Referring to a specific member of a class and used anaphorically, pointing to a person or thing previously mentioned: the, that, this: (a) with noun; also with noun used as indirect obj. [1st quot.]; also with noun used as subj. of verb [quot. a1131]; also with adj. as noun [quot. c1330]; (b) with noun, now further specified by an adj., an appositive element, a rel. clause, etc.; (c) with indef. pron.: ~ other.

With noun, referring to a specific member of a class and pointing to a person or thing not previously mentioned, but instead understood from the context or already known: the; also with a post-prepositional plural noun [1st quot.]; also with a noun used as subj. of verb [2nd quot.]; also with a noun denoting a part, a quality or an attribute, something pertaining to one in some way, etc.: the; his, her, etc.; ~ morn, the next morning, the next day; ~ tiues-dai, on the Tuesday, on Tuesday; al ~ winter, all that winter, all winter.

With noun, referring to a specific member of a class and pointing to a person or thing neither previously mentioned nor understood from the context nor already known: (a) pointing to a person or thing particularized by a descriptive adj., an ordinal number, or a noun (or phrase) in the gen.: the; also with ordinal number as noun; also in tmesis of a compound ordinal number; (b) pointing to a person or thing particularized by a prep. phrase: the; ?also with sg. gen. noun [quot. a1131]; (c) pointing to a person or thing particularized by a rel. clause: the, that; (d) pointing to a thing particularized by a noun clause: the, that; also, an [last quot.]; (e) pointing to a thing particular ized by an inf.: the; (f) with a noun of time or place particularized by a temporal or locative clause: the; ~ dai that, ~ time whanne, ~ wei as, etc.

Having unique reference: (a) ~ est (pope, wind, world, etc.), the east (the Pope, the wind, the world, etc.); ~ holi sacerdhad, holy orders; amonges ~ messe, during Mass; (b) with noun, noun phrase, or adj. as noun referring to God, the devil, etc.: ~ al-mighti, the Almighty; ~ al-mighti god, almighty God; ~ devel, the devil; ~ helend, the Savior; etc.; (c) with abstract noun: ~ deth (ileve, etc.), death (belief, etc.); (d) with noun denoting a period of time or a part of the day [sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense 1b.]; with the name of a day of the week; ~ son-dai, on Sunday; (e) with a title, an epithet, or a class noun in apposition to a personal or other name or a date: the; also with noun used as indirect obj. [quot. a1131]; also with noun in apposition to subj. of verb [quot. c1275, 2nd]; (f) used before an adj. preceding or following a personal name: the; (g) as dem. adj. with personal names: that, this; (h) with the name of a place.

Having generic reference: (a) with noun, pointing to a species, class, or type, or to a representative of a type: the, a; also with indef. pron.; ~ man, man; a man; ~ man that (the), the) one who, the man who, a man who, him who; (b) with adj. or ppl. as noun, pointing to a class or type of persons: the; (c) with noun denoting the body, the spirit, etc.: the; (d) with the name of a day of the week; also with noun denoting a part of the day; ~ resten-dai, the Sabbath; ~ sater-dai, Saturday(s, on Saturday(s; ~ son-dai, Sunday(s, on Sunday(s; etc.; in ~ dai, during the day; (e) ~ ivel, that which is evil.