thee

Pronoun (1)

thee (second-person singular, objective case, nominative thou, reflexive thyself)

1. (archaic, literary, objective, second-person, singular) Objective and reflexive case of thou.
   • Prince Henry: Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part?
   • Falstaff: No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there.1598, William Shakespeare, Henry IV part 1, act 1, scene 2, lines 49–50
2. (archaic, dialectal, objective, second-person, singular) Thou.
   • [H]e immediately perceived when I was taken ill, and, after seeing Mama, said to me "I am afraid Thee art not well thyself?"1773, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, page 23
   • "He says he's our man, Bildad," said Peleg, "he wants to ship."
     "Dost thee?" said Bildad, in a hollow tone1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Ship”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 84

Verb (1)

thee (third-person singular simple present thees, present participle theeing, simple past and past participle theed)

1. (transitive) To address (a person) using the pronoun thee.
   • What! doſt thou not believe that God's Thouing and theeing was and is ſound Speech? [...] And theeing & Thouing of one ſingle Perſon was the language of Chriſt Jeſus, and the Holy Prophets and Apoſtles both under the Diſpenſations of Law and Goſpel, [...]1677, William Gibson, “An Answer to John Cheyney’s Pamphlet Entituled The Shibboleth of Quakerism”, in The Life of God, which is the Light and Salvation of Men, Exalted: […], [London]: [s.n.], →OCLC...

   Synonyms:

   thou

2. (intransitive) To use the word thee.
   • The hardcore role-players will wake up one day feeling, like a dead weight on their chest, the strain of endless texting in Renaissance Faire English—yet dutifully go on theeing and thouing all the same.2006, Julian Dibbell, chapter 5, in Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, →ISBN
   • You want to hear the word of God, and be challenged to go out and change the world. Instead, you are, for the fifth Sunday in a row, mewling on about purple-headed mountains (which is a bit of an imaginative stretch, since you live in East Anglia) and "theeing" and "thouing" all over the place.2009, David R. Keeston [pseudonym; Alan D. Jenkins], “Seeing God in the Ordinary”, in The Hitch Hikers’ Guide to the Gospel, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 39

   Synonyms:

   thou

Verb (2)

IPA/θiː/

thee (third-person singular simple present thees, present participle theeing, simple past and past participle theed)

1. (UK, intransitive, obsolete) To thrive; prosper.
   • Well mote thee, as well can wish your thought.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 33

Noun

thee (plural thees)

1. The letter ⟨(⟩, which stands for the th sound /ð/ in Pitman shorthand.

Pronoun (2) capitalized: Thee

Thee

1. (honorific) Honorific alternative letter-case form of thee, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.