sixteenth, a. and n.
(sɪkˈstiːnθ, ˈsɪkstiːnθ)
Forms: α. 1 sexteᵹða, sex-, syxteoða, 3 sixteoþe, 3–4 sixteþe (4 syx-). β. 2 sixtenðe, 4–5 -tenthe, 6 -tenth, 6– sixteenth; 5 syxtenethe, 6 -tenth, -teenth; 4 sextenþe, -tenthe, 4, 6 -tenth; Sc. 5 sextend, 6 -teint (9 saxteent).
[f. sixteen + -th1, replacing OE. syxtéoða, etc. Cf. OFris. sextinda, -tenda, -tiensta (WFris. sechstjinde), MDu. sestiende (Du. zestiende), MLG. sesteende (LG. sesteinste), MHG. seh(s)zehende (G. sechzehnte, † sechszehnte), ON. and Icel. sextándi (Sw. sextonde, Da. sekstende).]
The ordinal numeral belonging to the cardinal sixteen.
A. adj.
1. In concord with a n. expressed or implied.
| α a 900 O.E. Martyrol. 16 Jan. 18 On þone sexteoðan dæᵹ þæs monðes. c 1000 ælfric Gram. (Z.) 283 Sextus decimus, se syxteoða. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5244 In þe sixteþe [c 1430 sixtene] ȝere of þe kinges kinedom. c 1300 St. Swithin 81 in E.E.P. (1862) 45 Eiȝte hondred ȝer and in þe sixteoþe ȝere. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 145 In þe sixteþe ȝere he was i-made knyȝt. |
| β a 1220 Juliana 79, I þe Sixtenðe dei of feouerreres moneð. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 221 Þe sextenþe [article is] þat þei ben verrey..myrrours of mekenesse. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 3 The yer sextenthe of kyng Richard. 14.. Lat.-Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 610 Sedenus, the syxtenethe. 1473 Rental Bk. Cupar-Angus (1879) I. 180 Wil Smith and John eldar a ilkane of thir a sextend pairt. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 188 The sixteenth Chapter endeth the exposition. 1589 in Exch. Rolls Scotl. XXII. 27 The fewferm of the sexteint pairt of the landis. 1611 Cotgr., Seziesme, the sixteenth in ranke, number, &c. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 15 July 1669, I went towards home the sixteenth. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Bible, The New Latin Translations, done..in the 16th Century. 1850 J. H. Newman Difficulties Anglicans i. xii. (1891) 388 The shadow of the fifth century was on the sixteenth. 1866 C. M. Yonge Dove in Eagle's Nest xi, Within a week of their sixteenth birthday. |
2. sixteenth note, the sixteenth part of a semibreve; a semiquaver.
| 1861 J. S. Adams 5000 Mus. Terms 92. |
B. n.
1. A sixteenth part.
| 1611 Cotgr., Seziesme, a sixteenth; a sixteenth part. 1769 St. James's Chron. 14–16 Sept. 3/3 The Tickets..are..divided into Halves, Quarters, Eighths and Sixteenths. 1832 J. Rennie Butterfl. & M. 31 Wings of the male one inch to one inch one-sixteenth. 1867 Denison Astron. without Math. 176 The fourth a quarter as wide, or one sixteenth as large. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 742 One thirty-second to one sixteenth of a grain of periodide. |
2. Mus. a. The interval of two octaves and a second. b. A sixteenth note.
| 1876 Hardy Ethelberta xlii, He'll keep me there while he tweedles upon the Twelfth and Sixteenth. |
Hence sixˈteenthly adv., in the sixteenth place.
| a 1642 Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts iii. (1704) 322/1 Sixteenthly, They ought to appoint a Surveyor. 1691–8 Norris Pract. Disc. (1711) III. 170 And Sixteenthly, the Glory that Virtue casts about the Head of those who suffer this little Martyrdom. 1819 Scott Leg. Montrose xiv, Never..was a sermon listened to with more impatience... The Captain heard ‘sixteenthly’—‘seventeenthly’—‘eighteenthly’, and ‘to conclude’. |