twentieth, a. and n.
(ˈtwɛntɪɪθ)
Forms: 1 twentiᵹoþa (-teoᵹoþa, -tuᵹoþa), twentiᵹþa (-teᵹþa), 3 tuentiþe, twentide, 3–4 twentiþe, 4 tuuentiþe, 5 twentythe, (-tyd, 6 tuentieth), 6–7 twentith, -teth, 6– twentieth; β. 4 tuentende, tuentiand(e; γ. 4 twentiest, 5 twentyest.
[OE. twentiᵹoða, etc. (see above), f. twentiᵹ twenty + -oða (see -th2); becoming in ME. twentiþe, -ythe, from 16th c. twentieth. Northern ME. had also twentende, twentiand(e, with the Norse ordinal suffix -andi, -ende; cf. ON. tuttugandi, Norw. tjugande, Sw. tjugonde, MDa. tjugende, Da. tyvende. The other WGer. langs. have forms with the superlative suffix -ōst-, as OFris. twinti-, twintegosta (WFris. tweintichste), MDu. twintechste, Du., MLG., LG. twintigste, OHG. zweinzugôsto, (MHG. zweinzigeste, Ger. zwanzigste), also mod.Icel. tuttugasti; a similar form twentiest appears in 14–15th c. southern Eng.: cf. Caxton's thirtiest for thirtieth.]
A. adj.
1. The ordinal numeral corresponding to the cardinal twenty; last of twenty; next after the nineteenth. a. in concord with a n. expressed.
† twentieth penny, one penny in every twenty: cf. third B. I. 4, and sense 2 below.
| a 900 O.E. Martyrol. 20 Mar., On þone twenteᵹðan dæᵹ þæs monðes bið se þridda worolde dæᵹ. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 194 Mona se twentiᵹoþa. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3641 On ðat oðer twentide dai, of ðe oðer moned taȝte he wei. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 9036 In þe tuentiþe ȝer of is kinedom. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VIII. 255 Kyng Henry hadde þe twentiþe peny of lewed men['s] catel. c 1470 Henry Wallace xi. 376 Xix thai war, and Craufurd,..The twentyd man, the nowmer to fullfill. 1530 Palsgr. 372/2 Vingtiesme, twenteth. 1564 Harding Answ. Jewell's Chalenge (1565) 96 b, [This] Origen sheweth..in the twentith homilie vpon Josue. 1643 Baker Chron. (1653) 395 In this twentieth yeer..Sir Piers Butler..was created Earle of Osory. 1779 Mirror No. 57. ¶6 Soon after my twentieth year my father died. 1818 Frere Monks & Giants iii. xi, The festivals..That every twentieth century come in season. 1894 S. Weyman Under Red Robe vii, I was pondering for the twentieth time what step I should take next. |
| β c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 309 Whan it wer..stabled & sette, To gyue þe penie tuentende þe Kyng. 13.. Cursor M. 10999 (Cott.) Þe four and teuntiand night. |
| γ 1398 Trevisa Barth De P.R. xix. cxxxi. (1495) nn iij/2 Siliqua is the twentiest parte of Solidus. 1480 Caxton Contn. Higden (Rolls) VIII. 523 The two and twentyest day. 1483 ― Gold. Leg. 334 b/1 The one and twentyest Chapytre. |
b. with ellipsis of
n., usually to be supplied from context; also
spec. of
day (of the month),
occas. of
year.
| 1643 Baker Chron. (1653) 533 The twentieth of September, seven of the..Conspirators..were condemned. a 1700 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. IX. 337 In the 20{supt}{suph} of her age. 1704 N. N. tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. III. 157 Yesterday..being the Twentieth of this Instant. 1749 F. Smith Voy. Disc. II. 31 The Interim, between the twentieth and twenty-eighth was filled. 1782 in J. H. Harting Hist. Sardin. Chapel (1905) 25 On the 20th of April, 1782, on Easter Eve, this year. 1902 H. K. Mann Hist. Popes I. i. 245 In the sixth century, as in the twentieth. |
c. with numerals below ten, forming ordinals of those between twenty and thirty:
one-and-twentieth,
two-and-twentieth, etc. (also
† twentieth (and) one, etc.,
obs. rare); now mostly superseded by
twenty-first,
twenty-second, etc.
