/θɪŋk/, [θɪŋk], [θæŋk]
OriginFrom 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, dinken (“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”).
- transitiveTo ponder, to go over in one's mind.
“Idly, the detective thought what his next move should be.”
“Had we but world enough and time / This coyness, lady, were no crime. / We would sit down, and think which way / To walk, and pass our long love's day.”
- transitiveTo have (some statement) in one's mind; to say to oneself mentally.
“"I should phone my mother," I thought.”
“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 ”
- intransitiveTo 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.”
“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 underp”
- intransitiveTo conceive of something or someone
“I tend to think of her as rather ugly.”
“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”
- transitiveTo be of opinion (that); to consider, judge, regard, or look upon (something) as.
“I don't think it worth complaining about the leak in the roof, is it?”
“I hope you won’t think me stupid if I ask you what that means.”
“She thought it pointless starting before four o'clock.”
- transitiveTo guess; to reckon; to believe while admittedly being uncertain.
“We should/would have thought she could've washed her hands before, at least.”
- To plan; to be considering; to be of a mind (to do something).
“The cupbearer shrugged up his shoulders in displeasure. "I thought to have lodged him in the solere chamber," said he[…]”
““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”
“In 1985 I sat down and wrote a four-page outline from which I thought to base such a work.”
- To presume; to venture.
“Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.”
- abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, informalEllipsis of think so.
“These plants are dead.
Uh, you think?”
- To seem, to appear.
“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 afo” — 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 c
- UK, uncountable, usuallyAn act of thinking; consideration (of something).
“I'll have a think about that and let you know.”
Formsthinks(present, singular, third-person) · thinking(participle, present) · thought(participle, past) · thought(past) · think(infinitive) · think(first-person, present, singular) · thought(first-person, past, singular) · think(present, second-person, singular) · thinkest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · thought(past, second-person, singular) · thoughtest(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · thinketh(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · thought(past, singular, third-person) · think(plural, present) · thought(past, plural) · think(present, subjunctive) · thought(past, subjunctive) · think(imperative, present) · -(imperative, past) · thunk(participle, past)