fivefold, a. and adv.
(ˈfaɪvfəʊld)
Forms: 1–3 fiffeald, (fifeald), 2–3 fiffald, -fold, 6 fivefolde, -fould, 7– fivefold.
[OE. f{iacu}ffeald, f. f{iacu}f five + -feald -fold.]
A. adj.
1. Consisting of five together, comprising five things or kinds.
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. (Z.) 284 Quinarius, fiffeald. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 75 Heore fif-falde mihte hom wes al binumen. c 1200 Ormin 7836 Himm birrþ off all hiss sinne beon Þurrh fiffald pine clensedd. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. i. v. 312 Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbes, actions, and spirit, Do giue thee fiue-fold blazon. 1624 Quarles Job (1717) 183 He hath torn me with the five-fold knot Of his sharp scourge. 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 398 He pronounces a five-fold woe on the five great sins of the Chaldæans. |
2. Five times as great or numerous; quintuple.
| 1557 Recorde Whetst. B ij, Quintupla. 5 to 1: 10 to 2..Fiuefolde. 1612–15 Bp. Hall Contempl. O.T. iii. v, All the brethren are intertained bountifully, but Benjamin hath a fiue-fold portion. 1830 Bentham in Westm. Rev. XIII. 431 As the quantity of business-time is five-fold, so is the quantity of delay-time five-fold. |
B. adv. In five-fold proportion.
| 1571 Digges Pantom. iv. xxv. Hh, The diameter of this body is fiuefolde in power greater than the side of his inscribed Cube. 1885 Manch. Exam. 20 July 6/1 London itself has increased fivefold since the century began. |
Hence ˈfivefold v. rare. trans. To quintuple.
| 1858 Bushnell Serm. New Life 165 The capacity of religion may be five-folded. |