English

Adverb

first thing ‎(not comparable)

1. Early in the morning.

   I'll meet you first thing at the station.‎

2. Straight away, very soon.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.

Noun

first thing ‎(plural first things)

1. The basic idea of how to do something.

   I would help you, but I don't know the first thing about gardening.