How do i turn a jQuery collection into an array?

How do i turn a jQuery collection into an array?

Let's say i have this html:
<div>
  <ul>
    <li class="thing">poot</li>
    <li class="thing">snoot</li>
    <li class="thing">boot</li>
  </ul>
</div>

I can get the elements with

jQuery(".thing")

But how can i turn that into an array like ["poot", "snoot", "boot"]?

I feel like this should be really easy but i can't work out how.
thanks
max