Ten

a., sb. (adv.). Forms: α. uninflected: 1 tíen, tén, later týn, (north. téa), 2 tyen, teon, 4–6 tenn, 4–7 tenne, tien; 1– ten. β. inflected: 1 tíene, týne, 1–5 téne. [OE. tíen, -e, Anglian tén, -e, Comm. Teut., = OLG. *tehan, OFris. tîan, tîen, OS. tehan (tîan, tein), (MDu., Du. tien, MLG. tein, LG. tein, tien, EFris. tein, tian, tien); OHG. zehan (MHG. zehen, zên, Ger. zehn); Goth. taihun; ON. tíu, tío (Norw. tie, tio, Sw. tio, Da. ti):—OTeut. *teχan, beside *teχun = pre-Teut. *de·km, L. decem, Gr. δέκα, OSl. desja(tⁱ), Skr. daça(n-. As final -n regularly fell away in Teut., the normal form for OE. would have been *teha, téa (as found in ONorthumbrian); but the actual form, as in OFris., OS., and OHG., had final -n, app. taken from the inflected form, whence also the umlaut in tíen, týn, tén. The inflected form, a plural i- stem (:—teχanī^z), in OE. tíene, etc. (neut. -u, -o, gen. -a, dat. -um), ME. tēne, was used when the numeral stood absolutely (sense 2); the uninflected was used with a sb., and at length, in ME., in all positions. (But see -TEEN, from -tēne.)]

  The cardinal numeral next higher than nine; the number of the digits on both hands or feet, and hence the basis of the ordinary or decimal numeration.

  Expressed by the figures 10, or symbol X, x.

  A.  adj. 1. In concord with a sb. expressed.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxviii. § 1. Þa wæron hi sume ten ʓear on þam ʓewinne. Ibid. (c. 897), Gregory’s Past. C., xvii. 124. Þa stænenan bredu þe sio æw wæs on awriten mid tien bebodum.

a. 900.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., I. xiii. [xxiii.] § 1. Þreotteno ʓer & syx monað & tyn daʓas.

c. 1050.  Charter of Eadwine, in Kemble, Cod. Dipl., IV. 259. Ic an ðat lond … buten ten acres ic ʓiue ðer into ðere kirke.

a. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 219. He ʓescop tyen engle werod.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 7015. Tene [v.r. ten] yeir had [Manigath] þe folk in yeme.

1382.  Wyclif, Matt. xxv. 1. The kyngdam of heuenes shal be lic to ten virgynys.

a. 1400.  R. Glouc. Chron. (MS. B), (1724), 430. Hys doȝter was a ten ȝer old.

a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 649. Ten ȝere of age.

1502.  Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 189. The rood of reynysh wyne of Dordreight is x. awames.

1513.  More, Rich. III. (1641), 299. Which rage of water lasted tenne dayes.

1571.  Act 13 Eliz., c. 8. The rate of tenne pound for the lone of one hundred pound for a yeare.

1653.  Holcroft, Procopius, Pers. Wars, I. 4. A narrow passage, for ten Horse abreast.

1805.  Scott, Last Minstr., I. v. Ten squires, ten yeomen, mail-clad men, Waited the beck of the warders ten.

Mod.  I shall be with you in ten minutes.

  b.  As multiple of another higher cardinal number, as in ten hundred, ten thousand, etc.; also in the ordinals of these, as ten thousandth.

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xviii. 24. Tea ðusendo cræftas.

c. 975.  Rushw. Gosp., ibid. Ten þusende.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., ibid. Tyn þusend punda.

c. 1160.  Hatton Gosp., ibid. Teon þusend punde.

c. 1400.  Apol. Loll., 107. Sunnar is þe prayor hard of o buxum man, þan tenþowzand of a dispicer.

1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 257 b. The footemen were teen thousande.

1685.  Boyle, Enq. Notion Nat., iii. 53. The cælestial part of the universe, in comparison of which the sublunary is not perhaps the ten thousandth part.

1709.  Chandler, Effort agst. Popery, 20. ’Tis Ten Thousand Pities that a Difference in Opinion and Practice herein should cause such Distances and Withdrawings.

