it

UK /ɪt/ US /ɪt/
noun 11pron 5adj 2name 2det 1

Definitions

pron

1

The third-person singular neuter personal pronoun used to refer to an inanimate object, abstract entity, or non-human living thing.

Take this book and put it on the shelf.

Take each day as it comes.

2

A third-person singular personal pronoun used to refer to a baby or child, especially of unknown gender.

She took the baby and held it in her arms.

A child cannot quarrel with its elders, as I had done; cannot give its furious feelings uncontrolled play, as I had given mine, without experiencing afterwards the pang of remorse and the chill of reaction.

3

A third-person singular pronoun used to refer to an unspecified person.

All these things inclined her, step by step, to submit to the new discovery, whether Queen Victoria's or another's, that each man and each woman has another allotted to it for life, whom it supports, by whom it is supported, till death them do part.

She had never seen that each human being was different, would react differently, had its own peculiar idiosyncrasies.

4

An affectionate third-person singular personal pronoun.

"[…] It's my belief that you don't know your own mind." "I don't, dear," said Hulda, nestling to him. "Why, what a puss it is!" cried Sir Philip, kissing her tenderly.

1897, Olive Pratt Rayner (Grant Allen), The Type-Writer Girl She caught my eye, and laughed. “What a funny girl it is!” she cried. “You are so comical! But it isn't the least use your trying to frighten me. I can see the twinkle in your big black eyes; and I like you in spite of your trying to be horrid. Do you know, I liked you from the first moment I saw you.”

5

A third-person singular personal pronoun used to refer to an animate referent who is transgender or non-binary.

1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure Next morning bought her [a drag queen] breakfast & she asked for a couple dollars to get a drink. Gave her $3, walked her to a bar. […] Some teenage boys watched us walking & began shouting. When I left her at the bar door & kissed her goodbye, they began shouting "Ugh! You kissed it!!"

"Oh, don't be silly. I am neither male nor female. I'm a farfel." […] "It. Refer to me as an it." "That seems pretty rude," I said nervously. "Not as rude as calling me a he or a she," it said.

det

1

Its.

That which groweth of it owne accord of thy haruest, thou ſhalt not reape, neither gather the grapes of thy Uine vndreſſed: for it is a yeere of reſt vnto the land.

noun

1

One who is neither a he nor a she; a creature; a dehumanized being.

His master glanced up quickly, and removed the letter from his hands. "I'm surprised at you, James," he remarked severely. "A secretary should control itself. Don't forget that the perfect secretary is an it: an automatic machine—a thing incapable of feeling.…"

Too often, children become an "it" in their homes and their humanness is devalued.

2

The person who chases and tries to catch the other players in the playground game of tag.

In the next game, Adam and Tom will be it…

Tag, you're it!

3

A game of tag.

Let's play it at breaktime.

4

A desirable characteristic, as being fashionable.

Man, he's really got it.

She's the it girl, at least for this Fall.

5

Something desirable or suitable.

Bro, that shirt is not it.

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