the

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

The \The\ ([th][=e]), v. i. See Thee. [Obs.] --Chaucer. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

The \The\ ([th][=e], when emphatic or alone; [th][-e], obscure before a vowel; [th]e, obscure before a consonant; 37), definite article. [AS. [eth][=e], a later form for earlier nom. sing. masc. s[=e], formed under the influence of the oblique cases. See That, pron.] A word placed before nouns to limit or individualize their meaning. [1913 Webster]

Note: The was originally a demonstrative pronoun, being a weakened form of that. When placed before adjectives and participles, it converts them into abstract nouns; as, the sublime and the beautiful. --Burke. The is used regularly before many proper names, as of rivers, oceans, ships, etc.; as, the Nile, the Atlantic, the Great Eastern, the West Indies, The Hague. The with an epithet or ordinal number often follows a proper name; as, Alexander the Great; Napoleon the Third. The may be employed to individualize a particular kind or species; as, the grasshopper shall be a burden. --Eccl. xii. 5. [1913 Webster]

The \The\, adv. [AS. [eth][=e], [eth][=y], instrumental case of s[=e], se['o], [eth][ae]t, the definite article. See 2d The.] By that; by how much; by so much; on that account; -- used before comparatives; as, the longer we continue in sin, the more difficult it is to reform. "Yet not the more cease I." --Milton. [1913 Webster]

So much the rather thou, Celestial Light, Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers Irradiate. --Milton. [1913 Webster]