thou1

[th ou] /ðaʊ/
pronoun, sing., nom. thou; possessive thy or thine; objective thee; pl., nom. you or ye; possessive your or yours; objective you or ye.
1.
Archaic (except in some elevated or ecclesiastical prose) the personal pronoun of the second person singular in the nominative case (used to denote the person or thing addressed):
Thou shalt not kill.
2.
(used by the Friends) a familiar form of address of the second person singular.
verb (used with object)
3.
to address as “thou.”.
verb (used without object)
4.
to use “thou” in discourse.
Origin
before 900; Middle English; Old English thū; cognate with German, Middle Dutch du, Old Norse thū, Gothic thu, Old Irish tú, Welsh, Cornish ti, Latin tū, Doric Greek tý, Lithuanian tù, OCS ty; akin to Sanskrit tvam; (v.) late Middle English thowen, derivative of the pronoun

thou2

[thou] /θaʊ/
noun, plural thous (as after a numeral) thou. Slang.
1.
one thousand dollars, pounds, etc.
Origin
1865-70; by shortening
Examples from the web for thou
  • But it does say that thou shalt not bear false witness and thou shalt not steal.
  • There are certainly those who claim to be greener than thou who will say no to all of the above.
  • thou shalt not give any witness at all for or against thy fellow employee.
  • So there's no point in claiming to be holier than thou.
  • thou shalt not entomb thy product in indestructible plastic.
  • All of this is made so much worse by everyone's aching need to be holier, and hipper, than thou.
  • thou hast brought the distant near and made a brother of the stranger.
  • If thou shalt hear news of the life and the returning of thy father, then verily thou mayest endure the wasting for yet a year.
  • thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
  • thou art the embodiment of mercy thou art the deliverer from birth and death.
British Dictionary definitions for thou

thou1

/ðaʊ/
pronoun (subjective)
1.
(archaic, dialect) refers to the person addressed: used mainly in familiar address or to a younger person or inferior
2.
(usually capital) refers to God when addressed in prayer, etc
Word Origin
Old English thū; related to Old Saxon thū, Old High German du, Old Norse thū, Latin tū, Doric Greek tu

thou2

/θaʊ/
noun (pl) thous, thou
1.
one thousandth of an inch. 1 thou is equal to 0.0254 millimetre
2.
(informal) short for thousand
Word Origin and History for thou
pron.

2nd nominative singular personal pronoun, Old English þu, from Proto-Germanic *thu (cf. Old Frisian thu, Middle Dutch and Middle Low German du, Old High German and German du, Old Norse þu, Gothic þu), from PIE *tu-, second person singular pronoun (cf. Latin tu, Irish tu, Welsh ti, Greek su, Lithuanian tu, Old Church Slavonic ty, Sanskrit twa-m).

Superseded in Middle English by plural form you (from a different root), but retained in certain dialects (e.g. Philadelphia Quakers). The plural at first was used in addressing superior individuals, later also (to err on the side of propriety) strangers, and ultimately all equals. By c.1450 the use of thou to address inferiors gave it a tinge of insult unless addressed by parents to children, or intimates to one another. Hence the verb meaning "to use 'thou' to a person" (mid-15c.).

Avaunt, caitiff, dost thou thou me! I am come of good kin, I tell thee! ["Hickscorner," c.1530]
A brief history of the second person pronoun in English can be found here.

Slang definitions & phrases for thou

thou

noun

A thousand, esp a thousand dollars; grand: A hundred and fifty thou is business (1867+)


Related Abbreviations for thou

thou

thousand