Definition of "it"

it

/ɪt/

pronoun
subjective and objective it, reflexive and intensive itself, possessive determiner and pronoun its
1. The third-person singular personal pronoun used to refer to an inanimate object, abstract entity, or non-human living thing.
  Quotations
  It is not a pen. It is a book. Audio (US)(file)
  2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
  The Nansi District was formerly known as the "Jiaba Community", and was one of the early territories of the Taivoan, as well as where the Zou resided. Later, due to the invasion of the Siraya tribe, the community members later migrated out to regions such as Gongguan, Paoziliao (Kaohsiung County), and Daciouyuan. During the time of the Japanese occupation, because of its location at the west of the "Nanzihsian River", it was therefore renamed Nansi ("si" meaning "west"). A village and village hall were established here, under the governance of Sinhua District of Tainan Province. After the war in 1945, it was renamed Nansi Township, and was changed to Nansi District after the merging of Tainan City and County on December 25th, 2010.
  2018 August 6, “Brief Introduction of Nansi”, in Nansi District Office, Tainan City‎, archived from the original on 16 February 2022
2. A third-person singular personal pronoun used to refer to a baby or child, especially of unknown gender.
  Quotations
  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.
  1847, Charlotte Brontë, chapter IV, in Jane Eyre
  I could only encourage Mrs. Clements to speak next of Anne's early days […] "There was nobody else, sir, to take the little helpless creature in hand," replied Mrs. Clements. "The wicked mother seemed to hate it—as if the poor baby was in fault!—from the day it was born. My heart was heavy for the child, and I made the offer to bring it up as tenderly as if it was my own.""Did Anne remain entirely under your care from that time?""Not quite entirely, sir. Mrs. Catherick had her whims and fancies about it at times, and used now and then to lay claim to the child, as if she wanted to spite me for bringing it up.
  1859, Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White‎
  The sky was dripping. Like a tap that a child has tried its hardest to turn off but hasn't quite managed.
  2005, Marcus Zusak, The Book Thief, part 10
3. (obsolete) An affectionate third-person singular personal pronoun.
  Quotations
  " […] 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.
  1890, George Manville Fenn, Black Blood
  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.”
  1897, Olive Pratt Rayner (Grant Allen), The Type-Writer Girl
  WILLIAM: You don't like me better?CLARA: Indeed I do.WILLIAM (laughing): Well, what a dear girl it is.CLARA (flinging her arms around his neck with suddenly disclosed passion): Oh, I do love you!
  1905, The Harvard Monthly, volumes 39-40, page 183
4. (chiefly derogatory, offensive) A third-person singular personal pronoun used to refer to an animate referent who is transgender or is neither female nor male.
  Quotations
  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!!"
  1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure
  "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.
  1993, Bruce Coville, Aliens Ate My Homework, pages 72–73
5. Used to refer to someone being identified, often on the phone, but not limited to this situation.
6. The impersonal pronoun, used without referent as the subject of an impersonal verb or statement (known as the dummy pronoun, dummy it or weather it).
7. The impersonal pronoun, used without referent, or with unstated but contextually implied referent, in various short idioms or expressions.
  1. Referring to a desirable quality or ability, or quality of being successful, fashionable or in vogue.
    Quotations
    Later that night, a friend told Brady, “Still got it.” “Never lost it,” he replied. THAT WAS MOSTLY TRUE. But the 2013 season ended with the Patriots coaches wondering whether Brady's skills were in a subtle but irrevocable decline […]
    2021, Seth Wickersham, It's Better to Be Feared: The New England Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness, Liveright Publishing
  2. Referring to sexual intercourse or other sexual activity.
    Quotations
    Is man really the only animal who does "it" face to face?
    1968, Dear Doctor Hip Pocrates; advice your family doctor never gave you, page 5