1782.  Priestley, Corrupt. Chr., I. I. 5. The subject [is] considered by thousands and ten thousands.

1832.  O. W. Holmes, The Comet, 5, in N.-Eng. Mag., II. April, 300.

1893.  Gow, Comp. Sch. Classics, xxxiii. (ed. 3), 303. The ten-thousandth part of each grain must make a proportionate part of noise.

1905.  Westm. Gaz., 23 March, 2/2. The guarantee for the ten-million loan.

  c.  Used vaguely or hyperbolically, esp. in ten times, tenfold, and the like. cf. HUNDRED, THOUSAND.

  For hyperbolical use of ten thousand see THOUSAND.

1388.  Wyclif, Baruch iv. 28 Ȝe … schulen seke hym ten sithis so myche.

1508.  Dunbar, Flyting, 87. Suppois thy heid war armit tymis ten.

1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., I. i. 180. A Iewell in a ten times barr’d vp Chest.

1687.  T. Brown, Saints in an Uproar, Wks. 1708, I. 102. Pluto. Why these drowsie yawning Puppies are ten times more troublesome than either the Dragon-killer and his huge two-handed Adversary, or the Ursulines and Thebeans.

1883.  D. C. Murray, Hearts, II. 162. His easy cynicism made him ten times more believable than any moral profession could have done.

  † d.  Occasionally used in the sense of the ordinal TENTH. Obs.

  1.  (But in 10 Jan. 10 Vict., etc. usually read tenth.)

14[?].  in Todd, Three Treat. Wyclif, p. xxvii. Siþ þe ten part [v.r. tenþe part] of þe fruyt sufficide for alle þes clerkis.

1567.  in Cath. Record Soc. Publ., I. 49. Commytyd the x. day of June 1562.

1582.  L. Kirby, in Allen, Martyrd. Campion (1908), 77. This morning, the x of Januarie, he was committed to the dodgeon.

1586.  W. Webbe, Eng. Poetrie (Arb.), 62. Make short either the two, foure, sixe, eight, tenne, twelue sillable, and it will … fall out very absurdly.

1597.  J. Payne, Royal Exch., 24. Let vs solace our selves with these words in the tenn of the Hebr.

  e.  In special applications.

  † Ten bones, the ten fingers: by these ten bones (ellipt. these ten), also ten ends of flesh and blood, an oath (obs.). Ten Commandments (also † bebode, bodewords, hests, etc.), the Mosaic decalogue; slang, the ten fingers; see also COMMANDMENT 2, 3. † Ten groats, formerly a lawyer’s fee, or that paid to the priest for reading the marriage service (obs.). Ten tribes, the lost tribes of Israel; humorously, the Jews, as money-lenders.

  c. 1485.  Digby Myst. (1882), I. 20. By thes bonys ten thei be to you vntrue.

c. 1537.  Thersites, in Hazl., Dodsley, I. 429. By this ten bones, She served me once A touch for the nonce.

1562–3.  Jack Juggler, ibid., II. 125. I am a servant of this house, by these ten bones.

1601.  Chettle & Munday, Death Robt. Earl of Huntington, V. i. ibid., VIII. 305. By these ten ends of flesh and blood I swear.

1621.  B. Jonson, Masque Gipsies, vi. Wks. (Rtldg.), 621/2. I swear by these ten, You shall have it agen.

  971.  Blickl. Hom., 35. We sceolan þa ten bebodu healdan.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 4377. Þa tene bodewordess.

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. VIII. 170. To Breke þe ten hestes.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxiv. (Pelagia), 213. Þe commaundmentis tene, Þat god mad for to teche men.

c. 1540.  J. Heywood, Four P’s, in Hazl., Dodsley, I. 381. [That] thy wife’s ten commandments may search thy five wits.

1902.  Snaith, Wayfarers, vi. She’s not seen you use your ten commandments, young man.

  1601.  Shaks., All’s Well, II. ii. 22. As fit as ten groats is for the hand of an Atturney.

a. 1625.  Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, I. iii. I’ll take Petruchio In’s shirt, with one ten groats, to pay the priest, Before the best man living.

