a. and sb. Forms: 1 fíf-, fýfténe, -týne, 3–6 fif-, fyften(e, 3 south. vyftene, (3 fythtene), 3, 5 fiveten(e, 7–8 -een, 5–7 fyvetene, 6–7 fifteene, 9 Sc. feifteen, 6– fifteen. [OE. fífténe, -týne corresponds to OFris. fîftîne, OS. fîftein (LG. föftein, Du. vijftien), OHG. fimf-zehen, finfzehan (MUG. vünf-, fünfzehen, mod.G. fünfzehn), ON. fimtán (Sw. femton, Da. femten), Goth. fimftaihun; f. OTeut. *fimfi FIVE + *tehun TEN: see -TEEN.]
The cardinal number composed of ten and five, represented by the symbols 15 or xv.
A. as adj.
1. In concord with sb. expressed.
Beowulf, 1582 (Gr.). He … sloh … fyftyne men.
a. 1000. Guthlac, 907 (Gr.).
| He on westenne wiceard ȝeceas | |
| fiftynu ȝear. |
c. 1160. Hatton Gosp., John xi. 18. Bethania ys ge-hende ierusalem ofer fyftena furlenga.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 415.
| For fiftene ȝer hadde adam, | |
| ðan caim of eue cam. |
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 416. A … comete … hym ssewede vẏftene nẏȝt ẏwẏs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 27737 (Cott.). Þir ar þe springes o wreth fythtene.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 4563.
| Aftir þair dede, als þe buke says, | |
| Anticrist sal regne, yhit fiften days. |
a. 1400. Prymer (1891), 59. Heere bygynneth the fyftene psalmes.
1548. Forrest, Pleas. Poesye, 472. The beste ffyuetene shealinges not surmowntinge.
1602. Warner, Alb. Eng., XI. lxii. 272. Saint Nicholas Bay … fifteene hundred Miles from Mosco is away.
1647. Fuller, Good Th. in Worse T. (1841), 92. An Agitation is reported in the Conclave, to bring down Jubilees to fifteen, twelve, or ten years, had not some cardinals (whose policie was above their coventousness) opposed it.
1766. Pennant, Zool. (1768), II. 235. Taken in clap-nets of fiveteen yards length, and two and a half in breadth.
1819. Shelley, Peter Bell, vii. 23.
| A man would bear upon his face, | |
| For fifteen months in any case, | |
| The yawn of such a venture. |
1883. Stevenson, Treas. Isl., I. i.
| Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest— | |
| Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! | |
| Drink and the devil had done for the rest— | |
| Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! |
2. With ellipsis of sb., which may usually be supplied from context. The Fifteen: the Court of Session (formerly) consisting of fifteen Judges. Also, the first Jacobite rising (in the year 1715).
c. 1050. Byrhtferth’s Handboc, in Anglia, VIII. 303. Gif þær synt fiftene to lafe todælað þa eall swa þa oðre.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8863 (Cott.). Þis temple … of heght it had fiften [eln].
1660. Sir B. Ruddier, Poems, 83.
| Give me a Virgin of Fifteen, | |
| Already voted to the Queen | |
| Of Lust and Lovers, whose soft Hair | |
| Fann’d with the breath of gentle Air. |
1712–4. Pope, Rape Lock, IV. 58.
| Then thus addressed the pow’r—‘Hail, wayward queen! | |
| Who rule the sex to fifty from fifteen.’ |
1769. Dublin Mercury, 16–10 Sept., 2/2. A Black Gelding … about fifteen high.
a. 1797. H. Walpole, Mem. Geo. II. (1847), I. 266. A man engaged in the former Rebellion, or, as the Scotch call it, in the fifteen.
1814. Scott, Wav., lxiv. ‘Ye were just as ill aff in the feifteen.’ Ibid. (1815), Guy M. xxxviii. ‘A man’s aye the better thought o’ in our country for having been afore the feifteen.’
1842. Orderson, Creol., viii. 75. From adolescent fifteen … to mature twenty-five.
† 3. = FIFTEENTH a. Obs.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, II. 17. On the fyften day.
c. 1430. Freemasonry, 251.
| The fyftene artycul maketh an ende, | |
| For to the mayster he ys a frende. |
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. cxxv. [cxxi.] 356. To be at Hamton the fyftene day of May, and there to fynde his nauy redy apparelled.
1598. Grenewey, Tacitus’ Ann., VI. vi. (1622), 130. The fifteene Kalends of Nouember.
1613. Bill of Compl., in N. Shaks. Soc. Trans. (1885), 498. In the fifteene yeare of his Maties raigne.
B. as sb.
1. Eng. Hist. = FIFTEENTH sb. 1. Obs.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VII. 480. In this yere also the Kynge helde his parlyament at Westmynster, in the whiche was graunted vnto hym thre fyftenys, to be payde in thre yeres folowynge.
1540. Nottingham Rec., III. 379. To Master Meyre in money to make owte the Fyften v.li.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. vii. 23. He that made us pay one and twenty Fifteenes, and one shilling to the pound, the last Subsidie.
1643. Prynne, Sov. Power Parl., I. (ed. 2), 23. Both the Houses gave halfe a tenth and halfe a fifteene, to be disposed of as the Lords thought fit, for the defence of the Realme.
2. A set of fifteen persons or things: a. A set of fifteen players forming a ‘side’ at Rugby football.
1880. Times, 12 Nov., 4/4. The two Universities … always place strong fifteens in the field.
1890. Daily News, 4 Dec., 2/5. The visitors brought a powerful fifteen, and secured the victory after a splendid game.
† b. (see quot.) Obs.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 231/2. Rosaries, a pair of Beads, called Fifteens, containing fifteen Pater Nosters and 150 Aves.
c. Cribbage. An exact sum of fifteen pips counted on two or more cards, a court card reckoning as 10.
1674. Cotton, Compl. Gamester, ix. 108. That makes you six Games, because there is two fifteens and a pair.
1830. Hoyle made familiar, 58. They neither form a pair, a fifteen, a sequence nor a flush.
3. A game at cards: see quot.
1884. Daily News, 13 Feb., 5/6. During a game of fifteen, a species of poker, several cards were marked.
C. Comb., as fifteen-spined adj.; fifteen-pounder, a gun throwing a shot that weighs fifteen pounds; fifteen-shilling a., worth fifteen shillings.
1684. J. Peter, Siege Vienna, 109. *Fifteen pounders 1.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 698. The ministers at one time resolved to issue twentyshilling bills, and even *fifteenshilling bills, for the payment of the troops.
1832. Johnston, in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, I. 7. The *fifteen-spined stickleback.
