nineteen, a. (and n.)
(naɪnˈtiːn, ˈnaɪntiːn)
Forms: α. 1 nihᵹon-, niᵹontyne, 3 niȝen-, nien-, 3–4 neȝen-, 5 nyentene. β. 3 nintene, 4 nynten, ninetene, nenteyn, 4, 6 nyn(e)tene, 6 nyne-, 7 nineteene, 7– nineteen.
[OE. niᵹont{yacu}ne = OFris. niogentena, niugenten, OS. nigen-, nichentein, MDu. and Du. negentien, OHG. niunzehan, -zên (MHG. niunzehen, G. neunzehn), ON. n{iacu}tján (Sw. nitton, Da. nitten): see nine and ten.]
The cardinal number composed of ten and nine, represented by 19 or xix.
1. In concord with n. expressed.
| α a 1000 Menologium 71 Embe nihᵹontyne niht Þæs þe Easter monað to us cymeð. c 1055 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 300 He yrnð niᵹontyne gear eall swa se oðer. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2699 Kyng heruer of Goran þe vitailes hadde y-sent..Be neȝentene vitaillers. |
| β c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 14824 Mayster Edmond seis,..Þat þe Engle hadde nynetene sones. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxii. (Laurence) 220 He baptist is þene, & of his nynten best men. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. i. ii. 172 So long, that nineteene Zodiacks haue gone round. 1632 Lithgow (title) The Totall Discourse of the rare Adventures..of long nineteen yeares Travayles from Scotland. 1770 Burke Pres. Discont. Wks. II. 310 It was not untill he had reigned nineteen years. 1861 Mill Utilit. ii. 22 Happiness is done without involuntarily by nineteen-twentieths of mankind. 1892 E. Reeves Homeward Bound 277 The nineteen doors facing the court of oranges. |
| Comb. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 13 Dec. 9/2 Nineteen-day accounts on the Stock Exchange are proverbially wearisome affairs. |
2. a. With ellipsis of
n., which may usually be supplied from context.
| c 1205 Lay. 1850 Þa niȝentene [c 1275 neȝentene] heo slowen. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 10646 Tuelf hundered as in ȝer of grace & nintene, ich vnderstonde. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 186, I saw cominge of ladyes nyntene. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 17730, I selle the wyke, I selle the day,..Somtyme by twelue and by thryttene, By twenty ek, and by nyntene. a 1550 Wriothesley Chron. (Camden) I. 45 Which were nyneteene in number. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iii. iii. 65 Would any but these boylde-braines of nineteene and two and twenty hunt this weather? 1799 Underwood Diseases Children (ed. 4) III. 121 It will prove sufficiently nourishing for nineteen out of twenty. 1827 Pusey in Liddon Life I. (1894) 42 An expression which I had used when nineteen. 1846 Mrs. Gore Eng. Char. (1852) 39 The nineteen-and-sixpence she has netted incline her to return to the card-table. |
b. Phr.
to talk (run) nineteen to the dozen: to talk, or run on, at a great rate.
| 1785 E. Sheridan Jrnl. 7 Aug. (1960) ii. 63 The Mother good humour'd and Civil but talks nineteen to the dozen. 1852 Reade Peg Woff. (1889) 50 He was talking nineteen to the dozen. 1860 Sala Baddington Peerage xliii, The ladies' maid's tongue was sure to run nineteen to the dozen. 1883 Stevenson in Longman's Mag. II. 293 A very cheerful..gentleman..who was talking away to me, nineteen to the dozen, as they say. 1916 ‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 187 They must be charging, I think, or our front line's fallen back, because the rifles is going nineteen to the dozen. 1936 A. Christie Murder in Mesopotamia v. 39 Presently Mr. Coleman bustled in and took the place beyond Miss Johnson... He talked away nineteen to the dozen. 1956 V. H. Collins Bk. Eng. Idioms 228 Talk nineteen to the dozen... Why ‘nineteen’? The obvious numeral would be the round number ‘twenty’. Possibly ‘nineteen’ was chosen just because, not being what might have been expected, it seemed to give a more striking effect. |
† 3. = Nineteenth.
Obs.| c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 3090 Of Etheldrede þe nyentetene ȝere & nomore. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. clii. 181 The nynetene day of February next after. |