    The great advantage of English public school life lies of course in the quality of tutelage it provides. Adrian had received a decent and broad English education in the area of his loins... He had quickly happened upon the truth which many lonely contemporaries would never discover, the truth that everybody, simply everybody, was panting for it and could, with patience, be shown that they were panting for it. So Adrian grabbed what was to hand and had the time of his life genitally—focusing exclusively on his own gender of course, for this was 1973 and girls had not yet been invented.
    1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, London: Heinemann, page 14
8. (uncountable) Sex appeal, especially that which goes beyond physical appearance.
  Quotations
  'Tisn't beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It's just It. Some women'll stay in a man's memory if they once walked down a street
  1904, Rudyard Kipling, Mrs Bathurst‎
  And she had It. It, hell; she had Those.
  1927, Dorothy Parker, “Madame Glyn Lectures on 'It,' with Illustrations”, in The New Yorker, published 1927 November 26; republished in Brendan Gill, editor, The Portable Dorothy Parker, New York: Penguin, 1976, pages 464-468
9. The impersonal pronoun, used as a placeholder for a delayed subject, or less commonly, object; known as the dummy pronoun (according to some definitions), anticipatory it or, more formally in linguistics, a syntactic expletive. The delayed subject is commonly a to-infinitive, a gerund, or a noun clause introduced by a subordinating conjunction.
  Quotations
  "I know now!" said I. "I have seen this in your face a long while.""No; have you really, my dear?" said he. "What a Dame Durden it is to read a face!"
  1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853
10. All or the end; something after which there is no more.
11. (obsolete) Followed by an omitted and understood relative pronoun: That which; what.
  Quotations
  In briefe, I am content, and what should providence add more? Surely this is it [= it which] wee call Happinesse, and this doe I enjoy [...].
  1643, Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, II.2
determiner
1. (obsolete) Its.
  Quotations
  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.replaced by "its" in the 1769 Oxford Standard Text
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Leviticus 25:5
noun
plural its
1. One who is neither a he nor a she; a creature; a dehumanized being.
  Quotations
  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.…"
  1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, chapter 1, in Bulldog Drummond
  Too often, children become an "it" in their homes and their humanness is devalued.
  1995, Neil Weiner, Sharon E. Robinson Kurpius, Shattered innocence, page 8
2. The person who chases and tries to catch the other players in the playground game of tag.
  Quotations
  When there are only two children left who haven't been tagged, I will stop the game, and we will start over with those children starting as the Its.
  2000, Katherine T. Thomas, Amelia M. Lee, Jerry R. Thomas, Physical education for children, page 464
3. (Britain) A game of tag.
4. (informal) A desirable characteristic, as being fashionable.
5. (informal) Sexual intercourse.
6. (informal) Sex appeal.
7. Alternative letter-case form of It (“force in the vitalist approach of Georg Groddeck”)
  Quotations
  For Groddeck, the it is given, unknowable, and he does not try to conceptualize drives or forces. Early life and sexuality permeate […]
  1988, Frederic D. Homer, The Interpretation of Illness, Purdue University Press, page 27
8. Alternative letter-case form of It (“the id”)
  Quotations
  […] thus reversing the roles of the I and the it, the former now occupying the place of the latter and vice versa. An awareness of our bisubjective nature (it and me) requires thus an I as a third term that slides between […]
  2015, Charis Charalampous, Rethinking the Mind-Body Relationship in Early Modern Literature, Philosophy, and Medicine: The Renaissance of the Body, Routledge, page 36
adjective
not comparable
1. (colloquial) Most fashionable, popular, or in vogue.
  Quotations
  Going away for the weekend and feel the need to profile en route? This is the "it" bag.
  2007 September, Vibe, volume 15, number 9, page 202
  With Hit Girl, Moretz is this year's It Girl, alternately sweet, savage and scary.
  2010, David Germain, Hilarious ‘Kick-Ass’ delivers bloody fun, Associated Press
  These Italian made sneakers quickly became an it shoe and the trend is not going anywhere any time soon!
  2021 October 4, Robert P, “Are Golden Goose Sneakers Worth It? My Honest Review Of Golden Goose Sneakers”, in Gold Talk Club‎