  1889.  Doyle, Micah Clarke, 118. The ten tribes have been upon me, and I have been harried … and despoiled.

  2.  Absolutely or with ellipsis of sb. (which may usually be supplied from the context).

  Often short for ten years of age; also for ten shillings, in ten and six(pence, or other number of pence, ten-and-sixpenny. In OE. and Early ME. inflected, nom. -e, neut. -o, -u; gen. -a, dat. -um.

Beowulf, 2847. Ða hild-latan … tyne æt-somne.

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Mark x. 41. & ʓe-herdon ða teno.

c. 975.  Ruskw. Gosp., ibid. & ʓiherdun ða tenu.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., ibid. Þa ʓe-bulʓon þa tyne hi.

c. 1160.  Hatton Gosp., ibid. Þa ʓe-bulʓe þa teone hyo.

a. 1000.  Ags. Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 217/21. Decanus,… tyna aldor.

c. 1205.  Lay., 3388. Do we awai þane twenti, a tene [c. 1275 ten] beoð inohȝe. Ibid., 31930. Bi sixe bi seouene, bi tene bi colleue, bi twelue bi twenti.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 4848. Elleuen breþer es we liuand, An at ham, ten in þis land.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xviii. (Egipciane), 514. Sone I fand Of ȝongmen tenne in a place stanand.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XIII. 270. In þe date of owre dryȝte … A þousande and thre hondreth tweis thretty & ten.

a. 1500[?].  Chester Pl., xxii. 143. But of the Tenne the first three sone wear consumed away.

1548–9.  (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Catechism. Q. Tell me how many (commandments) there bee. A. Tenne.

1726.  De Foe, Hist. Devil, I. x. (1840), 169. Ten of the twelve tribes.

1814.  Scott, Wav., xv. When I was a girl about ten, there was a skirmish fought.

1823.  Byron, Juan, X. xxxiii. Thermometers sunk down to ten, Or five, or one, or zero.

1874.  T. Hardy, Far fr. Madding Crowd, xxvi. Am I any worse for breaking the third of that Terrible Ten than you for breaking the ninth?

1891.  C. James, Rom. Rigmarole, 25. Two girls of, perhaps, eight and ten.

1908.  Installation News, II. 30/2. Witness our first attempt of a ten-and-six-penny kettle.

  b.  esp. of the hour of the day: orig. ten hours, ten of the clock: see CLOCK sb.¹ 3.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Pars. Prol., 5. Ten of the clokke it was tho as I gesse.

[1427.  [see HOUR 1 b].

1582–8.  Hist. Jas. VI. (1804), 116. At ten hor in the morning.]

1681.  T. White, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 55. Yesterday about tenne in the morning.

1712–3.  Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 27 Jan. He went away at ten.

1753.  Hanway, Trav. (1762), II. I. v. 25. There is admittance till ten, for a toll of one stiver each person.

1795.  trans. Moritz’s Trav. Eng., ii. (1886), 17. It might be about ten or eleven o’clock.

1810.  Scott, Lett. to Miss J. Baillie, 30 Jan., in Lockhart. The play … lasting till half-past ten.

1843.  Borrow, Bible in Spain, xxxix. (Pelh. Libr.), 268. About ten at night, Maria Diaz … arrived with her son.

1897.  Daily News, 18 Nov., 8/5. ‘You are the ten o’clock man,’ meaning that he came on duty at that time.

  c.  In phrases and specific uses.

  † Ten in the hundred, a rate of interest on loans formerly current; hence usury; also transf. a usurer. Ten to one, ten chances to one; odds of ten times the amount offered in a bet; hence, an expression of very strong probability. The Ten, † (a) the Decemvirs, (b) the Council of Ten: see COUNCIL sb. 9. Card of ten: see CARD sb.² 2. Hart of ten: see HART 1 b. Upper ten (= upper ten thousand): see UPPER a.

