GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 3 definitions

1.       
   The (thē), v. i. See Thee. [Obs.]  Chaucer.  Milton.
   
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2.       
   The (thē, when emphatic or alone; thḗ, obscure before a vowel; the, obscure before a consonant; 37), definite article. [AS. ðē, a later form for earlier nom. sing. masc. sē, formed under the influence of the oblique cases.  See That, pron.] A word placed before nouns to limit or individualize their meaning.
   
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   ☞ The was originally a demonstrative pronoun, being a weakened form of that.  When placed before adjectives and participles, it converts them into abstract nouns; as, the sublime and the beautiful. Burke.  The is used regularly before many proper names, as of rivers, oceans, ships, etc.; as, the Nile, the Atlantic, the Great Eastern, the West Indies, The Hague.  The with an epithet or ordinal number often follows a proper name; as, Alexander the Great; Napoleon the Third.  The may be employed to individualize a particular kind or species; as, the grasshopper shall be a burden. Eccl. xii. 5.
   
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3.       
   The, adv. [AS. ðē, ðȳ, instrumental case of sē, seó, ðæt, the definite article.  See 2d The.] By that; by how much; by so much; on that account; -- used before comparatives; as, “the longer we continue in sin, the more difficult it is to reform”. “Yet not the more cease I.”  Milton.
   
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   So much the rather thou, Celestial Light,
   
   Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
   
   Irradiate. Milton.
   
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