A Dictionary of Cont..

abouts ought to be the preferred form, because
the word is used to qualify a verb and s is a
formal adverbial ending. But there is no evidence
that it actually is preferred. Both forms
may be used figuratively, as thereabouts in 5000
inhabitants or thereabouts.
there’s the rob; ay, there’s the rob. For those who
choose to vary tedium with monotony the clich6
there’s the rub may at times be replaced by its
fuller form ay, there’s the rub. Rub, in this famous
phrase (Hamlet, Act III, Scene l), means
an obstacle, impediment, or hindrance, of a nonmaterial
nature. It is derived from a term used
in the game of bowls, where a rub is some obstacle
or impediment by which a bowl is hindered
or diverted from its intended course.
thesaurus. The plural is thesauruses or thesauri.
these. See this; that.
thesis. The plural is thesises or theses.
they. The words they, them, their, are used in
speaking of more than one Ldividual. They may
also be used in speaking of a single individual
whose sex is unknown. For example, only the
word his would be used in every soldier carried
his O)Y~ pack, but most people would say their
rather than his in everybody brought their own
lunch. And it would be a violation of English
idiom to say was he? in nobody was killed, were
they? The use of they in speaking of a single
individual is not a modern deviation from classical
English. It is found in the works of many
great writers, including Malory, Shakespeare,
Swift, Defoe, Shelley, Austen, Scott, Kingsley,
Dickens, Ruskin, George Eliot.
They may be used generally or with a vague
reference, as in they say, what have they done
to you?, and they had strikes even then. This
construction may be out of place when something
more specific than they is wanted. But
grammatically, this USC of they is in a class with
the similar use of people or men and is equally
acceptable.
They may be used before a numeral, as in
they two will wed the morrow morn. This is
literary English, but archaic. To many people
it sounds like the unacceptable use of them
before a noun, as in them books, and the forms
these two, those two, the two, are generally
preferred. Traditionally, they and them may
stand before a qualifying phrase or clause, as
in blessed are they that mourn and the third
and fourth generation of them that hate me, but
in current English the words rhose or these are
generally preferred in this position. (For when
to use they rather than them, see subjective pronouns.)
thick as thieves. As a humorous simile for a
close, and slightly conspiratorial, intimacy, as
thick as thieves, although it seems to be a creation
of the twentieth century, is already a clichC.
For those who want to avoid it but still feel a
need for some such comparison, there are many
established metaphors waiting: as thick as hail,
as thick as hops, as thick as huckleberries, for
those who wish to emphasize profusion; as thick
as porridge, for those who have specific density
509 think
in mind; and for chumminess, a fine old Scotch
simile, as thick as three in a bed.
thief. The plural is thieves.
thief; robber; burglar; bandit; gangster. A thief is
one who takes another’s property by stealth, without
the other’s knowledge. It is a word of contempt
(Now does he feel his title/ Hang loose
about him, like a giant’s robe/ Upon a dwarfish
thief). A robber trespasses upon the house,
property, or person of another, and makes away
with things of value, even using violence (The
robbers seem to have made their escape through
the trap door and over the roofs. Three masked
robbers held up the First National Bank shortly
after noon today). Where the robbery is committed
in the open, with the threat or use of a
knife or gun, or with felonious assault, the more
common term in America today is hold-up man
or men and the robbery itself is termed a holdup.
Masked robbers or robbers whose depradations
are accompanied by some dash or bravado
are usually called, in the papers at least, bandits.
It is a journalistic clicht, however, being little
employed in ordinary speech or writing unless
one is referring to Mexican outlaws. Gangster,
a far-too-common word, is applied to members
or assumed members of armed gangs, especially
to those thought to be members of closely knit
organizations controlled by some criminal mastermind,
or to robbers or murderers whose violence
is akin to that employed by the gangsters
in their feuds or brushes with the law. Burglar
is now a slightly old-fashioned term. It describes
a felonious housebreaker, especially one who
commits robbery by breaking into a house at
night. See also steal; purloin; pilfer; etc.
thieve. See steal.
thieves. This is the plural of thief.
thimblerig. See shell game.
thine. See thy; tbine and my; mine.
thing. In present-day English thing ordinarily
means a material and inanimate thing, but the
word is not limited to this meaning. Whatever
can be talked about may be called a thing, as in
men who were engineers and business managers
and (I dozen other things. Under some circumstances
even a quality may be called a thing, as
in she was good, kind, honest, and everything a
woman should be.
think. The past tense is thought. The participle is
also thought.
If think is used in a passive form it may be
followed by an infinitive, as in he is thought to
have left. When it is used in an active form it
may be followed by a clause, as in I think he has
left. If the -ing form of a verb is used it must be
introduced by of, as in he did not think of
leaving. Think, in an active form, is sometimes
followed by an infinitive, as in I did not think to
tell him. If in this sentence the word think means
plan or expect, the construction is archaic. If it
means remember, the construction is condemned
by some grammarians, but is standard usage in
the United States today.
Think for is the standard English idiom in
comparisons with than or as, as in more than