five
[fahyv]
- a cardinal number, four plus one.
- a symbol for this number, as 5 or V.
- a set of this many persons or things.
- a playing card, die face, or half of a domino face with five pips.
- Informal. a five-dollar bill: Can you give me two fives for a ten?
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- amounting to five in number.
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- take five, Informal. to take a brief respite.
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Origin of five
before 1000; 1925–30 for def 7; Middle English; Old English fīf; cognate with Dutch vijf, German fünf, Old Norse fimm, Gothic fimf, Latin quīnque, Greek pénte, Sanskrit pancha
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
quintuple, cinquefoil, pentangle, pentagram, lustrum, cinque, quinquennium, pentacle, quintuplet, pentagon, limerick, pentad, pentamerous, quinary, quinate, quinquennial, quincunx, quintuplicateExamples from the Web for five
Contemporary Examples
“It was Stephen Hawking and five other Nobel laureates,” Krauss recalled.
Sleazy Billionaire’s Double Life Featured Beach Parties With Stephen HawkingM.L. Nestel
January 8, 2015
The Big Five banks dubbed too big to fail, are 35 percent bigger than they were when the meltdown was triggered.
The judges who handle arraignments at criminal court in all five boroughs have a small fraction of their usual caseloads.
After four or five months of casual interaction, they realized they both had lost a young parent to cancer.
“The play contains one five minute scene about James Hewitt,” Conway says.
Historical Examples
He's stolen five or six hundred dollars in gold from old Paul Nichols.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
Besides, the five thousand dollars were gone and not likely to be recovered.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
Not until five o'clock had he by turns urged and fought himself to the ferry.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Five men were floating about in a boat in the Southern ocean.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
I will send back and get the flour, as it is only five miles off.
Explorations in AustraliaJohn Forrest
five
- the cardinal number that is the sum of four and one
- a numeral, 5, V, etc, representing this number
- the amount or quantity that is one greater than four
- something representing, represented by, or consisting of five units, such as a playing card with five symbols on it
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- amounting to fivefive minutes; five nights
- (as pronoun)choose any five you like Related prefixes: penta-, quinque-
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See also fives
Word Origin
Old English fīf; related to Old Norse fimm, Gothic fimf, Old High German finf, Latin quinque, Greek pente, Sanskrit pañca
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for five
n.
Old English fif, from Proto-Germanic *fimfe (cf. Old Frisian and Old Saxon fif, Dutch vijf, Old Norse fimm, Old High German funf, Gothic fimf), from PIE *penkwe- (cf. Sanskrit panca, Greek pente, Latin quinque, Old Church Slavonic peti, Lithuanian penke, Old Welsh pimp). The sound shift that removed the *-m- is a regular development involving Old English, Old Frisian, and Old Saxon (cf. thought, from stem of think; couth from *kunthaz; us from *uns.
Slang five-finger discount "theft" is from 1966. Five o'clock shadow attested by 1937. The original five-year plan was 1928 in the U.S.S.R.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with five
five
see take five.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.