  1594.  Death of Usury, 10. He that puts forth money dare not exceede the rate of 10. in the 100.

1618.  Epitaph J. Combe, in Brathwait, Rem. after Death (ad fin.). Ten in the hundred must lie in his graue, But a hundred to ten whether God will him haue.

1589.  Hay any Work, 30. Ten to one [I haue bin] among some of these puritans.

1650.  W. Brough, Sacr. Princ. (1659), 481. Is it not ten to one odds if ever thou be called?

1782.  Miss Burney, Cecilia, VI. vii. Ten to one but that happens to be the very thing I want.

1889.  J. K. Jerome, Three Men in Boat, 248. Bet us ten to one we didn’t.

  1636.  E. Dacres, trans. Machiavel’s Disc. Livy, I. 231. As it appear’d in the example of Manlius, and in that of the tenne.

1820.  Byron, Mar. Fal., III. ii. 193. A sceptic of all measures which had not the sanction of ‘the Ten.’

1878.  Villari, Life & Times Machiavelli (1898), I. IV. iv. 205. The old Magistracy of the Ten for war affairs was preserved. Ibid., II. iii. 41. The Ten brought swift and exemplary justice to bear.

  c. 1410.  Master of Game (MS. Digby 182), xxii. An hynde commonlyche hathe … more openn þe clee before þenn an herte of tenn.

1486.  Bk. St. Albans, E j b. Then shall ye call hym forchyd an hert of tenne.

1637.  B. Jonson, Sad Sheph., I. ii. A hart of ten, I trow he be.

  B.  sb. (With plural tens; and [less usually] possessive ten’s.)

  1.  The abstract number; also, a symbol or the figures representing this.

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Matt., Prol. (1887), 4. Oðer … tal … ðe to tenum wið fore-cyme.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., III. 228. Tele þu … oð þæt þu cume to þrittiʓa foh eft on þone niwan oð tyne.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 4312. Þe firrste staff iss nemmnedd I, & tacneþþ tale off tene.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. cxxiii. (1495), 923. The nombre of ten passyth nyne by one.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 488/2. Tenne, nowmyr, decem.

1530.  Palsgr., 367. Dix, tenne, x.

1594.  Blundevil, Exerc., I. (1636), 84. 12 tens, which do make 2 sixties.

1837.  Whewell, Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857), I. 52. Ten is a perfect number.

Mod.  Five tens are fifty.

  b.  In a number expressed in decimal notation, the digit expressing the number of tens, e.g., in 1837 the figure 3.

1542.  Recorde, Gr. Artes, 116 b. Then come I to the articles of tennes, where in the fyrste summe I fynde 90, and in the seconde summe but only 40.

1806.  Hutton, Course Math., I. 9. Set … the numbers under each other,… that is, units under units, tens under tens, hundreds under hundreds, &c. … Add up the figures in the column or row of units, and find how many tens are contained in that sum.

  c.  A thing or person distinguished by the number ten, usually as the tenth of a series. Also number ten.

1888.  H. Morten, Sk. Hosp. Life, 70. I say, tell Ten I am so sorry for him. I wish I could go to the ward!

1907.  Cassell’s Mag., Feb., 295/1. For fourteen [days] he was put on ‘10 A,’ which is short for no grog, no tobacco.

Mod.  Number ten, it is your turn to play.

  2.  A set of ten things or persons.

  Ten of rupees, a unit of account in Indian money.

c. 961.  Æthelwold, Rule St. Benet, xxii. (1885), 47. Tynum and twentiʓum on anum inne ætgædere restan mid heora ealdrum.

1539.  Bible (Great), Gen. xviii. 32. I wil not destroye them for tens sake [1885 Bible (R. V.) for the ten’s sake].

1611.  Bible, Deut. i. 15. I … made them … captaines ouer tennes.

1894.  Field, 9 June, 839/1. They came forth in their tens, for thirty-eight members turned out on the occasion of the first meet.

1895.  Westm. Gaz., 4 Sept., 5/1. The revenue was better by 74,000 tens of rupees.

1897.  Flandrau, Harvard Episodes, 94. One never said of Wolcott, as is said of some fellows, ‘He made the first ten of the Dicky.’

