the thing noun[after a verb]2 •The needful thing: something suitable for the purpose.This book isn't quite the thing.I need a present for my friend, and I think this is just the thing. •The desired thing: someone or something that is popularly favored.He liked Tom all right. […] Sampson and Bullock he could do without, however. Especially Sampson, who was too much of a grammar-school-type swot ever to be quite the thing. — 1991
