seventeenth, a. and n.
(ˈsɛv(ə)ntiːnθ, sɛv(ə)nˈtiːnθ)
Forms: α. 1 seofonteᵹða, -teoᵹeða, -tiᵹeþa, -teoða, 4–5 seventeþe; β. 3–4 seventenþe, 5 -tenyth, 6 -tenth, 6– teenth; γ. 4–5 sevintende.
[OE. seofontéoþa, f. seofont{iacu}ene seventeen: see -teenth. The later developments (β and γ forms) are parallel with those of fifteenth (q.v.); with the γ-form cf. ON. sjautjánde. See also tenth.]
A. adj. The ordinal number corresponding to the cardinal seventeen; qualifying a n. expressed or implied.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. i. v, Severus casere..se wæs seofonteoᵹeða [v.r. seofonteoða] fram Agusto. Ibid. iii. xxiv, Þi seofanteoþan [v.r. -tiᵹeþan] dæᵹe Kalendarum Decembrium. c 1300 Havelok 2559 Of marz þe seuentenþe day. c 1400 St. Alexius (Laud 108) 325 At þe seuenteþe ȝeres ende. c 1400 Rule St. Benet (Prose) xii. 17 Þe hundred seuintende [psalm]. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 147/27 The ȝere of þe reyne of kyng Edwarde þe seventenyth. 1530 Palsgr. 372 Dixseptiesme, sevynteenth. 16.. Middleton, etc. Old Law v. i, September the seventeenth. 1805 Wordsw. Prelude ii. 386 My seventeenth year was come. 1839 H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. xv. 590 About the end of the seventeenth century. 1862 M. E. Braddon Lady Audley xxxv, He..married me three months after my seventeenth birthday. |
B. n.
1. A seventeenth part.
| 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Measure, One Paris Ell, and fifteen Seventeenths. |
2. Mus. A note seventeen degrees above or below a given note (both notes being counted); the interval between, or consonance of, two notes seventeen degrees apart; a chord containing this interval. Also, an organ stop (see quot. 1855).
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 126 Though I do in it talke of fifteenth and seuententhes, yet are these cordes seldome to be taken in three parts. 1609 Dowland Ornith. Microl. 79 A seuenteenth, which is equall to a third, and a tenth. 1694 W. Holder Princ. Harmony 102 A Seventeenth Major. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XII. 509/2 The double octave of the third is called a seventeenth. 1855 Hopkins Organ 120 Tierce-Seventeenth. A Stop formed of open metal cylindrical pipes, the pitch of which is a major third above the Fifteenth, or a seventeenth above the Diapasons. 1897 tr. Riemann's Dict. Mus. 372/1 The (major) Seventeenth (second octave extension of the major third..),..the Minor Seventeenth (second octave extension of the minor third). Ibid. 730/1 Seventeenth, the seventeenth degree of the scale; also called the 10th or 3rd. |
Hence sevenˈteenthly adv., in the seventeenth place (in an enumeration).
| 1623 in Fasti Aberd. (1854) 283 Seventintlie, that [etc.]. c 1643 Cleveland Let. Poems, etc. (1677) 127 Cheverel-Lungs that will stretch as far as Seventeenthly. 1725 tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 17th C. vi. ii. iv. 250 Seventeenthly, That baptiz'd Infants..ought to be instructed in the Faith of Jesus Christ. 1819 Scott Leg. Montrose xiv, The Captain heard sixteenthly—seventeenthly—eighteenthly, and to conclude, with a sort of feeling like distracted despair. |