think
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English thinken, thynken, thenken, thenchen, from Old English þenċan, from Proto-West Germanic *þankijan, from Proto-Germanic *þankijaną (“to think”), from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to think, feel, know”).
Cognate with Scots think, thynk (“to think”), North Frisian teenk, taanke, tanke, tånke (“to think”), Saterland Frisian toanke (“to think”), West Frisian tinke (“to think”), Dutch denken (“to think”), Afrikaans dink (“to think”), Low German denken, dinken (“to think”), German denken (“to think”), Danish tænke (“to think”), Swedish tänka (“to think”), Norwegian Bokmål tenke (“to think”), Norwegian Nynorsk tenkja (“to think”), Icelandic þekkja (“to know, recognise, identify, perceive”), Latin tongeō (“know”).
Verb
think (third-person singular simple present thinks, present participle thinking, simple past and past participle thought)
- (transitive) To ponder, to go over in one's head.
- Idly, the detective thought what his next move should be.
- 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills, […] a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
- (intransitive) To communicate to oneself in one's mind, to try to find a solution to a problem.
- I thought for three hours about the problem and still couldn’t find the solution.
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
- Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”
- (intransitive) To conceive of something or someone (usually followed by of; infrequently, by on).
- I tend to think of her as rather ugly.
- 2013 August 3, “Revenge of the nerds”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
- Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.
- (transitive) To be of opinion (that); to consider, judge, regard, or look upon (something) as.
- At the time I thought his adamant refusal to give in right.
- I hope you won’t think me stupid if I ask you what that means.
- I think she is pretty, contrary to most people.
- Boxing is thought to be a dangerous sport.
- 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 I, scene ii], page 255, column 2:
- My brother he is in Elizium, / Perchance he is not drown'd: What thinke you, ſaylors?.
- 1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, Chapter IX. "The Sea and the Desert", page 182.
- […] one man showed me a young oak which he had transplanted from behind the town, thinking it an apple-tree.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter III, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.
- (transitive) To guess; to reckon.
- I think she’ll pass the examination.
- To plan; to be considering; to be of a mind (to do something).
- 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
- The cupbearer shrugged up his shoulders in displeasure. "I thought to have lodged him in the solere chamber," said he […]
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- “Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.
- To presume; to venture.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 3:9:
- Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.
- (informal, used to show obviousness or agreement) Ellipsis of think so.
- These plants are dead.
Uh, you think?
Conjugation
Synonyms
- (ponder): See Thesaurus:ponder
- (communicate to oneself in one's mind): See Thesaurus:think
- (be of the opinion (that)): See Thesaurus:have opinion
- (guess, reckon): guess See Thesaurus:suppose
- (consider, judge, regard something as): See Thesaurus:deem
Derived terms
- bethink
- close one's eyes and think of England
- come to think of it
- don't even think about it
- do you think you can walk
- forethink
- give someone something to think about
- great minds think alike
- group-think
- have another think
- hear oneself think
- I don't think
- I don't think so
- ill-thought-out
- I think so
- I think therefore I am
- I thought you'd never ask
- lie back and think of England
- makes you think
- overthink
- quick-thinking
- rethink
- shut one's eyes and think of England
- straight-thinking
- think about
- think again
- think all one's Christmases have come at once
- think aloud
- think aloud protocol
- think-aloud protocol
- think back
- think better of
- think big
- thinker
- think factory
- think fast
- think for oneself
- think good
- think little of
- think meat
- think much of
- think no end of oneself
- think nothing of
- think nothing of it
- thinko
- think of
- think of England
- think of the children
- think on
- think one hung the moon
- think one is God's own cousin
- think one is it
- think one's shit doesn't stink
- think on one's feet
- think out
- think out loud
- think over
- think-pair-share
- think-pair-sharing
- think piece
- think straight
- think-tank
- think tank
- think-tanked
- think-tanker
- think the sun shines out of someone's arse
- think the sun shines out of someone's ass
- think the sun shines out of someone's backside
- think the sun shines out of someone's butt
- think the world of
- think the world revolves around one
- think through
- think time
- think too much
- think twice
- think up
- think with one's little head
- think with one's other head
- think with one's penis
- to think that
- underthink
- unthink
- unthinkable
- who do you think you are
- who would have thought it
- won't someone think of the children
- you'd think
- you think
- you would think
Related terms
Translations
to ponder, to go over in one's head
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communicate to oneself in one’s mind
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to conceive of something or someone
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be of the opinion that
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guess, reckon
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consider, judge, regard something as
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Noun
think (usually uncountable, plural thinks)
- (chiefly UK) An act of thinking; consideration (of something).
- I'll have a think about that and let you know.
Derived terms
Terms derived from the noun think
- badthink
- doublethink
- goodthink
- groupthink
- have another think coming
- rethink (noun, as in "have a rethink")
- wrongthink
Translations
an act of thinking
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Etymology 2
From Middle English thinken, thynken, thenken (also thinchen, thünchen), from Old English þyncan (“to seem, appear”), from Proto-Germanic *þunkijaną (“to seem”).
Cognate with Dutch dunken (“to seem, appear”), German dünken (“to seem, appear”), Danish tykkes (“to seem”), Swedish tycka (“to seem, think, regard”), Icelandic þykja (“to be regarded, be considered, seem”). More at methinks.
Verb
think (third-person singular simple present thinks, present participle thinking, simple past and past participle thought)
- (obsolete except in methinks) To seem, to appear.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter V, in Le Morte Darthur, book XV (in Middle English):
- And whanne syr launcelot sawe he myghte not ryde vp in to the montayne / he there alyghte vnder an Appel tree / […] / And then he leid hym doune to slepe / And thenne hym thoughte there came an old man afore hym / the whiche sayd A launcelot of euylle feythe and poure byleue / wherfor is thy wille tourned soo lyghtely toward thy dedely synne
- And when Sir Lancelot saw that he could not ride up into the mountain, he alighted under an apple tree […] and then he lay down to sleep. And then it seemed to him [lit. him thought] that an old man came before him who said: "Lancelot, of evil faith and poor belief, why is thy will turned so lightly towards thy deadly sin?"
Translations
References
- Wolfram, Walt and Donna Christian. 1976. Appalachian speech. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.
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