a. and sb. Forms: see below. [OE. twelfta, = OFris. twilifta, twel(e)fta (WFris. toalfte, -de), MDu. twal(e)fde, twael(e)fde, twel(e)fde (Du. twaalfde), OS. *twelifto (MLG. twelf-, twalf-, twolfde, LG. twölfte, etc.), OHG. zwelifto, -lefto (MHG. zwelfte, Ger. zwölfte), ON. tólfti, -te, (Norw. tolvte, dial. tolte, Sw. tolfte, Da. tolvte), Goth. *twalifta: f. OE. twelf TWELVE. In southern ME (14th c.), twelft became twelfth, after fourth, etc., but twelft, twelt, twalt remain in various dialects: see -TH2 and Note to TENTH.]
A. adj.
1. The ordinal numeral corresponding to the cardinal TWELVE; last of twelve; that comes next after the eleventh. a. In concord with a sb. expressed.
α. 1 twelfta, 1–6 -te, 2–3 (Orm.) twellfte, 3 tweolfte, tuelfte, (4 tuelfd, -fed), 4 (Sc. –6) tuelft, 4–7 (9 dial.) twelft, (4–5 tuelfete), 6 Sc. tuelfet, tuelt, 6 Sc. (9 dial.) twelt, twalt.
a. 900. O. E. Martyrol., Dec., 216. On þam twelftan monðe.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 190. Mona se twelfta on eallum weorcum nytlic ys.
c. 1200. Ormin, 11063. Þe twellfte daȝȝ.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 866. Þe tuelfte [v.r. (a. 1400) tuelf] ȝer temese moni toun aseincte.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 22653 (Cott.). Þe twelft [v.rr. tuelft, twelþe] signe.
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet, vii. 15. Saint benet spekis in þis sentence Of þe telfete [? tuelfete] maner o mekenes.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. Prol. 306. I … my pen furth tuike, Syne thus begouth of Virgill the twelt buike.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), III. 16. The tuelt ȝeir … of his ring.
1595. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., III. xxix. (S.T.S.), I. 180. The twelfte ȝeir of his regne. Ibid., VI. xcii. 332. The tuelfet ȝeir of his rigne.
1621. N. Riding Rec. (1894), 87. The twelft day of February.
β. 4 twelfþe, tuelfthe, 5 twellifth, -yfth, 6 twelfyth, -veth, 6– twelfth, (9 twelvth); also 4 tweolthe, 4–5 twelþe, 5 twelthe, twolthe.
13[?]. K. Alis., 6403. On tweolthe nyght.
c. 1380. Twelþe [see b].
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), V. 145. Þe twelfþe [ed. Caxton twellyfth] ȝere he was i-made cathecuminus.
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 4451. In þe twolthe ȝere of his regnynge.
1530. Palsgr., 372/1. Douziesme, twelfyth.
1564. Harding, Answ. to Jewel’s Challenge (1565), 180 b. The twelfth councell of Toledo.
1820. Chalmers, Congregat. Serm. (1838), II. 189. The 31st verse of the 12th chapter.
1830. W. Taylor, Hist. Surv. Germ. Poetry, II. 4. The twelvth section.
1884. Athenæum, 10 May. A star of the twelfth magnitude.
7. (Chiefly Sc.) 4–5 tuelf, 4–7 twelf, 5–7 twelfe, 7 twelff.
c. 1375. Twelf [see b].
a. 1400. Tuelf [see quot. 1297 in α].
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1369/1. On the twelfe daie of Februarie.
1640. in P. H. Waddell, Old Kirk Chron. (1893), 16. The twelff day of October.
1653. W. Ramesey, Astrol. Restored, 4. His twelfe chapter.
b. With sb. understood, usually from context; also spec. with ellipsis of day (of the month), or chapter (of a book of Scripture).
a. 1000. Andreas, 665 (Gr.). He was twelfta sylf.
c. 1200. Ormin, 11063. Itt iss þe þrittennde daȝȝ Fra ȝoldaȝȝ, nohht te tuellfte.
a. 1300[?]. Shires & Hundreds Eng., in O. E. Misc., 146. Þe teonþe on wirecestre, þe eollefte on hereforde, þe tweolfte on lycchesfeld … Her beoþ xv. bispryche.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xii. (Mathias), 355. Sa tuk þai hyme for þe twelf to be.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 2846. Y me self was þe twelþe.
