Definition of This

What does the word This mean?

• part of speech: adjective, pronoun

  (pl. these pron. dhez). The (person, thing), the person or thing, close at hand or touched or pointed to or drawn attention to or observed by the speaker at the time, or already named or understood or in question or familiar (seldom idiomatically interchangeable with THAT, but often only equally applicable to the facts, the implication of greater nearness, familiarity, &c., being purely idiomatic), as observe t. dog on the hearthrug, who are these people in the next room?, what is all t. noise?, fold it like t., I knew all t. before, t. (your action, the action I am speaking of) is not fair, t. term is liable to much abuse, things are easier in these days; t. and THAT; t., THAT, and the other; (of time) t. day, to-day, shall be or have been busy all t. week, ought to be ready by t. (time), before t. (time), have been asking for it these (or this) three weeks (just past). [old English]