The \The\ ([th][=e]), v. i.
   See Thee. [Obs.] --Chaucer. --Milton.
   [1913 Webster]

	

	The \The\ ([th][=e], when emphatic or alone; [th][-e], obscure
   before a vowel; [th]e, obscure before a consonant; 37),
   definite article. [AS. [eth][=e], a later form for earlier
   nom. sing. masc. s[=e], formed under the influence of the
   oblique cases. See That, pron.]
   A word placed before nouns to limit or individualize their
   meaning.
   [1913 Webster]

   Note: The was originally a demonstrative pronoun, being a
         weakened form of that. When placed before adjectives
         and participles, it converts them into abstract nouns;
         as, the sublime and the beautiful. --Burke. The is used
         regularly before many proper names, as of rivers,
         oceans, ships, etc.; as, the Nile, the Atlantic, the
         Great Eastern, the West Indies, The Hague. The with an
         epithet or ordinal number often follows a proper name;
         as, Alexander the Great; Napoleon the Third. The may be
         employed to individualize a particular kind or species;
         as, the grasshopper shall be a burden. --Eccl. xii. 5.
         [1913 Webster]

	

	The \The\, adv. [AS. [eth][=e], [eth][=y], instrumental case of
   s[=e], se['o], [eth][ae]t, the definite article. See 2d
   The.]
   By that; by how much; by so much; on that account; -- used
   before comparatives; as, the longer we continue in sin, the
   more difficult it is to reform. "Yet not the more cease I."
   --Milton.
   [1913 Webster]

         So much the rather thou, Celestial Light,
         Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
         Irradiate.                               --Milton.
   [1913 Webster]

	

	THE
     The Hessling Editor

	

	THE
     Technische Hoogeschool Eindhoven (OS), "T.H.E."

	

	T.H.E
     
         The operating system in which
        semaphores were first used.
     
        [Details?]
     
        (1999-10-12)