Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • pronoun Used as the direct object of a verb.
  • pronoun Used as the indirect object of a verb.
  • pronoun Used as the object of a preposition.
  • pronoun Informal Used as a predicate nominative.
  • pronoun Nonstandard They.
  • pronoun Nonstandard Used reflexively as the indirect object of a verb.
  • adjective Those.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • See they.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • pronoun The objective case of they. See they.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • pronoun Third personal plural pronoun used after a preposition or as the object of a verb.
  • pronoun Third person singular pronoun of indeterminate or irrelevant gender
  • determiner nonstandard those

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old Norse theim and Old English thǣm; see to- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • He is killing all of them, and offer the interpretation that ˜he™ is Alfonso Arblaster of 35 The Crescent, Beetleford, and that ˜them™ are the pigeons in his loft.

    Model Theory Hodges, Wilfrid 2009

  • They may be demanding it, but I doubt most of them have more than abandoned clues as to what that change needs to be, let alone what will be required of ~them~ to make it happen.

    Obama Offers Most Extensive Response Yet To Questions About Rev. Wright 2009

  • I've often suspected that this dislike -- it isn't merely skepticism, but active malice -- is basically an unconscious realization dawning on them that here is a platform that doesn't require *them* as gurus and gate-keepers to use.

    Collaboration in the Virtual World 2008

  • Catholics think they're obviously right, so harsh criticism of them is nothing more than ignorance and bigotry; other people are wrong, so harsh criticism of *them* is simply for their own good.

    When a blogger goes to work for a presidential candidate. Ann Althouse 2007

  • The entire system is set up so that scientific conclusions can be spoon-fed to them by scientists mainly from the government or via quasi-governmental institutions such as the NAS or AGU but, *especially when the policy-makers do not like the implications of what the usual experts are telling them*, from other scientists.

    Warmest in a Millll-yun #2 « Climate Audit 2006

  • I suspect that the "what turns you on" decision needs to be made earlier, in the yearn/zing part of story development, so that when you get down to details the characters tell *you* what turns them on, instead of you telling *them*.

    How to Write Sex Well Doctor Science 2006

  • I suspect that the "what turns you on" decision needs to be made earlier, in the yearn/zing part of story development, so that when you get down to details the characters tell *you* what turns them on, instead of you telling *them*.

    Archive 2006-01-01 Doctor Science 2006

  • I have Christmas presents for everyone who needs them and Chanukah presents for everyone who needs *them*.

    Even in a little thing gillpolack 2005

  • Not that any of them kids notices me anyway, because every one of them is a prima donna or a prima don, which they just want everybody to look at _them.

    Asimov's Science Fiction 2004

  • Rinse your hands (no need to scrub the heck outta them unless you pissed on them… if you pissed on them, you weren't following the first rule, fool!), dry them off, and get the heck outta there.

    chicagojo Diary Entry chicagojo 2003

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