| a 900 O.E. Martyrol. 22 Jan., On þone twa & twentiᵹðan dæᵹ þæs monðes. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 194 Mona se an & twentiᵹoða. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 53/221 In þe on an twentiþe ȝere. a 1325 MS. Rawl. B. 520 lf. 50 b, Þe ȝere of his regne þe ȝette ant tuuentiþe. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 3086 In Septembre þe won & twentythe day. 1536 Wriothesley Chron. (Camden) I. 53 The twentith tow daie of Julie. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. ii. xviii. (S.T.S.) I. 157 The tuentieth and ane ȝeir eftir the deith of his vnkle. 1631 Milton Sonn., On having arrived at Age of 23, 2 How soon hath Time..Stoln on his wing my three and twentith yeer! 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. 231 The four and twentieth Year. |
d. Comb.| 1888 E. Bellamy Looking Backwards xxvii. 432 My thoughts made better music than even twentieth century orchestras discourse. 1898 (title) The Twentieth Century New Testament. Part I. 1903 G. Matheson Repr. Men Bible 201 Our interest in the narrative is a twentieth-century interest. |
e. Special
Comb.:
twentieth century cut Diamond-cutting (see
quots.);
Twentieth Century (Limited) the name of an express train running between Chicago and New York from 1902 to 1967.
| 1903 W. R. Cattelle Precious Stones 63 The ‘twentieth century’ is a new form of cutting lately introduced. The number of facets is greater than in the brilliant-cut and they are differently shaped and arranged. 1925 Kraus & Holden Gems & Gem Materials vii. 77 The ‘twentieth century’ cut has eighty or eighty-eight facets. 1970 E. Bruton Diamonds x. 164 Jubilee or twentieth century cut (40 + 40 = 80 facets). |
| 1902 N.Y. World 16 June 7/2 The ‘Twentieth Century Limited’, the new fast train,..yesterday afternoon at 2.45 o'clock pulled out of the Grand Central Station. 1913 E. Wharton Custom of Country iii. xxii. 332 The Twentieth Century's generally considered the best route to Dakota. 1980 M. G. Eberhart Casa Madrone iii. 39 The Twentieth Century made a record run of eighteen hours from New York to Chicago... It is a very good train. |
2. twentieth part: any one of twenty equal parts into which a whole may be divided.
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 5354 No tong miȝt telle þe twentiþe parte. 1611 Cotgr., Vintain, a twentieth; or a twentieth part of. 1710 Swift Mem. to Mr. Harley ¶7 The twentieth parts are 12 d. in 1 l. paid annually out of all ecclesiastical benefices. 1848 Dickens Dombey xxxvii, Not a twentieth part of the affection that you have for Florence. 1911 Act 1 & 2 Geo. V, c. 16 §2 (1) (a) The yearly value..being taken to be one-twentieth part of the capital value. |
B. n. 1. A twentieth part: see A. 2.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 145 Þe tende suld be nouht, no þe tuen[ten]de non make. 1611 [see A. 2]. 1719 W. Wood Surv. Trade 345 Crown Pieces..one Twentieth lighter. Ibid., Nineteen twentieths of a Crown. 1792 A. Young Trav. France 537 No such thing was known in any part of France..as a tenth: it was always a twelfth, or a thirteenth, or even a twentieth of the produce. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 218 The balls should not be more than one-twentieth of an inch in diameter. |
2. Mus. A note twenty diatonic degrees above or below a given note (both notes being reckoned), or the interval between two such notes (equal to two octaves and a sixth). So
two and twentieth: see
two.
| 1609 Douland Ornith. Microl. 79 Others are tripled, to wit,..a twentieth, which is equall to a sixt, and a thirteenth, and so forth. |