  3.  Coal-mining. A measure of coal, locally varying between 48 and 50 tons, being the unit of calculation on which the lessor’s rent or royalty is based. (See quot. 1894.) n. dial.

1590.  Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees), II. 181. At the grannde lease pitts, ccclxxxviij tenns of coolls, the twelfth parte is xxxij tenns, and the thirde parte of a tenn, praised worthe 2^l per tenn is 64^l 13/- 4^d.

1789.  Brand, Hist. Newcastle, II. 279. In the year 1622 there were vended by the society of hostmen of Newcastle 14,420 tens of coals.

1851.  Greenwell, Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh., 54. Ten, the measure of coals upon which the landlord’s rent is paid. It usually consists of 440 bolls of 8 pecks, but varies much under different landlords, generally, however, within the range of from 418 to 440 bolls.

1894.  Northumbld. Gloss., Ten, a measure of coals upon which the lessor’s rent or royalty is paid. In the seventeenth century the term meant ten score bolls, barrows, or corves of coal.

  4.  A playing card marked with ten pips. Catch the ten, a card-game played in Scotland in which the ten of trumps may be taken by any honor-card, and counts ten points, the game being a hundred. Long ten, the ten of trumps in this game: cf. long trump (LONG a.¹ 5 b). See also quot. 1870.

1593.  Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., V. i. 43. But while he thought to steale the single Ten, The King was slyly finger’d from the Deck.

1680.  Cotton, Compl. Gamester, xv. (ed. 2), 94. The rest follow in preheminence thus; the King, the Queen, the Knave, the Ten. Ibid., xvi. 97. You are not to play a ten first.

1779.  J. Stewart, The Students, 12.

1816.  Scott, Old Mort., xli. These were Claver’se’s lads a while syne, and wad be again, maybe, if he had the lang ten in his hand.

1870.  Modern Hoyle, Cribbage, 77. The court-cards and the ten of each suit count ten, and they are all indiscriminately spoken of as ‘tens’ during the game.

1887.  P. M’Neill, Blawearie, 146. They are playing at ‘catch the ten,’ the stake being a few pence a-head.

  5.  Short for (a) ten-oared boat; (b) ten-pound note.

1875.  Blake-Humfrey, Eton Boating Bk., p. ix. The first eight had a strong picked crew, whilst the ten had several ‘courtesy’ oars…. Mr. Canning was sitter in the ten.

1894.  A. Robertson, Nuggets, etc., 190. To their intense disgust they only got about £200 in notes (chiefly tens).

  6.  a. Short for tenpenny nail (i.e., costing 10d. a hundred); double ten, a nail costing the double of the tenpenny (i.e., 20d. a hundred). b. A tallow candle weighing ten to a pound.

1572.  in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 175. Nayles v^c of single tenns—iiij s ij d. c. Dubble tens—xviij d.

1629.  MS. Acc. St. John’s Hosp., Canterb. Itm halfe a hundred of double tennes xd.

1665.  J. Webb, Stone-Heng (1725), 124. An huge old Nail, in Shape somewhat like those which we call commonly double Tens, or Spikes, such as are used in Scaffolding.

1717.  [see DOUBLE A. 6].

1802.  Sporting Mag., XX. 15. Some have gone so far as to illuminate our discussions with tens instead of long-sixes.

  † C.  quasi-adv. Ten times, tenfold. Obs.

c. 1330.  King of Tars (Ritson), 336. Thaugh heo weore ten so briht.

c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 736 (Thisbe). Forbede a loue & it is ten so wod.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 177. Þe lengþe of a manis body … be … ten so moche as þe depnesse þat is from þe rugge to þe wombe.

1399.  Langl., Rich. Redeles, II. 168. Þei ffor þe pesinge paieth pens ten duble That þe cloþe costened.

c. 1400.  Siege of Troy, 396, in Archiv neu. Spr., LXXII. 21. Ector is ten so strong as þou [older version, ten siþe streyngor þen þow].

c. 1420.  Sir Amadas (Weber), 746. Yette was Y ten so glad When that thou gaffe all that thou had.

