The

The (tē) , intransitive verb

See Thee. [Obsolete] — Chaucer

The (tē, when emphatic or alone; te, obscure before a vowel; te, obscure before a consonant; 37) , definite article.

[Anglo-Saxon eē, a later form for earlier nom. sing. masc. sē, formed under the influence of the oblique cases. See That, pron.]

A word placed before nouns to limit or individualize their meaning.

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.

The , adverb

[Anglo-Saxon eē, eȳ, instrumental case of sē, seó, eat, 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

So much the rather thou, Celestial Light, Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers Irradiate. — Milton