twelfth man
Britishnoun
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a reserve player in a cricket team
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anything that is regarded as a contributory factor to the success of a football team, esp a large and vocal home support
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.
There they reached a verdict so quickly that, as the saying is, the foreman was coming back into the court-room before the twelfth man was out of it.
From In a Little Town by Hughes, Rupert
I am strongly of the opinion that the twelfth man was entirely without money at the time he met Angus, or I feel that he would have proved no exception to the rule.
From London's Underworld by Holmes, Thomas
When it had proceeded for upwards of two hours the judge observed that there were only eleven jurymen in the box, and inquired where the twelfth man was.
From Law and Laughter by Morton, George A. (George Alexander)
Did you know they have made him twelfth man?
From The Daughter Pays by Reynolds, Mrs. Baillie
And every man did count eleven, and the twelfth man did never count himself.
From English Fairy Tales by Rackham, Arthur
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
