thought (n.) Look up thought at Dictionary.com
O.E. žoht, gežoht, from stem of žencan "to conceive of in the mind, consider" (see think). Cognate with the second element in Ger. Gedächtnis "memory," Andacht "attention, devotion," Bedacht "consideration, deliberation." Second thought "later consideration" is recorded from 1640s. Thought-crime is from "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (1949); thought police is attested from 1946, originally in ref. to pre-war Japanese Special Higher Police (Tokubetsu Koto Keisatsu).