number definition

English number definition

Alternative forms

• nummer (dialectal)
• numbre (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle English number, nombre, numbre, noumbre, from Anglo-Norman noumbre, Old French nombre, from Latin numerus (“number”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to divide”). Compare Saterland Frisian Nummer, Nuumer, West Frisian nûmer, Dutch nummer (“number”), German Nummer (“number”), Danish nummer (“number”), Swedish nummer (“number”), Icelandic númer (“number”). Replaced Middle English ȝetæl and rime, more at tell, tale and rhyme.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: nŭmʹbər, IPA^(key): /ˈnʌmbə/
• (General American) enPR: nŭmʹbər, IPA^(key): /ˈnʌmbɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌmbə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: num‧ber

Noun

number (plural numbers)

1. (countable) An abstract entity used to describe quantity.

   Zero, one, −1, 2.5, and pi are all numbers.

2. (countable) A numeral: a symbol for a non-negative integer.

   Synonyms: scalar, (obsolete) rime

   The number 8 is usually made with a single stroke.

3. (countable, mathematics) An element of one of several sets: natural numbers, integers, rational numbers, real numbers, complex numbers, and sometimes extensions such as hypercomplex numbers, etc.

   The equation ${\displaystyle e^{i\pi }+1=0}$ includes the most important numbers: 1, 0, ${\displaystyle \pi }$ , ${\displaystyle i}$ , and ${\displaystyle e}$ .

4. (Followed by a numeral; used attributively) Indicating the position of something in a list or sequence. Abbreviations: No or No., no or no. (in each case, sometimes written with a superscript "o", like Nº or №). The symbol "#" is also used in this manner.

   Horse number 5 won the race.

5. Quantity.
   • 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:

     From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. […]   But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.

   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, OCLC 863521290:

     Number itself importeth not much in armies where the people are of weak courage.

   Any number of people can be reading from a given repository at a time.

6. A sequence of digits and letters used to register people, automobiles, and various other items.

   Her passport number is C01X864TN.

7. (countable, informal) A telephone number.
   • 2001, E. Forrest Hein, The Ruach Project, Xulon Press, page 86:

     “[...] I wonder if you could get hold of him and have him call me here at Interior. I’m in my office, do you have my number?”

   • 2007, Lindsey Nicole Isham, No Sex in the City: One Virgin's Confessions on Love, Lust, Dating, and Waiting, Kregel Publications, page 111:

     When I agreed to go surfing with him he said, “Great, can I have your number?” Well, I don’t give my number to guys I don’t know.

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Marsha's work number is 555-8986.

     Audio (US)

     (file)

9. (grammar) Of a word or phrase, the state of being singular, dual or plural, shown by inflection.

   Adjectives and nouns should agree in gender, number, and case.

10. (now rare, in the plural) Poetic metres; verses, rhymes.
    • a. 1631, J[ohn] Donne, “The triple Foole”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, OCLC 1008264503, page 204:

      Griefe brought to numbers cannot be ſo fierce, / For, he tames it, that fetters it in verſe.

    • 1735, [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London; Dublin: Re-printed by George Faulkner, bookseller, […], OCLC 6363280, lines 124–125, page 7:

      As yet a Child, nor yet a Fool to Fame, / I liſp'd in Numbers for the Numbers came.

11. (countable) A performance; especially, a single song or song and dance routine within a larger show.

    For his second number, he sang "The Moon Shines Bright".

12. (countable, informal) A person.
    • 1968, Janet Burroway, The dancer from the dance: a novel, Little, Brown, page 40:

      I laughed. "Don't doubt that. She's a saucy little number."

    • 1988, Erica Jong, Serenissima, Dell, page 214:

      "Signorina Jessica," says the maid, a saucy little number, "your father has gone to his prayers and demands that you come to the synagogue at once [...]"

    • 2005, Denise A. Agnew, Kate Hill & Arianna Hart, By Honor Bound, Ellora's Cave Publishing, page 207:

      He had to focus on the mission, staying alive and getting out, not on the sexy number rubbing up against him.

13. (countable, informal) An item of clothing, particularly a stylish one.
    • 2007, Cesca Martin, Agony Angel: So You Think You've Got Problems..., Troubador Publishing Ltd, page 134:

      The trouble was I was wearing my backless glittering number from the night before underneath, so unless I could persuade the office it was National Fancy Dress Day I was doomed to sweat profusely in bottle blue.

    • 2007, Lorelei James, Running with the Devil, Samhain Publishing, Ltd, page 46:

      "I doubt the sexy number you wore earlier tonight fell from the sky."

14. (slang, chiefly US) A marijuana cigarette, or joint; also, a quantity of marijuana bought from a dealer.
    • 2005, K'wan, Hoodlum, St. Martin's Press (2005), →ISBN, page 1:

      These were the two that Tommy had chosen to collect a debt owed to his family by a dude named Heath who ran numbers out of a grocery store on 131st and Lenox.

    • 2009, Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice, Vintage 2010, page 12:

      Back at his place again, Doc rolled a number, put on a late movie, found an old T-shirt, and sat tearing it up into short strips […]

15. (dated) An issue of a periodical publication.

    the latest number of a magazine

16. A large amount, in contrast to a smaller amount; numerical preponderance.
    • 1980, May 10, Al King "Braves travel to New England with reputation", The Indiana Gazette

      Despite last week's woes, the Braves still sport numbers that would make Christie Brinkley blush.

17. (informal, always indefinite) A large amount of damage

    (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Hyponyms

See also Thesaurus:number

Derived terms

Related terms

Pages starting with “number”.

Descendants

Translations

Verb

number (third-person singular simple present numbers, present participle numbering, simple past and past participle numbered)

1. (transitive) To label (items) with numbers; to assign numbers to (items).

   Number the baskets so that we can find them easily.

2. (intransitive) To total or count; to amount to.

   I don’t know how many books are in the library, but they must number in the thousands.

References

• number on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Derived terms

• number among

Translations

See also

• (grammatical numbers): singular, dual, trial, quadral, paucal, plural, singulative
• Wiktionary’s Appendix of numbers

Etymology 2

From numb + -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: nŭm'ə, IPA^(key): /ˈnʌmə/
• (US): enPR: nŭm'ər, IPA^(key): /ˈnʌmɚ/

• Audio (US) (adjective)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: num‧ber

Adjective

number

1. comparative form of numb: more numb

Anagrams

• numbre, renumb

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Estonian number definition

Etymology

From German Nummer. The added -b- is analoguous to kamber and klamber.

Noun

number (genitive numbri, partitive numbrit)

1. number

Declension

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Middle English number definition

Noun

number

1. Alternative form of nombre

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Papiamentu number definition

Etymology

From English number.

An analogy of the Papiamentu word nòmber "name".

Noun

number

1. number