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their

 - 14 dictionary results

their

  [thair; unstressed ther]
–pronoun
1. a form of the possessive case of they used as an attributive adjective, before a noun: their home; their rights as citizens; their departure for Rome.
2. (used after an indefinite singular antecedent in place of the definite masculine form his or the definite feminine form her): Someone left their book on the table. Did everyone bring their lunch?
Use their in a Sentence
Compare theirs.

Origin:
1150–1200; ME < ON theirra their; r. OE thāra, thǣra; cf. they

Usage note:
See he 1 , me, they.

he

1  [hee; unstressed ee] pronoun, nominative he, possessive his, objective him; plural nominative they, possessive their or theirs, objective them; noun, plural hes; adjective
–pronoun
1. the male person or animal being discussed or last mentioned; that male.
2. anyone (without reference to sex); that person: He who hesitates is lost.
–noun
3. any male person or animal; a man: hes and shes.
–adjective
4. male (usually used in combination): a he-goat.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME, OE hē (masc. nom. sing.); c. D hij, OS hē, OHG her he; see his, him, she, her, it 1

Usage note:
Traditionally, the masculine singular pronouns he1, his, and him have been used generically to refer to indefinite pronouns like anyone, everyone, and someone (Everyone who agrees should raise his right hand) and to singular nouns that can be applied to either sex (painter, parent, person, teacher, writer, etc.): Every writer knows that his first book is not likely to be a bestseller. This generic use is often criticized as sexist, although many speakers and writers continue the practice.
Those who object to the generic use of he have developed various ways of avoiding it. One is to use he/she or she/he (or he or she or she or he) or the appropriate case forms of these pairs: Everyone who agrees should raise his or her (or her or his or his/her or her/his) right hand. Forms blending the feminine and masculine pronouns, as s/he, have not been widely adopted, probably because of confusion over how to say them.
Another solution is to change the antecedent pronoun or noun from singular to plural so that the plural pronouns they, their, and them can be used: All who agree should raise their right hands. All writers know that their first books are not likely to be bestsellers. See also they.

it

1  [it] pronoun, nominative it, possessive its or (Obsolete or Dialect) it, objective it; plural nominative they, possessive their or theirs, objective them; noun
–pronoun
1. (used to represent an inanimate thing understood, previously mentioned, about to be mentioned, or present in the immediate context): It has whitewall tires and red upholstery. You can't tell a book by its cover.
2. (used to represent a person or animal understood, previously mentioned, or about to be mentioned whose gender is unknown or disregarded): It was the largest ever caught off the Florida coast. Who was it? It was John. The horse had its saddle on.
3. (used to represent a group understood or previously mentioned): The judge told the jury it must decide two issues.
4. (used to represent a concept or abstract idea understood or previously stated): It all started with Adam and Eve. He has been taught to believe it all his life.
5. (used to represent an action or activity understood, previously mentioned, or about to be mentioned): Since you don't like it, you don't have to go skiing.
6. (used as the impersonal subject of the verb to be, esp. to refer to time, distance, or the weather): It is six o'clock. It is five miles to town. It was foggy.
7. (used in statements expressing an action, condition, fact, circumstance, or situation without reference to an agent): If it weren't for Edna, I wouldn't go.
8. (used in referring to something as the origin or cause of pain, pleasure, etc.): Where does it hurt? It looks bad for the candidate.
9. (used in referring to a source not specifically named or described): It is said that love is blind.
10. (used in referring to the general state of affairs; circumstances, fate, or life in general): How's it going with you?
11. (used as an anticipatory subject or object to make a sentence more eloquent or suspenseful or to shift emphasis): It is necessary that you do your duty. It was a gun that he was carrying.
12. Informal. (used instead of the pronoun its before a gerund): It having rained for only one hour didn't help the crops.
–noun
13. (in children's games) the player called upon to perform some task, as, in tag, the one who must catch the other players.
14. Slang.
a. sex appeal.
b. sexual intercourse.
—Idioms
15. get with it, Slang. to become active or interested: He was warned to get with it or resign.
16. have it, Informal.
a. to love someone: She really has it bad for him.
b. to possess the requisite abilities for something; be talented, adept, or proficient: In this business youeither have it or you don't.
17. with it, Slang.
a. aware of the latest fads, fashions, etc.; up-to-date.
b. attentive or alert: I'm just not with it early in the morning.
c. understanding or appreciative of something, as jazz.
d. Carnival Slang. being a member of the carnival.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME, var. of ME, OE hit, neut. of he 1

Usage note:
See me.

she

  [shee] pronoun, singular nominative she, possessive her or hers, objective her; plural nominative they, possessive their or theirs, objective them; noun, plural shes.
–pronoun
1. the female person or animal being discussed or last mentioned; that female.
2. the woman: She who listens learns.
3. anything considered, as by personification, to be feminine: spring, with all the memories she conjures up.
–noun
4. a female person or animal.
5. an object or device considered as female or feminine.
Origin:
1125–75; ME, alter. of OE sēo, sīo, sīe, fem. of se the 1 ; r. OE hēo, hīo, fem. personal pronoun; see he 1 , her

Usage note:
See he 1 , me, they.

they

  [they] ,
–plural pronoun, possessive their or theirs, objective them.
1. nominative plural of he, she, and it.
2. people in general: They say he's rich.
3. (used with an indefinite singular antecedent in place of the definite masculine he or the definite feminine she): Whoever is of voting age, whether they are interested in politics or not, should vote.
Origin:
1150–1200; ME < ON their they (r. OE hī(e)); c. OE thā, pl. of thæt that

