Referring to specific members of a class and used anaphorically, pointing to persons or things, a group, or a series of persons, things, etc. previously mentioned: those, the: (a) with noun, cpd., pron., or num. as noun; (b) with noun, pron., or num. as noun, now further specified by an adj., a prep. phrase, or a rel. clause; alle ~ min godes..afore-seid, all these aforementioned goods of mine; (c) with noun or pron. referring to part of a group, usu. further specified by an adj. or a rel. clause; (d) with rel. pron.; ~ which.

With noun, referring to specific members of a class and pointing to persons or things not previously mentioned, but instead understood from the context or already known: those, the: (a) with noun or cpd. denoting persons, places, or things;— occas. further specified by an adj.; also, with noun denoting specific bodily parts and expressing a possessive relationship: his; their; (b) with noun denoting a period of time: ~ daies, those days; also, used adverbially: in those days; at (bi, in) ~ daies, in ~ times (yeres).

With noun, cpd., adj. as noun, or ppl. as noun, referring to specific members of a class and pointing to persons or things neither previously mentioned nor understood from the context nor already known: (a) particularized by an adj.: the; also, your [quot. a1325]; (b) particularized by a prep. phrase or an infl. phrase: the; also, by an adj. and a prep. phrase [quot. a1121, last]; also, by a prep. phrase and following directly quoted words: these [quot. c1450]; (c) particularized by a rel. clause, or by an adj. and a rel. clause: the.

Having unique reference: the: ~ apostles (mountes), the Apostles of Christ (Alps); also, used before an adj. preceding a noun: ~ five wittes (woundes);—sometimes further qualified by a rel. clause.

Having generic reference, with noun, noun phrase, cpd., or adj. as noun denoting a class or type of persons or things, or representatives of a class: those, the.