Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Theme

Theme (thēm), n. [OE. teme, OF. teme, F. thème, L. thema, Gr. θέμα, fr. τιθέναι to set, place. See Do, and cf. Thesis.] 1. A subject or topic on which a person writes or speaks; a proposition for discussion or argument; a text.

My theme is alway one and ever was. Chaucer.

And when a soldier was the theme, my name Was not far off. Shak.

2. Discourse on a certain subject.

Then ran repentance and rehearsed his theme. Piers Plowman.

It was the subject of my theme. Shak.

3. A composition or essay required of a pupil. Locke.

4. (Gram.) A noun or verb, not modified by inflections; also, that part of a noun or verb which remains unchanged (except by euphonic variations) in declension or conjugation; stem.

5. That by means of which a thing is done; means; instrument. [Obs.] Swift.

6. (Mus.) The leading subject of a composition or a movement.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.