six

[siks]

noun

a cardinal number, five plus one.

a symbol for this number, as 6 or VI.

a set of this many persons or things.

a playing card, die face, or half of a domino face with six pips.

Cricket. a hit in which the ball crosses the boundary line of the field without a bounce, counting six runs for the batsman.Compare boundary(def 3).

an automobile powered by a six-cylinder engine.

a six-cylinder engine.

adjective

amounting to six in number.

Idioms

at sixes and sevens,

in disorder or confusion.
in disagreement or dispute.

Origin of six

before 900; Middle English six, sex, Old English siex, syx, seox, sex; cognate with Dutch zes, Low German ses, German sechs, Old Norse sex, Gothic saihs, Latin sex, Greek héx, Sanskrit ṣaṣ

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for sixer

semester, hexad, sextet, hexagram, hexagon, sextuplet, hexagonal, semestral, senary, sextuple

Examples from the Web for sixer

Historical Examples of sixer

The Guesser was quite certain that he didn't look like a Sixer.
But, I Don't Think
Gordon Randall Garrett
And since when Execs talk like Sixer when they out of they head?
But, I Don't Think
Gordon Randall Garrett
I dunno why, for she had no protection that a sixer would not penetrate.
A Gunner Aboard the "Yankee"
Russell Doubleday
And so Scuddy's life went on, with occasional misfortunes in the way of a moon, or another drag, or perhaps a sixer.
Tales of Mean Streets
Arthur Morrison
Before long he had overtaken his fellow-“sixer,” and almost immediately drew up to our champion.
Parkhurst Boys
Talbot Baines Reed

British Dictionary definitions for sixer

sixer

noun

a leader of a Brownie Guide or Cub Scout six

six

noun

the cardinal number that is the sum of five and oneSee also number (def. 1)

a numeral, 6, VI, etc, representing this number

something representing, represented by, or consisting of six units, such as a playing card with six symbols on it

Also called: six o'clock six hours after noon or midnight

Also called: sixer cricket

a stroke in which the ball crosses the boundary without bouncing
the six runs scored for such a stroke

a division of a Brownie Guide or Cub Scout pack

at sixes and sevens

in disagreement
in a state of confusion

knock someone for six informal to upset or overwhelm someone completely; stun

six of one and half a dozen of the other or six and two threes a situation in which the alternatives are considered equivalent

determiner

amounting to sixsix nations
(as pronoun)set the table for six

Related formsRelated prefixes: hexa-, sex-

Word Origin for six

Old English siex; related to Old Norse sex, Gothic saihs, Old High German sehs, Latin sex, Greek hex, Sanskrit sastha

Six

noun

Les Six (le) a group of six young composers in France, who from about 1916 formed a temporary association as a result of interest in neoclassicism and in the music of Satie and the poetry of Cocteau. Its members were Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger, Francis Poulenc, Georges Auric, Louis Durey, and Germaine Tailleferre

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 sixer

six

Old English siex, six, sex, from Proto-Germanic *sekhs (cf. Old Saxon and Danish seks, Old Norse, Swedish, and Old Frisian sex, Middle Dutch sesse, Dutch zes, Old High German sehs, German sechs, Gothic saihs), from PIE *s(w)eks (cf. Sanskrit sas, Avestan kshvash, Persian shash, Greek hex, Latin sex, Old Church Slavonic sesti, Polish szesc, Russian shesti, Lithuanian szeszi, Old Irish se, Welsh chwech).

Six-shooter, usually a revolver with six chambers, is first attested 1844; six-pack of beverage containers is from 1952, of abdominal muscles by 1995. Six of one and half-a-dozen of the other "little difference" is recorded from 1833. Six-figure in reference to hundreds of thousands (of dollars, etc.) is from 1840. Six feet under "dead" is from 1942.

Phrase at sixes and sevens originally was "hazarding all one's chances," first in Chaucer, perhaps from dicing (the original form was on six and seven); it could be a corruption of on cinque and sice, using the French names (which were common in Middle English) for the highest numbers on the dice. Meaning "at odds, in disagreement or confusion" is from 1785, perhaps via a notion of "left unsettled."

Idioms and Phrases with sixer

six

In addition to the idioms beginning with six

six feet under
six of one, half a dozen of the other

also see:

at sixes and sevens
deep six
Joe six-pack