forty

American  

[fawr-tee] / ˈfɔr ti /

noun

plural

forties

1. a cardinal number, ten times four.

2. a symbol for this number, as 40 or XL or XXXX.

3. a set of this many persons or things.

4. forties, the numbers, years, degrees, or the like, from 40 through 49, as in referring to numbered streets, indicating the years of a lifetime or of a century, or degrees of temperature.

   His office is in the West Forties. Her parents are in their forties. The temperature will be in the forties.

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adjective

1. amounting to 40 in number.

forty British  

/ ˈfɔːtɪ /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the product of ten and four See also number

2. a numeral, 40, XL, etc, representing this number

3. something representing, represented by, or consisting of 40 units

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determiner

1. 1. amounting to forty

      forty thieves

   2. ( as pronoun )

      there were forty in the herd

Etymology

Origin of forty

before 950; Middle English fourti, Old English fēowertig (cognate with Old Frisian fiuwertich, Old High German fiorzug, German vierzig ). See four, -ty ¹

Example Sentences

"Three whole days were lost. More than forty drivers are ahead of me. Fifty, at least. I'm finished."

From Literature

These were not the large timber wolves but the smaller northern brush wolves, perhaps weighing forty or fifty pounds each, about as large as most of my team.

From Literature

I was forty years old and living in poverty when I first became involved with sled dogs.

From Literature

For he had become a Christian, some forty years earlier, without ceasing in the least to be a loyal Jew.

From Literature

I believed in the fairy-tale version of the forest until I was close to forty years old.

From Literature