  D.  Combinations.

  1.  a. Adjectives, formed by ten with a sb., meaning consisting of, containing, measuring, or costing ten of the things named (also occasionally ellipt. as sb.), as ten-acre, -bell, -cell, -cent, -course, -day, -dollar, -drachm, -grain, -guinea, -horse, -hour, -inch, -league, -mile, -minute, -month, -point, -second, -shilling, -stone, -syllable, -toe, -ton, etc.; also, phrases thus formed prefixed to a simple adjective, forming a compound adj., as ten-mile-long, ten-inch-thick, etc. See also 2, and TEN-PENNY. b. Parasynthetic adjs., formed on such phrases as those in a, as ten-acred, -armed, -barrelled, -coupled, -cylindered, -fingered, -footed, -gallon, -headed, -horned, -jointed, -keyed, -oared, -parted, -peaked, -rayed, -ribbed, -roomed, -spined, -stringed, -syllabled, -talented, -tongued, -toothed (also -teethed), -wheeled, etc. c. Parasynthetic sbs. (see -ER¹ 1), as ten-bedder, -knotter, -seater, -tonner, -wheeler; see also ten-pointer in 2, TENPOUNDER. d. Compounds of ten sb., as ten bed (= bed No. 10), ten-bore, ten-gauge, ten-team (team of ten); also ten-shaped adj. (= X-shaped); tentale [TALE sb. 6], used attrib. in phr. tentale rent: see quots.

1826.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. II. 55 (Copse). On inquiring my destination, and hearing that I was bent to the *ten-acre copse.

1871.  Kingsley, At Last, ii. Having a considerable quantity of land in each parish allotted to ten-acre men (i. e. white yeomen).

1807.  Vancouver, Agric. Devon (1813), 377. A *ten-acred enclosure might be as … proper a size as any other.

1881.  Times, 15 Jan., 5/6. The short *ten-barrelled Gatling was brought to the front.

1888.  H. Morten, Sk. Hosp. Life, 69. [He] operated on that boy in *Ten bed; but, I fear, unsuccessfully.

1899.  Kipling, Stalky, iii. 79. She’s busy in the middle of King’s big upper *ten-bedder.

1905.  Daily News, 24 April, 2. In 1817 a *ten-bell record of 12,312 changes of Grandsire Caters was rung on these bells.

1892.  Greener, Breech Loader, 127. The *10-bore duck-gun full-choked, weighing 8¹/₂ lbs. and over.

1876.  Preece & Sivewright, Telegraphy, 28. A *ten-cell Leclanché [battery].

1903.  J. K. Jerome, Tea Table Talk (ed. Tauchn.), 31. The *ten-course banquet.

1898.  Westm. Gaz., 1 Nov., 10/1. The *ten-day fog of 1880, credited with such heavy mortality.

1891.  H. Herman, His Angel, 138. Underwood took three *ten-dollar bills from his wallet.

1886.  Guide Exhib. Galleries Brit. Mus., 145. A *ten-drachm piece of Athens.

1923.  Overland Monthly, LXXXI. Sept., 6/3. The *‘Ten Gallon Hat,’ guaged by cubic, not liquid, contents, is being generally adopted in that city [San Francisco] as the insignia of the occasion.

1894.  Outing (U. S.), XXIV. 443/1. A couple of *ten-gauge breech-loaders.

1861.  Photogr. News Alm., in Circ. Sc. (1865), I. 160/2. A *ten-grain silver solution.

1752.  Foote, Taste, I. Wks. 1799, I. 8. A poor *ten-guinea job.

1678.  Butler, Hud., III. II. 1117. And turn’d the Men to *Ten-Horn’d Cattel, Because they came not out to Battel.

1837.  P. Keith, Bot. Lex., 107. It is as if there was a certain ponderable mass which the application of a *ten-horse power was utterly incapable of moving.

