She] hated Paris in her heart, | |
| Because he’d seen her shady spring, | |
| And did not think it was THE THING | |
| … no matter whether | |
| They’d singly shew’d or both together. |
3. (colloquial).—In pl. = (a) belongings; STICKS (q.v.); TRAPS (q.v.); and (b) clothes: as in the phrase ‘Put on your THINGS.’
1383. CHAUCER, The Canterbury Tales, ‘Second Nun’s Tale,’ 540. And hem she yaf hire mebles and hire THING.
c. 1400. Towneley Mysteries [Camden Society], 47. [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 200. Property appears as] our THYNGES.
1593. SHAKESPEARE, Taming of the Shrew, iv. 3. Ruffs and cuffs and farthingales and THINGS.
1775. SHERIDAN, Duenna, i. 3. I suppose you don’t mean to detain my apparel—I may have my THINGS, I presume?
1899. R. WHITEING, No. 5 John Street, iv. By this time the heroine of the adventure has gathered up her ‘THINGS.’
THE THING, subs. phr. (colloquial).—1. What is right, proper, becoming, fashionable, etc.
1759–62. GOLDSMITH, The Citizen of the World, lxxvii. It is at once rich, tasty, and quite THE THING.
1781. JOHNSON [BOSWELL, Life, viii. 64]. A bishop’s calling company together in this week is, to use the vulgar phrase, not THE THING.
1809. MALKIN, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 136. Young men of fashion are THE THING for me.
1814. AUSTEN, Mansfield Park, xii. It is quite delightful, ma’am, to see young people so properly happy, so well suited, and so much THE THING.
1823. Song [quoted by BEE in Dictionary of the Turf].
| I know I’m THE THING, | |
| And I wish I may swing, | |
| If I arn’t now a nice natty crop. |
1834. W. H. AINSWORTH, Rookwood, iii. 5. Just twig his swell kicksies and pipes; if they ain’t THE THING, I’m done.
1863. DORAN, Their Majesties’ Servants, I. 182. It was THE THING to look upon the company unless some irresistible attraction drew attention to the stage.
1868. WHYTE-MELVILLE, The White Rose, I. v. Tangible advantage was THE THING after all.
1873. ARNOLD, Literature and Dogma, Preface. [A state church] is in itself … unimportant. THE THING is to re-cast religion.
1882. Punch, lxxxii. 193. They had low foreheads, and had big ‘button-holes,’ for so they termed the flowers it was ‘THE THING’ to wear.
1901. Free Lance, 9 Feb., 470. 2. By the time the boom was at its height it had become THE THING for ladies … to gamble in ‘Chartereds,’ and ‘Goldfields,’ and ‘Simmers.’
2. (thieves’).—In pl. = base coin.
See KNOW; SOFT; HANDSOME (adding quot. infra), and GOOD THING.
1857. T. HUGHES, Tom Brown’s School-days, i. 5. You see I’m doing the HANDSOME THING by you, because my father knows yours.
