fifteen, a. and n.
(fɪfˈtiːn, ˈfɪftiːn)
Forms: 1 f{iacu}f-, f{yacu}fténe, -t{yacu}ne, 3–6 fif-, fyften(e, 3 south. vyftene, (3 fythtene), 3, 5 fiveten(e, 7–8 -een, 5–7 fyvetene, 6–7 fifteene, 9 Sc. feifteen, 6– fifteen.
[OE. f{iacu}fténe, -t{yacu}ne corresponds to OFris. fîftîne, OS. fîftein (LG. föftein, Du. vijftien), OHG. fimf-zehen, finfzehan (MHG. vünf-, fünfzehen, mod.G. fünfzehn), ON. fimtán (Sw. femton, Da. femten), Goth. fimftaihun; f. OTeut. *fimfi five + *tehun ten: see -teen.]
The cardinal number composed of ten and five, represented by the symbols 15 or xv.
A. as adj.
1. In concord with n. expressed.
| Beowulf 1582 (Gr.) He..sloh..fyftyne men. a 1000 Guthlac 908 (Gr.) He on westenne wiceard ᵹeceas fiftynu ᵹear. c 1160 Hatton Gosp. John xi. 18 Ofer fyftena furlenga. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 415 For fiftene ȝer hadde adam; ðan caim of eue cam. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 416 A..comete..hym ssewede vyftene nyȝt ywys. a 1300 Cursor M. 27737 (Cott.) Þir ar þe springes o wreth fythtene. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4564 Aftir þair dede..Anticrist sal regne, yhit fiften days. a 1400 Prymer (1891) 59 Heere bygynneth the fyftene psalmes. 1548 Forrest Pleas. Poesye 472 The beste ffyuetene shealinges not surmowntinge. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. xi. lxii. 272 Saint Nicholas Bay..fifteene hundred Miles from Mosco is away. 1647 Fuller Good Th. in Worse T. (1841) 92 An agitation..to bring down jubilees to fifteen, twelve, or ten years. 1766 Pennant Zool. (1768) II. 235 Taken in clap-nets of fiveteen yards length. 1819 Shelley Peter Bell vii. 23 For fifteen months. 1883 Stevenson Treas. Isl. i. i, Fifteen men on the dead man's chest. |
2. With ellipsis of n., which may usually be supplied from context. the Fifteen: the Court of Session (formerly) consisting of fifteen Judges. Also, the first Jacobite rising (in the year 1715).
| c 1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 303 Gif þær synt fiftene to lafe todælað þa eall swa þa oðre. a 1300 Cursor M. 8863 (Cott.) Þis temple..of heght it had fiften [eln]. 1660 Sir B. Ruddier Poems 83 Give me a Virgin of Fifteen. 1712–4 Pope Rape Lock iv. 58 Hail, wayward Queen! Who rule the sex to fifty from fifteen. 1769 Dublin Mercury 16–19 Sept. 2/2 A Black Gelding..about fifteen high. a 1797 H. Walpole Mem. Geo. II, I. 266 A man engaged in the former rebellion or as the Scotch call it in the Fifteen. 1814 Scott Wav. lxiv, ‘Ye were just as ill aff in the feifteen.’ 1815 ― Guy M. xxxviii, ‘A man's aye the better thought o' in our country for having been afore the feifteen.’ 1842 J. W. Orderson Creol. viii. 75 From adolescent fifteen..to mature twenty-five. |
† 3. = fifteenth a. Obs.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce ii. 17 On the fyften day. c 1430 Freemasonry 251 The fyftene artycul maketh an ende, For to the mayster he ys a frende. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. cxxv. [cxxi.] 356 To be at Hamton the fyftene day of May. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. vi. vi. (1622) 130 The fifteene Kalends of Nouember. 1623 Bill of Compl. in N. Shaks. Soc. Trans. (1885) 498 In the fifteene yeare of his Ma{supt}{supi}⊇{sups} raigne. |
B. as n.
1. Eng. Hist. = fifteenth n. 1. Obs.
| 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 480 In this yere also the Kynge helde his parlyament..in the whiche was graunted vnto hym thre fyftenys. 1540 Nottingham Rec. III. 379 To Master Meyre in money to make owte the Fyften v.li. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 23. 1643 Prynne Sov. Power Parl. i. (ed. 2) 23 Both the Houses gave halfe a tenth and halfe a fifteene, to be disposed of as the Lords thought fit, for the defence of the Realme. |
2. A set of fifteen persons or things: a. A set of fifteen players forming a ‘side’ at Rugby football.
| 1878 Cliftonian Apr. 232 No O.C. has ever complained of difficulty in accommodating himself to the fifteen game. Ibid. 233 There will..be some competition to get into the fifteen. 1880 Times 12 Nov. 4/4 The two Universities..always place strong fifteens in the field. 1890 Daily News 4 Dec. 2/5 The visitors brought a powerful fifteen, and secured the victory after a splendid game. |
† b. (see quot.) Obs.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 231/2 A pair of Beads called Fifteens, containing fifteen Pater Nosters and 150 Aves. |
c. Cribbage. An exact sum of fifteen pips counted on two or more cards, a court card reckoning as 10.
| 1674 Cotton Compl. Gamester ix. 108 That makes you six Games, because there is two fifteens and a pair. 1830 Hoyle made familiar 58 They neither form a pair, a fifteen, a sequence nor a flush. |
3. a. A game at cards: see quot.
| 1884 Daily News 13 Feb. 5/6 During a game of fifteen, a species of poker, several cards were marked. |
C. Comb., as fifteen-spined adj.; fifteen-pounder, a gun throwing a shot that weighs fifteen pounds; fifteen-shilling a., worth fifteen shillings.
| 1684 J. Peter Siege Vienna 109 *Fifteen pounders. |
| 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 698 The ministers..resolved to issue..*fifteenshilling bills, for the payment of the troops. |
| 1832 Johnston in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. 7 The *fifteen-spined stickleback. |
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▸ fifteen minutes n. (also fifteen minutes of fame) after famous for fifteen minutes at famous adj. Additions a brief period of fame or notoriety.
| 1979 Washington Post Mag. 8 July 9/1 ‘Like if I didn't break the world record, people thought I had a bad meet.’ Nehemiah doesn't want Warhol's 15 minutes of fame to go away. 1989 D. Bowie & R. Gabrels I can't Read (song) in Tin Machine (CD sleeve-notes) When you see a famous smile No matter where you run your mile To be right in that photograph Andy where's my fifteen minutes. 1996 Guardian 7 May i. 7/3 The people of La Iglesuela del Cid, a hamlet in the remote Spanish region of Teruel, had been revelling in their fifteen minutes of fame. But they watched in despair yesterday as the American actress Faye Dunaway was forced by a bishop to leave. 2001 P. Marber Howard Katz i. 61 Hideous, hideous egos—all of them—monsters—kicking and screaming for their ‘fifteen minutes’—and on top of that I'm brown-nosing the press. |