1558. Lydgate’s Bochas, IX. xiv. 26. The twelft [Bodl. MS. twelue] in nombre.
1562. Winȝet, Last Blast, Wks. (S.T.S.), I. 39. Sen the twelft of Marche.
1600. Abp. Abbot, Exp. Jonah, 176. In the twelfth of the Revelation.
1611. Bible, 1 Kings xix. 19. Elisha … was plowing with twelue yoke of oxen before him, and hee with the twelfth.
1867. ‘Ouida,’ Cecil Castlemaine’s Gage, etc. 345. We soon made up … to the Norwich girls for the loss of the Twelfth [Lancers].
1887. Bowen, Virg. Eclogues, VIII. 39. Years I had finished eleven, the twelfth was beginning.
c. ellipt. The 12th of August, on which grouse-shooting legally begins.
1868. Field, 8 Aug., 105/3. Many seasons have come and gone since the first Twelfth that I remember.
1895. Times (Weekly ed.), 16 Aug., 657/2. In Derbyshire the ‘Twelfth’ opened delightfully.
2. Twelfth part, any one of twelve equal parts into which a whole may be divided.
1590. in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1595, 120/1. Reddendo 2 bollas 2 firlotas 2 peccas 2 mensuras vocatas twelf-pairtis farine avenatice.
1724. Swift, Drapier’s Lett., i. Wks. 1755, V. II. 23. The twelfth part of a half-penny will do him no more service.
1878. J. Davidson, Inverurie, v. 184. The owners of Twelfth Parts had their lands divided … periodically by lot.
† 3. Twelfth whist, whist with only twelve cards in each hand. Obs.
1752. H. Walpole, Lett. to R. Nugent (in N. & Q., 9th Ser. IV. 538/2). Amusing my selfe … at a game of 12th whist.
B. sb.
1. A twelfth part: see A. 2.
1557. Recorde, Whetst., B ij b. Sesquiduodecima, 13 to 12 … a twelueth more.
1696. Locke, Lower. Interest (ed. 2), 136. Supposing … 5s. or a Crown, were to weigh an Ounce … whereof one twelfth were Copper, and eleven twelfths Silver.
1712. J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 197. Five Twelfths of an Inch thick.
1792. A. Young, Trav. France, 537. No such thing was ever known in any part of France … as a tenth: it was always a twelfth, or a thirteenth, or even a twentieth of the produce.
1812. Sir H. Davy, Chem. Philos., 419. From a third to a twelfth of zinc is used.
1812. Woodhouse, Astron., xxxv. 347. Expressed in twelvths of that diameter.
1897. Westm. Gaz., 20 April, 3/1. A decrease of a twelfth since 1894.
b. spec. A twelfth part of rents or movables granted or levied by way of tax.
1884. Dowall, Hist. Taxation, I. IV. iv. 77. The use of grants of fractional parts of moveables was continued … in 1296 a twelfth and eighth … were granted. Ibid., 81. The grants made … were … in 1318 a twelfth from demesne.
2. Mus. a. A note twelve diatonic degrees above or below a given note (both notes being counted); the octave of a fifth; hence (usually) the interval, or consonance, between two such notes. b. An organ-stop sounding a twelfth above the normal pitch.
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus., 70. Those notes which are distant from them eight notes, as from a fift, a twelfe … from Gamvt to D la sol re is a twelfe.
1613. Organ Specif. Worcester Cathedral. The particulars of the great organ … 1 twelfth of mettal.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XII. 511. Note E, The chord formed with the twelfth and seventeenth major united with the principal sound.
1891. Prout, Counterpoint (ed. 2), 74. The thirds above it now give the inversion in the twelfth.
† 3. Short for TWELFTH-DAY. (Cf. TWELFTH-EVE(N.) Obs.
1472. Sir J. Paston, in P. Lett., III. 33. I have my pardon,… for comfort wheroffe I have been the marier thys Crystmesse,… be ffor Twelthe I come to my Lorde Archebysshope.
C. Comb.: twelfth-century a., of or belonging to the century from 1101 to 1200.
1867. Furnivall, in Percy Folio, I. 403. A twelfth-century writer.