1905.  Westm. Gaz., 7 March, 5/2. The new scale is calculated on a *ten-hour basis. Ibid. (1903), 18 June, 5/1. The shell which was being filled was a *ten-inch shell.

1839.  Penny Cycl., XV. 84/1. In the genus Melolontha the antennæ are *ten-jointed.

1843.  Borrow, Bible in Spain, xxxi. (Pelh. Libr.), 228. After the *ten-league journey of the preceding day.

1876.  ‘Ouida,’ Winter City, ix. A *ten-mile stretch across the open country.

1806.  Lamb, Lett. to Manning, 5 Dec. They all had their *ten-minute speeches.

1711.  Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), III. 265. To find a plain defect in these *ten-monosyllable heroicks.

1886.  C. Scott, Sheep-Farming, 64. *Ten months old lambs.

1800.  Hull Advertiser, 16 Aug., 1/4. A *ten-oared cutter … with twelve volunteers.

1874.  Garrod & Baxter, Mat. Med. (1880), 297. Capsule ovoid, inflated, *ten-ribbed.

1882.  Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, II. ix. 180. The shabby little *ten-roomed house in South Belgravia.

1898.  Westm. Gaz., 30 Nov., 5/3. Doubt … whether the Oriten *‘ten-seater’ machine exhibited at the Stanley Show could be ridden.

1907.  Daily Chron., 30 Nov., 4/6. More technically known as the ‘crux decussata’—the *‘ten-shaped cross,’ because its form is identical with that of the Latin numeral X.

1745.  M. Folkes, Eng. Gold Coins, 9. Double-crowns or *ten shilling pieces.

1900.  Daily News, 4 Dec., 6/1. A *ten-stone man, who has to ride, is of more use than a twelve-stone man.

a. 1300.  E. E. Psalter cxliii[i]. 9. To þe sal I sing in *ten-strenged sautre.

1535.  Coverdale, ibid. That I maye … synge prayses vnto the vpon a tenstrynged lute.

1881.  H. Morley, Eng. Lit. Q. Vict., iii. (ed. Tauchn.), 89. The all pervading couplets of *ten-syllabled lines.

1883.  Gresley, Coal Mining Gloss., *Tentail rent, a rent or royalty paid by a lessee upon every ten of coals which are worked in excess of a minimum or certain rent.

1888.  Nicholson, Coal Trade Gloss., s.v. Rent (E.D.D.). A surplus or tentale rent payable for the coal worked … above the certain quantity.

1901.  Daily Chron., 17 July, 5/2. One *ten-team of one N. C. officer of any rank and nine lance-corporals or privates from any regiment, battalion, or depot.

1883.  Harper’s Mag., Aug., 442/2. Some of the rated *ten-tonners were … over twenty-two tons in displacement.

1844.  Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 536. The wheels … are *ten-toothed.

1904.  Westm. Gaz., 28 Dec., 3/2. Powerful *ten-wheeled tank engines. Ibid. (1904), 29 Jan., 5/1. This mammoth *ten-wheeler cost £5,000.

  2.  Special combinations and collocations: ten-finger, a species of star-fish: cf. FIVE-FINGER 2; ten-foot a., measuring, or having, ten feet; ten-foot coal, a thick seam in Yorkshire; ten-foot rod, a levelling-pole; ten-hours act, a law limiting the hours of work in factories; spec. the popular name of the Act 10 § 11 Vict., c. 29; so, in U.S.A., ten-hour law (Cent. Dict., 1891); ten-o’clock, an American name for Ornithogalum umbellatum, the flowers of which open late in the morning (Cent. Dict., 1891); also, a light meal taken at ten o’clock; ten-pointer, a stag having antlers with ten points; a ‘hart of ten’; ten-pound a., of or involving the amount or value of ten pounds; also, weighing ten pounds; spec. ten-pound land (Sc.), land of the annual value of ten pounds; ten-pound householder, = TEN-POUNDER 2 b; ten-spot a., having ten spots, as ‘ten-spot ladybird,’ Coccinella decem-punctata; sb. (U.S.), a ten-dollar ‘bill’; also, a playing-card, = TEN sb. 4; ten-strike, in the game of ten-pins, a throw which bowls over all the pins; hence fig.; ten-week stock, Matthiola annua, said to continue ten weeks in flower; ten-yard coal, a very thick seam of coal near Dudley; ten-year a., of ten years’ duration or standing, as ten-year-old, also as sb.; spec. ten-year-man, at Cambridge University: see quot. 1903. See also TENPENNY, TEN-PINS, etc.

