think meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

think

verb

US, UK /ˈθɪŋk/ · /ˈθæŋk/

Etymology

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, 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”), Gothic þagkjan (“to think”), Latin tongeō (“know”).

9 senses

1To ponder, to go over in one's mind.
2To have (some statement) in one's mind; to say to…
3To communicate to oneself in one's mind, to try to find…
4To conceive of something or someone
5To be of the opinion (that); to consider, judge, regard…
6To guess; to reckon; to believe while admittedly being uncertain.
7To plan; to be considering; to be of a mind (to do something).
8To presume; to venture.
9Ellipsis of think so.

To 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.c. 1650, Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress

To 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 fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

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.
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.”1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

To 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, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.2013 August 3, “Revenge of the nerds”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

To be of the 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.

4 more examples

She thought it pointless starting before four o'clock.
I think she is pretty, contrary to most people.
Boxing is thought to be a dangerous sport.
It was thought that I was the mole in the company.

To 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[…]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:
“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.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:

1 more example

In 1985 I sat down and wrote a four-page outline from which I thought to base such a work.1998, Dovid Rossoff, Where Heaven Touches Earth, page iii:

To presume; to venture.

Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 3:9:

Abbreviation, Ellipsis, Informal Ellipsis of think so.

Used to show obviousness or agreement

These plants are dead. Uh, you think?

Synonyms: ponder, have opinion, guess See Thesaurus:suppose, deem, think
Derived terms: 107 terms
afterthink, 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, interthink, I think not, I think so, I think therefore I am, I thought you'd never ask, lie back and think of England, makes you think, misthink, outthink, overthink, quick-thinking, rethink, shut one's eyes and think of England, straight-thinking, thinkable, think about, think again, think all one's Christmases have come at once, think aloud, think aloud protocol, think-aloud protocol, thinkative, think back, think better of, think big, thinker, think factory, think fast, thinkfluence, thinkfluencer, think for oneself, thinkful, think good, think highly of, thinkism, 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, thinksome, 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, think with portals, thinky, to think that, umbethink, underthink, unthink, unthinkable, whaddayathink, who do you think you are, who would have thought it, won't someone think of the children, you'd think, you think, you think what, you would think
Related terms: forthink, thank, thought, thunk, have opinion, suppose
Hyponyms: consider, cogitate, deem, deliberate, dream, mull, muse, ponder, ruminate, reflect, sleep on, wonder
Meronyms: abstract, calculate, compare, conceive, contrast, estimate, exemplify, imagine, match, project, recall

think

noun

Etymology

UK, Usually An act of thinking; consideration (of something).

I'll have a think about that and let you know.

Derived terms: badthink, correctthink, doublethink, goodthink, groupthink, have another think coming, herdthink, rethink, rightthink, triplethink, wrongthink

think

verb

Etymology 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.

To seem, to appear.

Obsolete except in methinks

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 synne1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter V, in Le Morte Darthur, book XV:

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