Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
pronoun
- (a form of the possessive case of you used as an attributive adjective): Your jacket is in that closet. I like your idea.Compare yours.
- one’s (used to indicate that one belonging to oneself or to any person): The consulate is your best source of information. As you go down the hill, the library is on your left.
- (used informally to indicate all members of a group, occupation, etc., or things of a particular type): Take your factory worker, for instance. Your power brakes don’t need that much servicing.
pronoun, singular, nominative thou; possessive thy or thine; objective thee; plural, nominative you or ye; possessive your or yours; objective you or ye.
- Archaic except in some elevated or ecclesiastical prose. the personal pronoun of the second person singular in the nominative case (used to denote the person or thing addressed): Thou shalt not kill.
- (used by the Friends) a familiar form of address of the second person singular.
verb (used with object)
- to address as “thou.”
verb (used without object)
- to use “thou” in discourse.
pronoun, possessive your or yours, objective you, plural you.
- the pronoun of the second person singular or plural, used of the person or persons being addressed, in the nominative or objective case: You are the highest bidder. It is you who are to blame. We can’t help you. This package came for you. Did she give you the book?
- one; anyone; people in general: a tiny animal you can’t even see.
- (used in apposition with the subject of a sentence, sometimes repeated for emphasis following the subject): You children pay attention. You rascal, you!
- Informal. (used in place of the pronoun your before a gerund): There’s no sense in you getting upset.
- Archaic.
- yourself; yourselves: Get you home. Make you ready.
- a plural form of the pronoun ye1.
noun, plural yous.
- something or someone closely identified with or resembling the person addressed: Don’t buy the bright red shirt—it just isn’t you. It was like seeing another you.
- the nature or character of the person addressed: Try to discover the hidden you.
determiner
- of, belonging to, or associated with youyour nose; your house; your first taste of freedom
- belonging to or associated with an unspecified person or people in generalthe path is on your left heading north; this lotion is for your head only
- informal used to indicate all things or people of a certain typeyour part-time worker is a problem
- your actual British informal (intensifier)here is your actual automatic tin-opener
pronoun (subjective or objective)
- refers to the person addressed or to more than one person including the person or persons addressed but not including the speakeryou know better; the culprit is among you
- Also: one refers to an unspecified person or people in generalyou can’t tell the boys from the girls
- mainly US a dialect word for yourself or yourselvesyou should get you a wife now See yourself
noun
- informal the personality of the person being addressed or something that expresses itthat hat isn’t really you
- you know what or you know who a thing or person that the speaker cannot or does not want to specify
pronoun (subjective)
- archaic, dialect refers to the person addressed: used mainly in familiar address or to a younger person or inferior
- (usually capital) refers to God when addressed in prayer, etc
noun plural thous or thou
- one thousandth of an inch. 1 thou is equal to 0.0254 millimetre
- informal short for thousand
Old English eower, genitive of ge “ye” (see ye), from Proto-Germanic base of you. Cf. Old Saxon iuwar, Old Frisian iuwer, Old Norse yðvarr, Old High German iuwer, German euer, Gothic izwar “your.” Used in titles of honor by mid-14c. Absolutive form yours is attested from c.1300. For dialectal yourn, see her. Yours truly “myself” is from 1833, from the common subscription of letters. pron.2nd nominative singular personal pronoun, Old English þu, from Proto-Germanic *thu (cf. Old Frisian thu, Middle Dutch and Middle Low German du, Old High German and German du, Old Norse þu, Gothic þu), from PIE *tu-, second person singular pronoun (cf. Latin tu, Irish tu, Welsh ti, Greek su, Lithuanian tu, Old Church Slavonic ty, Sanskrit twa-m). Superseded in Middle English by plural form you (from a different root), but retained in certain dialects (e.g. Philadelphia Quakers). The plural at first was used in addressing superior individuals, later also (to err on the side of propriety) strangers, and ultimately all equals. By c.1450 the use of thou to address inferiors gave it a tinge of insult unless addressed by parents to children, or intimates to one another. Hence the verb meaning “to use ‘thou’ to a person” (mid-15c.). Avaunt, caitiff, dost thou thou me! I am come of good kin, I tell thee! [“Hickscorner,” c.1530] A brief history of the second person pronoun in English can be found here. Old English eow, dative and accusative plural of þu (see thou), objective case of ge, “ye” (see ye), from West Germanic *iuwiz (cf. Old Norse yor, Old Saxon iu, Old Frisian iuwe, Middle Dutch, Dutch u, Old High German iu, iuwih, German euch), from PIE *ju. Pronunciation of you and the nominative form ye gradually merged from 14c.; the distinction between them passed out of general usage by 1600. Widespread use of French in England after 12c. gave English you the same association as French vous, and it began to drive out singular nominative thou, originally as a sign of respect (similar to the “royal we”) when addressing superiors, then equals and strangers, and ultimately (by c.1575) becoming the general form of address. For a more thorough discussion of this, go here. Through 13c. English also retained a dual pronoun ink “you two; your two selves; each other.” Words for “you” in Japanese include anata (formal, used by a wife when addressing her husband), kimi (intimate, used among friends) or the rougher omae (oh-MAI-aye), used when talking down to someone or among male friend showing their manliness. Dial. you-uns, for you-ones, first noted 1810 in Ohio. In addition to the idioms beginning with you
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