five

[fahyv]

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noun

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?

adjective

amounting to five in number.

Idioms

take five, Informal. to take a brief respite.

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. 2019

Related Words for five

quintuple, cinquefoil, pentangle, pentagram, lustrum, cinque, quinquennium, pentacle, quintuplet, pentagon, limerick, pentad, pentamerous, quinary, quinate, quinquennial, quincunx, quintuplicate

Examples from the Web for five

Contemporary Examples of five

“It was Stephen Hawking and five other Nobel laureates,” Krauss recalled.
Sleazy Billionaire’s Double Life Featured Beach Parties With Stephen Hawking
M.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.
Sen. Warren’s Main Street Crusade to Pressure Clinton
Eleanor Clift
January 8, 2015
The judges who handle arraignments at criminal court in all five boroughs have a small fraction of their usual caseloads.
Shot Down During the NYPD Slowdown
Michael Daly
January 7, 2015
After four or five months of casual interaction, they realized they both had lost a young parent to cancer.
Everyone at This Dinner Party Has Lost Someone
Samantha Levine
January 6, 2015
“The play contains one five minute scene about James Hewitt,” Conway says.
Harry’s Daddy, and Diana’s ‘Murder’: Royal Rumors In a New Play
Tom Sykes
January 4, 2015

Historical Examples of five

He's stolen five or six hundred dollars in gold from old Paul Nichols.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
Besides, the five thousand dollars were gone and not likely to be recovered.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
Not until five o'clock had he by turns urged and fought himself to the ferry.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
Five men were floating about in a boat in the Southern ocean.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
Barometer 28.48; thermometer 68 degrees at half-past five o'clock.
Explorations in Australia
John Forrest

British Dictionary definitions for five

five

noun

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

determiner

amounting to fivefive minutes; five nights
(as pronoun)choose any five you like Related prefixes: penta-, quinque-

Word Origin for five

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for five

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.

Idioms and Phrases with five

five

see take five.