Etimology
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 (“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”).
verb
think (third-person singular simple present thinks, present participle thinking, simple past and past participle thought)
(transitive) To ponder, to go over in one's head.
(intransitive) To communicate to oneself in one's mind, to try to find a solution to a problem.
(intransitive) To conceive of something or someone (usually followed by of; infrequently, by on).
(transitive) To be of opinion (that); to consider, judge, regard, or look upon (something) as.
(transitive) To guess; to reckon.
To plan; to be considering; to be of a mind (to do something).
To presume; to venture.
(informal, used to show obviousness or agreement) Ellipsis of think so.
Examples
Idly, the detective thought what his next move should be.
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.
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.”
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.
At the time I thought his adamant refusal to give in right.
I hope you won’t think me stupid if I ask you what that means.
I think she is pretty, contrary to most people.
Boxing is thought to be a dangerous sport.
My brother he is in Elizium, / Perchance he is not drown'd: What thinke you, ſaylors?.
[…] one man showed me a young oak which he had transplanted from behind the town, thinking it an apple-tree.
Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.
I think she’ll pass the examination.
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 set back by her perspicuity.
Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.
These plants are dead.Uh, you think?
Related words
synonyms
(ponder): See Thesaurus:ponder
(communicate to oneself in one's mind): See Thesaurus:think
(be of the opinion (that)): See Thesaurus:have opinion
(guess, reckon): guess See Thesaurus:suppose
(consider, judge, regard something as): See Thesaurus:deem
related terms
forthink
thank
thought
thunk
noun
think (usually uncountable, plural thinks)
(chiefly UK) An act of thinking; consideration (of something).
Examples
I'll have a think about that and let you know.
Etimology
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.
verb
think (third-person singular simple present thinks, present participle thinking, simple past and past participle thought)
(obsolete except in methinks) To seem, to appear.
Examples
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 synneAnd 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 came before him who said: "Lancelot, of evil faith and poor belief, why is thy will turned so lightly towards thy deadly sin?"
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 came before him who said: "Lancelot, of evil faith and poor belief, why is thy will turned so lightly towards thy deadly sin?"