sixteen, a. and n.
(sɪkˈstiːn, ˈsɪkstiːn)
Forms: α. 1 syx-, sixtyne, 3–4 sixtene, 5–6 syxtene, 6–7 sixteene, 7– sixteen (7 -tein). β. 1– 6 sextene (5 cex-), 4–6 sexten, 4 sextiene, 5 sex-, cexteyn(e; Sc. 5 saxten, 6 -tine, 7 sextine.
[OE. syx-, six-, sextyne (see six a. and -teen), = OFris. sextine, -tene (WFris. sêchstjin, NFris. sokstain, etc.), MDu. sestien (Du. zestien), OS. se(h)stein (MLG. sestein, LG. ses-, sös-, sostein), OHG. seh(s)zên (G. sechzehn, † sechszehn), ON. and Icel. sextán (Sw. sexton, Da. sexten).]
The cardinal number composed of ten and six, represented by the symbols 16, XVI, or xvi.
A. adj.
1. In concord with a n. expressed.
| α a 900 O.E. Martyrol. 4 Mar., Sixtyne monað hi wæron somod. c 1205 Lay. 26658 Arður þider hafde isend sixtene þusund baldere Brutten. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 115 Sixtene bischopus al-so þis dede to ende bringue. 1382 Wyclif 2 Kings xv. 33 Sixtene ȝeer he regned in Jerusalem. 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. ix. ix. 354 Ianuarius hath longe nyghtes of syxtene houres. 1535 Coverdale Gen. xlvi. 18 She bare vnto Iacob these sixtene soules. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iv. i. 21 Some sixteene moneths. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xxix. 113 Two Mayes, which amounts to about sixteen pence of our Money. 1700 Dryden Ovid's Metam., Acis, Pol. & Galatea 7 Now sixteen Summers the sweet Youth had seen. 1784 Cowper Tiroc. 210 There shall he learn, ere sixteen winters old [etc.]. 1847 W. C. L. Martin Ox 178/2 A full dose averages twelve, fourteen, or sixteen ounces. 1889 Gretton Memory's Harkback 123 The man had the sixteen miles to Gloucester to cover. |
| β a 900 O.E. Martyrol. 30 July, Þonne bið seo niht eahta tida lang, & se dæᵹ sextene tida. c 1200 Ormin 572 Forr þatt Eleazar Sextene suness haffde. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 120 Cancer..hath unto his retienance Sextiene sterres. c 1470 Henry Wallace ix. 63 Sowthest he saw..Saxten salis arayit all on raw. 1483 Cath. Angl. 332/1 Sexten sythe, sedecies. 1549 Compl. Scotl. 93 To the nummer of sexten scoir of the maist nobillis of the cuntre. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 82 A thousand a hundir and saxtine ȝeiris. |
2. a. With ellipsis of n., which may usually be supplied from the context.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 298 Þe uorme o six stucchenes, þe oðer o sixtene. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 37 Þe date was nien hundreth sexti & sextene. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxvi. (Baptist) 31 Of þis nowmir sexten were of þe kyne of Eleazare. c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 799 Sexteyn with him that worthi was in wer. |
b. With ellipse of years (of age).
| 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. i. 13 Sonne of sixteen, Plucke the lyn'd Crutch from thy old limping Sire. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxviii, Several of sixty tripped it with almost as much glee and airy lightness as those of sixteen. 1891 Hardy Tess (1900) 73/2 Why didn't you stay and love me when I—was sixteen? |
† 3. = sixteenth a. 1. Obs.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 10639 The sextene day sothely..The bold men to bent bounet full þicke. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. 3338 When Tytan..hadde take his se, Of þe Bole in the sixtene degre. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. Headline, The sextene buke. 1653 Apol. for Goodwin 3 Take a taste..of his sixteen Querie. 1680 in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. 179 Twesday the sixtein of the said moneth. |
B. n.
1. The abstract number sixteen.
| c 1055 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 318 To-dæl þa syxtyne, þonne byð se an dæl eahta. c 1425 Crafte Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.) 6 Compositys ben nomburs þat bene componyt of a digyt & of an articulle as..fyftene, sextene, & such oþer. |
2. A sheet of sixteen leaves; a book in sixteenmo.
| ? 1606 Bodley in Reliq. B. (1703) 62 If Mr. Principal shall want Strings for the lesser sort of Books in Octavo, and Sixteens. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. xv. (Roxb.) 23/2 Whether they be large or small octavo's, sixteens, or twenty foures. 1715 M. Davies Athen. Brit. I. 11 Bound in Twelves, Sixteens, or Twentyfours. 1888 Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 125. |
† 3. pl. A kind of ale. Obs. rare—1.
