twenty-five
[twenty A. 1 b.]
1. Hockey and Rugby Football. The line drawn across the ground twenty-five yards from each goal; also, the space enclosed by this.
| 1877 Field 24 Feb. 220/2 They were completely penned in their own twenty-five. 1889 Pauline VIII. 36 The play was constantly in our opponents' twenty-five. 1895 [see bully n.2 2]. 1930 Times 14 Mar. 7/4 With 12 minutes to go, Home worked his way to the German ‘25’ and then suddenly sent in another long shot. |
2. Cards (also twenty-fives): A variety of spoil-five, in which the ‘game’ or winning score is twenty-five: cf. forty-five b, jink n.1 2.
| 1870 ‘Cavendish’ (title) The Pocket Guide to Spoil-Five, Twenty-Five and Forty-Five. 1894 ‘Hoffmann’ Card & Table Games (1898) 248 A player making all five tricks is said to make a ‘jink’, and wins the game, whether at twenty-five or forty-five. 1904 Longm. Mag. June 142 They produced an old pack of cards and played twentyfives. |
See also twenty C.