fives

American

[fahyvz] / faɪvz /

noun

(used with a singular verb)

a game resembling handball, played on a court having a front wall and two side walls.

fives British

/ faɪvz /

noun

(functioning as singular) a ball game similar to squash but played with bats or the hands

"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

Etymology

Origin of fives

First recorded in 1630–40; five + -s ³

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Due to the pandemic, we were all split into different changing rooms into fives and he was part of our five.

From BBC • Jul. 3, 2026

Brokers have the option to buy an additional 83.3 million shares as part of a standard overallotment option to help balance supply and demand, messing up the nine fives.

From Barron's • Jun. 4, 2026

Manny Farber said that when he was about 4 years old, his father demonstrated to him how a computer worked by writing a computer program on the fly that could count to 100 by fives.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026

Young gave high fives to fans as he left toward the locker room.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 3, 2026

Glen calls out and Jimmy and Ducky are giving each other high fives.

From "Slam!" by Walter Dean Myers

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023