\The\, v. i.
See {Thee}. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Milton.

\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.
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.

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