Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Thought?

\Thought\, imp. & p. p. of {Think}.
\Thought\, n. [OE. [thorn]oght, [thorn]ouht, AS. [thorn][=o]ht, ge[thorn][=o]ht, fr. [thorn]encean to think; akin to D. gedachte thought, MHG. d[=a]ht, ged[=a]ht, Icel. [thorn][=o]ttr, [thorn][=o]tti. See {Think}.] 1. The act of thinking; the exercise of the mind in any of its higher forms; reflection; cogitation. Thought can not be superadded to matter, so as in any sense to render it true that matter can become cogitative. --Dr. T. Dwight. 2. Meditation; serious consideration. Pride, of all others the most dangerous fault, Proceeds from want of sense or want of thought. --Roscommon. 3. That which is thought; an idea; a mental conception, whether an opinion, judgment, fancy, purpose, or intention. Thus Bethel spoke, who always speaks his thought. --Pope. Why do you keep alone, . . . Using those thoughts which should indeed have died With them they think on? --Shak. Thoughts come crowding in so fast upon me, that my only difficulty is to choose or to reject. --Dryden. All their thoughts are against me for evil. --Ps. lvi. 5. 4. Solicitude; anxious care; concern. Hawis was put in trouble, and died with thought and anguish before his business came to an end. --Bacon. Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink. --Matt. vi. 25. 5. A small degree or quantity; a trifle; as, a thought longer; a thought better. [Colloq.] If the hair were a thought browner. --Shak. Note: Thought, in philosophical usage now somewhat current, denotes the capacity for, or the exercise of, the very highest intellectual functions, especially those usually comprehended under judgment. This [faculty], to which I gave the name of the ``elaborative faculty,'' -- the faculty of relations or comparison, -- constitutes what is properly denominated thought. --Sir W. Hamilton. Syn: Idea; conception; imagination; fancy; conceit; notion; supposition; reflection; consideration; meditation; contemplation; cogitation; deliberation.