thousand

[thou-zuh nd] /ˈθaʊ zənd/
noun, plural thousands (as after a numeral) thousand.
1.
a cardinal number, 10 times 100.
2.
a symbol for this number, as 1000 or M.
3.
thousands, the numbers between 1000 and 999,999, as in referring to an amount of money:
Property damage was in the thousands.
4.
a great number or amount.
5.
Also, thousand's place.
  1. (in a mixed number) the position of the fourth digit to the left of the decimal point.
  2. (in a whole number) the position of the fourth digit from the right.
adjective
6.
amounting to 1000 in number.
Origin
before 900; Middle English; Old English thūsend; cognate with Dutch duizend, Old High German dūsunt, Old Norse thūsund, Gothic thūsindi
Examples from the web for thousand
  • Several thousand of the best job opportunities in the academic world, updated daily.
  • Two thousand years ago, it was the capital of a powerful trading empire.
  • Ten thousand years ago hunters and gatherers ate bugs to survive.
  • The city was burned, the inhabitants killed or exiled, and much of the heritage of the past thousand years was lost.
  • Devices which are both, such as oscillating tubes, can set you back several thousand dollars.
  • Some scientists think fewer than a thousand individuals may remain.
  • And it was even more dangerous a thousand years ago.
  • Football games with a hundred thousand fans in the stands.
  • It's true that pictures can be worth a thousand words.
  • If a picture is worth a thousand words, it's also sometimes worth a few words of explanation.
British Dictionary definitions for thousand

thousand

/ˈθaʊzənd/
noun
1.
the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100 See also number (sense 1)
2.
a numeral, 1000, 10³, M, etc, representing this number
3.
(often pl) a very large but unspecified number, amount, or quantity: they are thousands of miles away
4.
(pl) the numbers 2000–9999: the price of the picture was in the thousands
5.
the amount or quantity that is one hundred times greater than ten
6.
something represented by, representing, or consisting of 1000 units
7.
(maths) the position containing a digit representing that number followed by three zeros: in 4760, 4 is in the thousand's place
determiner
8.
  1. amounting to a thousand: a thousand ships
  2. (as pronoun): a thousand is hardly enough
9.
amounting to 1000 times a particular scientific unit
related
prefix kilo- adjective millenary
Word Origin
Old English thūsend; related to Old Saxon thūsind, Old High German thūsunt, Old Norse thūsund
Word Origin and History for thousand
n.

Old English þusend, from Proto-Germanic *thusundi (cf. Old Frisian thusend, Dutch duizend, Old High German dusunt, German tausend, Old Norse þusund, Gothic þusundi).

Related to words in Balto-Slavic (cf. Lithuanian tukstantis, Old Church Slavonic tysashta, Polish tysiąc, Czech tisic), and probably ultimately a compound with indefinite meaning "several hundred" or "a great multitude" (with first element perhaps related to Sanskrit tawas "strong, force").

Used to translate Greek khilias, Latin mille, hence the refinement into the precise modern meaning. There was no general Indo-European word for "thousand." Slang shortening thou first recorded 1867. Thousand island dressing (1916) is presumably named for the region of New York on the St. Lawrence River.

Idioms and Phrases with thousand

thousand

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