thousand

noun, plural thou·sands, (as after a numeral) thou·sand.

1. a cardinal number, 10 times 100.
2. a symbol for this number, as 1000 or M.
3. thousands. the numbers between 1000 and 999,999, as in referring to an amount of money: Property damage was in the thousands.
4. a great number or amount.
5. Also thousand’s place.
   1. (in a mixed number) the position of the fourth digit to the left of the decimal point.
   2. (in a whole number) the position of the fourth digit from the right.

adjective

6. amounting to 1000 in number.

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100See also number (def. 1)
2. a numeral, 1000, 10³, M, etc, representing this number
3. (often plural) a very large but unspecified number, amount, or quantitythey are thousands of miles away
4. (plural) the numbers 2000–9999the price of the picture was in the thousands
5. the amount or quantity that is one hundred times greater than ten
6. something represented by, representing, or consisting of 1000 units
7. maths the position containing a digit representing that number followed by three zerosin 4760, 4 is in the thousand’s place

determiner

8. 1. amounting to a thousanda thousand ships
   2. (as pronoun)a thousand is hardly enough
9. amounting to 1000 times a particular scientific unit

n.Old English þusend, from Proto-Germanic *thusundi (cf. Old Frisian thusend, Dutch duizend, Old High German dusunt, German tausend, Old Norse þusund, Gothic þusundi). Related to words in Balto-Slavic (cf. Lithuanian tukstantis, Old Church Slavonic tysashta, Polish tysiąc, Czech tisic), and probably ultimately a compound with indefinite meaning “several hundred” or “a great multitude” (with first element perhaps related to Sanskrit tawas “strong, force”). Used to translate Greek khilias, Latin mille, hence the refinement into the precise modern meaning. There was no general Indo-European word for “thousand.” Slang shortening thou first recorded 1867. Thousand island dressing (1916) is presumably named for the region of New York on the St. Lawrence River. see bat a thousand; by the dozen (thousand); one in a million (thousand); picture is worth a thousand words.