| 1584 Cogan Haven Health (1636) 251 That kinde of ale which at Oxford is called sixteenes. |
4. A girl of sixteen.
| c 1840 O. W. Holmes The Dilemma 2 Now, by the bless'd Paphian queen, Who heaves the breast of sweet sixteen. |
5. A medium-sized flower-pot, sixteen of which are formed from a cast of clay.
| 1802 W. Forsyth Treat. Culture & Managem. Fruit-Trees viii. 114 The 1st size of 8 in the Cast is called Eights. 2[nd size of] 12 [in the Cast is called] Twelves... Sixteens... Twenty-fours. 1852 G. W. Johnson Cottage Gardener's Dict. 392/2 Nine-inch pot..16s. [= sixteens]. 1895 Culture of Veg. & Flowers (Sutton & Sons) (ed. 6) 323 Small 60..23/4 [inches]. Mid. 60..3. Large 60..3½... 16..8½... 6..12½. 1955 W. E. Shewell-Cooper Pot Plants ii. 19 The tendency is to use smaller pots and, whereas years ago we grew all our late Chrysanthemums in 12's, we try to do them today in 16's or even 24's. 1962 [see sixty n. 4 c]. |
C. Comb.
1. With ns., forming attributive compounds, as sixteen-ounce, sixteen-page, etc.; sixteen millimetre, (more usually) 16mm, a cine film which is sixteen millimetres wide; in full sixteen millimetre film; also attrib.
| 1774 Ann. Reg., Chron. 165/1 [On Nov. 30 there was] executed at Tyburn,..John Rann, alias Sixteen-String Jack. 1780 New Newgate Cal. V. 139 [He obtained] the appellation of Sixteen-strings Jack, by wearing breeches with eight strings at each knee. 1849 Noad Electricity (ed. 3) 50 Common sixteen-ounce phials of white glass. 1865 ‘Cuthbert Bede’ Rook's Gard. etc. 269 Their Sixteen-shilling Reversible Trousers. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 464/2 In weaving, say a sixteen-leaf satin. 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 204 To print a sixteen-page paper in duplicate. 1926–7 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 971/1 The Bell Howell ‘Filmo’ automatic camera..Accommodates newly standardized 16 m/m films. 1951 R. Spottiswoode Film & its Techniques i. 9 The producer must also make up his mind whether to shoot in color or black and white, in standard theater 35 mm. film, or nontheatrical 16 mm. film. 1969 G. Greene Travels with my Aunt i. viii. 82 The films, of course, had all been shot on sixteen millimetre, and..they were enlarged practically to cinerama size. 1977 New Yorker 29 Aug. 66/2 Travelling, then, at almost six hundred miles an hour, we watch this innovative sixteen-millimetre movie, projected with infinite difficulty at thirty-six feet a minute. |
2. Parasynthetic, as sixteen-sided, etc. Also sixteen-square adj. and vb.
| 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Rang, A sixteene-stringd Lute. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship 29 It is trimmed sixteen-square. Ibid. 33 The yard is then sixteen-squared. 1895 F. A. Swettenham Malay Sketches 157 A sixteen-sided stand. |
3. With ns. in -er, as sixteen-pounder.
| 1695 Lond. Gaz. No. 3112/3 We found in the Castle..69 Pieces of Cannon, viz{ddd}3 sixteen Pounders [etc.]. |
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Add: [C.] [1.] 1662 [from the year of its publication], the revised edition of the Book of Common Prayer published in 1662, the use of which was mandatory in the Church of England until the introduction of a series of alternative services in the 1960s and the subsequent publication of the Alternative Service Book in 1980.
| 1976 Oxf. Diocesan Mag. July 18/2 Of course the old congregation do not altogether approve of ‘all these children’, and sigh for 1662 and the Te Deum. But the grumblers have reduced their numbers to a half-dozen. 1981 D. Brewer in Martin & Mullen No Alternative xxii. 195 Those who say that ‘Cranmer’ or ‘1662’ is now incomprehensible. Ibid. 196 Canon Brett asked his Mothers' Union..whether they preferred 1662 or Series 3. |