1701.  Moxon, Math. Instr., 19. *Ten foot Rods, See Station-staffs.

1793.  Anna Seward, Lett. (1811), III. 322. The iambic accent, unmixed with the trochaic, especially in the ten-feet couplet.

1834–5.  J. Phillips, Man. Geol. (1855), 190. The thickest coal in the district,… that called the thick or ten-foot coal in Yorkshire.

1838.  Howitt, Rur. Life, I. II. iii. 161. Betty mean-time has put up their ‘luncheons’ or *‘ten-o’clocks.’

1883.  E. L. Peel, in Longm. Mag., Nov., 72. We had … stalked and slain a fine *ten-pointer upon the Caenlochan marches.

1673.  S’ too him Bayes, 5. You … would have lost your *ten pound wager.

1845.  Disraeli, Sybil, II. vi. It is a great thing in these ten-pound [franchise] days to win your first contest.

1855.  J. R. Leifchild, Cornwall Mines, 263. Send the author a ten-pound-note for his advice—good in either event!

1863.  H. Cox, Instit., I. viii. 16. A new uniform qualification [to vote] … frequently designated that of the ‘ten-pounds householders.’

1890.  Cent. Dict., s.v. Pound, Ten-pound Act, a statute of the colony of New York (1769), giving to justices of the peace and other local magistrates jurisdiction of civil cases involving not more than the sum named.

1888.  Boston (Mass.) Jrnl., 6 Nov., 2/3. The point was seen at once, and the *‘ten spot’ was forthcoming.

c. 1895.  Thompson St. Poker Club, 65. The Rev. Mr. Smith dealt Mr. Williams two cards,… helped himself to the last ten-spot remaining in the pack.

1850.  Hawthorne, in Bridge, Pers. Recollect. (1893), 111. I may calculate on what bowlers call a *ten-strike.

1889.  Farmer, Dict. Amer., Ten-strike, where … all the men are bowled over at one throw…. Hence … a fortunate occurrence: a thoroughly well done and complete work.

1785.  Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xxiii. (1794), 323. The Annual or *Ten-week Stock differs in having an herbaceous stalk.

1909.  Daily Chron., 20 March, 7/6. A well-grown aster or ten-week stock is a beautiful object in itself.

1834–5.  J. Phillips, Geol., in Encycl. Metrop., VI. 594/2. The upper part of the *ten-yard coal separates from the rest of the beds.

1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 980. The very remarkable seam near the town of Dudley, known by the name of the ten-yard coal, about 7 miles long, and 4 broad.

1693.  G. Stepney, in Dryden’s Juvenal, viii. (1697), 216. Courage to sustain a *Ten Years War.

1813.  Gentl. Mag., LXXXIII. II. 530. Ibid. (1816), LXXXVI. I. 200/1. A query respecting the Ten-Year-Men at Cambridge.

1838.  Dickens, Nich. Nick., xxx. Ever since he had first played the *ten-year-old imps in the Christmas pantomimes.

1868.  Rep. U. S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 443. The average yield for a three-year old vine is one peck;… full grown, ten-year old vine, twenty-five bushels.

1895.  Westm. Gaz., 17 July, 8/1. What terrible tyrants these ten-year-olds are! Ibid. (1900), 7 March, 7/1. What the terms of the new war loan for thirty millions in ten-year bonds will be, or ought to be.

1903.  Daily Chron., 4 Feb., 5/1. The Ten Year man … being over twenty-four years of age, was admitted, and after keeping his name on the boards of a college for ten years was allowed to proceed B.D. on payment of certain fees. Ibid. (1906), 18 Aug., 4/4. An average of 11.4 in the previous ten-year period.