Usage note:
Long before the use of generic he was condemned as sexist, the pronouns they, their, and them were used in educated speech and in all but the most formal writing to refer to indefinite pronouns and to singular nouns of general personal reference, probably because such nouns are often not felt to be exclusively singular: If anyone calls, tell them I'll be back at six. Everyone began looking for their books at once. Such use is not a recent development, nor is it a mark of ignorance. Shakespeare, Swift, Shelley, Scott, and Dickens, as well as many other English and American writers, have used they and its forms to refer to singular antecedents. Already widespread in the language (though still rejected as ungrammatical by some), this use of they, their, and them is increasing in all but the most conservatively edited American English. This increased use is at least partly impelled by the desire to avoid the sexist implications of he as a pronoun of general reference. See also he 1 .
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To their
their   (thâr)   
adj.   The possessive form of they.

  1. Used as a modifier before a noun: their accomplishments; their home town.

  2. Usage Problem His, her, or its: "It is fatal for anyone who writes to think of their sex" (Virginia Woolf). See Usage Notes at he1, they.


[Middle English, from Old Norse theira, theirs; see to- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

he 
O.E. he (see paradigm of O.E. third pers. pronoun below), from P.Gmc. *hiz, from P.Gmc. base *khi-, from PIE *ki-, the "this, here" (as opposed to "that, there") root (cf. Hittite ki "this," Gk. ekeinos "that person," O.C.S. si, Lith. sis "this"), and thus the source of the third person pronouns in O.E. The feminine, hio, was replaced in early M.E. by forms from other stems (see she), while the h- wore off O.E. neut. hit to make modern it. The P.Gmc. root is also the source of the first element in Ger. heute "today," lit. "the day" (cf. O.E. heodæg). Slang he-man "masculine fellow" is from 1832, originally among U.S. pioneers.

caseSINGULAR--PLURAL
-masc.neut.fem.(all genders)
nom.hehitheo, hiohie, hi
acc.hinehithie, hihie, hi
gen.hishishirehira, heora
dat.himhimhirehim, heom

their 
c.1200, from O.N. þierra, gen. of þeir "they" (see they). Replaced O.E. hiera. Use with singular objects, scorned by grammarians, is attested from c.1300. Theirs (c.1300) is a double possessive. Alternate form theirn (1836) is attested in Midlands and southern dialect in U.K. and the Ozarks region of the U.S.

they 
c.1200, from O.N. þeir, originally masculine plural demonstrative pronoun, from P.Gmc. *thai, nom. pl. pronoun, from PIE *to- (see that). Gradually replaced O.E. hi, hie, plurals of he, heo, hit (see he, she, it) by c.1400. Colloquial use for "anonymous people in authority" is attested from 1886.

it 
O.E. hit, neut. nom. & acc. of third pers. sing. pronoun, from P.Gmc. demonstrative base *khi- (cf. O.Fris. hit, Du. het, Goth. hita "it"), which is also the root of he. As gender faded in M.E., it took on the meaning "thing or animal spoken about before." The h- was lost due to being in an unemphasized position, as in modern speech the h- in "give it to him," "ask her," "is only heard in the careful speech of the partially educated" [Weekley]. It "the sex act" is from 1611; meaning "sex appeal (especially in a woman)" first attested 1904 in works of Rudyard Kipling, popularized 1927 as title of a book by Elinor Glyn, and by application of It Girl to silent-film star Clara Bow (1905-1965). In children's games, meaning "the one who must tag the others" is attested from 1842.

she 
c.1154, probably evolved from O.E. seo, sio (acc. sie), fem. of demonstrative pronoun se "the." The O.E. word for "she" was heo, hio, however by 13c. the pronunciation of this had converged by phonetic evolution with he "he," so the fem. demonstrative pronoun probably was used in its place (cf. similar development in Du. zij, Ger. sie, Gk. he, etc.). The original h- survives in her. A relic of the O.E. pronoun is in Manchester-area dial. oo "she." She-devil "difficult woman" first recorded 1840.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: He
Function: symbol
helium
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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He
The symbol for the element helium.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Science Dictionary
helium   (hē'lē-əm)  Pronunciation Key 
Symbol He
A very lightweight, colorless, odorless element in the noble gas group. Helium occurs in natural gas, in radioactive ores, and in small amounts in the atmosphere. It has the lowest boiling point of any substance and is the second most abundant element in the universe. Helium is used to provide lift for balloons and blimps and to create artificial air that will not react chemically. Atomic number 2; atomic weight 4.0026; boiling point -268.9°C; density at 0°C 0.1785 gram per liter. See Periodic Table.

Our Living Language  : The second most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen, Helium (symbol He) is a colorless, odorless, nonmetallic gas that is produced abundantly by the nuclear fusion in all stars and is found in smaller amounts on Earth. It was discovered by the British scientist—and founding editor of the journal Nature—Joseph Norman Lockyer in 1868, while he was studying a solar eclipse with a spectroscope, an instrument that breaks light up into a spectrum. If an element is heated up enough to glow, the emitted light produces a unique spectrum when refracted through a prism. Lockyer noticed that the spectrum of the Sun's corona, which is visible only during a solar eclipse, contained lines produced by an unknown element. He named the element helium from helios, the Greek word for "sun." Helios gives us many other words pertaining to the Sun, such as heliocentric and perihelion.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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