Noun

(en noun)

That which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)

, volume=189, issue=2, page=48, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you […], "share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.}}

A word, symbol, sign, or other referent that can be used to refer to any entity.

An individual object or distinct entity.

(informal) Something that is normal or generally recognised.

(legal) Whatever can be owned.

The latest fad or fashion.

(in the plural) Clothes, possessions or equipment.

(informal) A unit or container, usually containing edible goods.

(informal) A problem, dilemma, or complicating factor.

(slang) A penis.

* 1959 , , (Naked Lunch) , 50th anniversary edition (2009), p. 126:

“Oh Gertie it’s true. It’s all true. They’ve got a horrid gash instead of a thrilling thing .”

A living being or creature.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Revenge of the nerds , passage=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.}}

That which matters; the crux.

* 1914 , Eugene Gladstone O'Neill, The Movie Man] [playscript:

Don’t forget to have Gomez postpone that shooting thing . (in reference to the execution of Fernandez)

(chiefly, historical) A public assembly or judicial council in a Germanic country.

* 1974 , Jón Jóhannesson, A History of the Old Icelandic Commonwealth: Íslendinga Saga , translated by Haraldur Bessason, page 46:

In accordance with Old Germanic custom men came to the thing fully armed, [...]

* 1974', Jakob Benediktsson, ''Landnám og upphaf allsherjarríkis'', in ''Saga Íslands'', quoted in '''1988 by Jesse L. Byock in ''Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas, and Power , page 85:

The goðar'' seem both to have received payment of ''thing-fararkaup from those who stayed home and at the same time compensated those who went to the thing , and it cannot be seen whether they had any profit from these transactions.

* 1988 , Jesse L. Byock, Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas, and Power , page 59:

All Icelandic things were skap-thing , meaning that they were governed by established procedure and met at regular legally designated intevals at predetermined meeting places.

Noun

(en noun)

(lb) A colleague or partner.

(lb) A companion; a comrade.

*(John Milton) (1608-1674)

*:the fellows of his crime

*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

*:We are fellows still, / Serving alike in sorrow.

*(Edward Gibbon) (1737-1794)

*:That enormous engine was flanked by two fellows almost of equal magnitude.

*

*:Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows , yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations.

A man without good breeding or worth; an ignoble or mean man.

*(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)

*:Worth makes the man, and want of it, the fellow .

An equal in power, rank, character, etc.

*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

*:It is impossible that ever Rome / Should breed thy fellow .

One of a pair, or of two things used together or suited to each other; a mate.

*(Philemon Holland) (1552-1637)

*:When they be but heifers of one year,they are let go to the fellow and breed.

*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

*:This was my glove; here is the fellow of it.

(lb) A male person; a man.

*1910 , (Saki), ‘The Strategist’, Reginald in Russia :

*:‘There'll be about ten girls,’ speculated Rollo, as he drove to the function, ‘and I suppose four fellows , unless the Wrotsleys bring their cousin, which Heaven forbid.’

*, chapter=7

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow , we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing.

(lb) A person; an individual, male or female.

*(Charles Dickens) (1812-1870)

*:She seemed to be a good sort of fellow .

(lb) A rank or title in the professional world, usually given as "Fellow".

#In the English universities, a scholar who is appointed to a foundation called a fellowship, which gives a title to certain perquisites and privileges.

#In an American college or university, a member of the corporation which manages its business interests; also, a graduate appointed to a fellowship, who receives the income of the foundation.

#A member of a literary or scientific society; as, a Fellow of the Royal Society.

#The most senior rank or title one can achieve on a technical career in certain companies (though some Fellows also hold business titles such as Vice President or Chief Technology Officer). This is typically found in large corporations in research and development-intensive industries (IBM or Sun Microsystems in information technology, and Boston Scientific in Medical Devices for example). They appoint a small number of senior scientists and engineers as Fellows.

#In the US and Canada, a physician who is undergoing a supervised, sub-specialty medical training (fellowship) after completing a specialty training program (residency).