THOUSAND

thousand, one thousand

(adjective) denoting a quantity consisting of 1,000 items or units

thousand, one thousand, chiliad, grand, thou, yard

(noun) the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Numeral

thousand

A numerical value equal to 1,000 = 10 × 100 = 103

Usage notes

Unlike cardinal numerals such as ten or ninety-nine (where one can say e.g. there were ten men present), the word thousand is a noun like dozen and needs a determiner or another numeral to function as a numeral: one cannot say *there were thousand men present, but must say

there were a thousand men / one thousand men / forty-three thousand men present

• one can also speak of the thousand men, several thousand men, or some thousand men who were present

• compare a dozen men / one dozen men / forty-three dozen men, the dozen men, several dozen men, some dozen men

When preceded by a determiner or numeral and followed by of, it can be singular or plural

two thousand of the inhabitants died, several thousand of the inhabitants fled

many thousands of women marched

• "Aragorn should find some two thousands of those that he had gathered to him in the South; but Imrahil should find three and a half thousands; and Éomer five hundreds of the Rohirrim who were unhorsed but themselves warworthy." (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King)

When followed by of and not preceded by a determiner or numeral, it must be pluralized with -s: thousands of women protested, countless thousands of women voted, not *thousand of women.

Synonyms

• (numerical): a thousand, one thousand

Anagrams

• handouts, hands out

Source: Wiktionary


Thou"sand, n. Etym: [OE. Ă¾ousend, Ă¾usend, AS. Ă¾usend; akin to OS. thusundig, thusind, OFries. thusend, D. duizend, G. tausend, OHG. t, d, Icel. Ă¾usund, Ă¾ushund, Sw. tusen, Dan. tusind, Goth. Ă¾usundi, Lith. tukstantis, Russ. tuisiacha; of uncertain origin.]

1. The number of ten hundred; a collection or sum consisting of ten times one hundred units or objects.

2. Hence, indefinitely, a great number. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand. Ps. xci. 7.

Note: The word thousand often takes a plural form. See the Note under Hundred.

3. A symbol representing one thousand units; as, 1,000, M or CI.

Thou"sand, a.

1. Consisting of ten hundred; being ten times one hundred.

2. Hence, consisting of a great number indefinitely. "Perplexed with a thousand cares." Shak.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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