Thou

/ðaʊ/ · pronoun

Meaning

(archaic, dialectal, literary, religion) Nominative singular of ye (“you”)..

Definitions by Sense

1. (archaic, dialectal, literary, religion) Nominative singular of ye (“you”).
2. (transitive) To address (a person) using the pronoun thou, especially as an expression of contempt or familiarity.
3. (intransitive) To use the word thou.
4. A unit of length equal to one thousandth of an inch (25.4 µm).
5. (slang) A thousand, especially a thousand of some currency (dollars, pounds sterling, etc.).
6. Misspelling of though.

Example Sentences

[...] Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall giue thee light.

Art thou in earnest about thy soul? and canst thou tell the Searcher of Hearts, Thou, O God, art the thing that I long for? Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I would love thee?

Oh cold, cold, rigid, dreadful Death, set up thine altar here, and dress it with such terrors as thou hast at thy command: for this is thy dominion!

Don’t thou them as thous thee! – a Yorkshire English admonition to overly familiar children

Avaunt, caitiff, dost thou thou me! / I am come of good kin, I tell thee! / My mother was a lady of the stews' blood born, / And (knight of the halter) my father ware an horn; / Therefore I take it in full great scorn, / That thou shouldest thus check me.

[T]aunt him with the licenſe of Inke: if thou thou'ſt him some thrice, it ſhall not be amiſſe, and as many Lyes, as will lye in thy ſheete of paper, although the ſheete were bigge enough for the bedde of Ware in England, ſet 'em downe, go about it.

Attorney. [Edward Coke, Attorney General for England and Wales] All that he [Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham] did was by thy Inſtigation, thou viper; for I thou thee, thou Traitor. / Raleigh. [Walter Raleigh] It becometh not a Man of Quality and Virtue, to call me ſo: But I take comfort in it, it is all you can do.

What! doſt thou not believe that God's Thouing and Theeing was and is ſound Speech? [...] And Theeing & Thouing of one ſingle Perſon was the language of Chriſt Jeſus, and the Holy Prophets and Apoſtles both under the Diſpenſations of Law and Goſpel, [...]

Synonyms for thou

Antonyms for thou

Related Words

Word Forms

• ye
• thee
• thyself
• thy
• thine
• tha
• thow
• thu
• du
• thoo
• yͧ
• thous
• thouing
• thoued
• thou

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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