Say the thing (7)
I believe the answer is:
article
I believe this is a double definition.
'say the' is the first definition.
('the' is the definite article)
'thing' is the second definition.
(I've seen this before)
(Other definitions for article that I've seen before include "Newspaper feature or a separate thing" , "You might say one" , "What might be illustrated by a" , "For instance, a" , "Eg, a, an or the" .)