fifth, a. and n.
(fɪfθ)
Forms: 1 f{iacu}fta, (fem. & neut. f{iacu}fte), 2–7 fift(e, (3 fiȝft, 4 fyfft), 3–4 south. vifte, 3–6 fyfte, -the, (3 fivet, 5 fyvet), 4–5 fyve(þe, -th(e, (4–5 fifþe, -the), 5–7 fith(e, 6– fifth.
[OE. f{iacu}fta = OFris. fîfta, OS. fîfto (Du. vijfde), OHG. fimfto, finfto (MHG. vunfte, vünfte, mod.Ger. fünfte), ON. fimte (Sw. and Da. femte), Goth. *fimfta:—OTeut. *fimfton-, f. pre-Teut. *penqto- (Gr. πεµπτός, Lat. quin(c)tus), f. *penqe five. The normal form fift still survives in dialects; the standard form, which first appears in the 14th c., is due to the analogy of fourth.]
The ordinal numeral belonging to the cardinal five.
A. adj.
1. a. In concord with n. expressed.
| c 1000 ælfric Lev. xix. 25 ær þam fiftan ᵹeare. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 298 Fifte mæᵹen is. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 103 Þeo fifte sunne is Tristicia. a 1225 Ancr. R. 198 Þe vifte hweolp hette Inobedience. a 1300 Cursor M. 9232 (Cott.) To recken forth þat leuedi kin, Þe fift eild wil we be-gin. 1340 Ayenb. 12 Þe vifte article zuo is þet [etc.]. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 444 Þe fyfft heresie. c 1400 Destr. Troy 7553 heading, Of the Fyuet Batell in the Felde. 1486 Bk. St. Albans E j b, The fithe yere a grete stagge. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 307 b, By the vertue of the fyfth worde that thou spake for great mystery. 1632 Sanderson Serm. 447 The fift position. 1700 Dryden Pal. & Arc. iii. 168 With smiling aspect you serenely move In your fifth orb, and rule the realm of love. 1781 Cowper Hope 414 Just made fifth chaplain of his patron lord. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. viii, The fifth form would fag us, and I and some more struck and we beat 'em. 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., Fifth ventricle [of the brain], the cavity which lies between the two layers of the septum lucidum. |
b. to smite, † stab in, under the fifth rib: to strike to the heart.
lit. and
fig. The Revised Version (agreeing with the older
Eng. versions) has ‘in the belly’; the translators of 1611 regarded
ḥōmesh as the same word as
ḥōmesh fifth part; the two are from different roots, as the other Semitic langs. show.
| 1611 Bible 2 Sam. ii. 23 Wherefore Abner with the hinder ende of the speare smote him vnder the fift ribbe. 1641 W. Hooke New Eng. Teares 11 Death..stabs them in the fift rib. 1822 Shelley Chas. I, i. 104 Smiting each Bishop under the fifth rib. |
c. the fifth wheel of a coach, waggon, etc.: proverbially used for something superfluous. See also
fifth wheel (b) in C. below.
| 1631 Dekker Match me in London i. 14 Thou tyest but wings to a swift gray Hounds heele, And add'st to a running Charriot a fift wheele. 1891 Law Times XCI. 205/2 The functions of the grand juror are too often those of the fifth wheel in the coach. 1902 H. James Wings of Dove xvii. 255 ‘Respect’, in their game, seemed somehow..a fifth wheel to the coach. 1960 J. Bayley Characters of Love iv. 242 Her distress is partly finding herself the fifth wheel of the coach. |
2. With ellipsis of
n.| O.E. Chron. an. 827 Fifta was Eadwine Norþan hymbra cyning. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 39 Fifte is þet þu scalt forȝeuen þon monne þe wið þe agultet. a 1300 Cursor M. 23235 (Gött.) Of helle pines..þe fiȝft es vndemes of dint, Þat þa wreches þar sal hint. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchr. i. viii. 13 Statutes made in the fift of Elizabeth. 1678 B. R. Let. Pop. Friends 8 That cursed, unfortunate Fifth of November. 1725 Pope Odyss. ix. 395 The lots were cast on four; Myself the fifth. 1818 Shelley Rev. Islam x. ix. 5 Each fifth shall give The expiaton for his brethren here. |
3. fifth part: one of five equal parts into which a quantity may be divided.
| 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxv. 230 The kyng axed the fifthe part of all the meoble goodes of englond. 1565–73 Cooper Thesaurus, Cochlearium..two fift partes. a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. (1690) 73 The same Lands will produce a fifth part more of Food. |
4. quasi-adv. In the fifth place, fifthly.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 292 Fyfth, they be mortifyed from the inordynate affeccyon of parentes. |
5. Fifth Estate, any institution considered as comparable to the four estates (
estate n. 7).
| 1966 New Statesman 15 Apr. 526/2 The achievements of the trade union movement,..the pride the government takes in an historic, responsible and independent Fifth Estate. |
B. n. 1. = fifth part. See A. 3. Also, a fifth part of moveable goods granted to the king.
| 1557 Recorde Whetst. B ij b, Sesquiquinta, 6 to 5: 12 to 10..(11/5) a fifte more. 1578 T. N. tr. Conq. W. India 6 The kings fiftes and revenues. 1674 S. Jeake Arith. (1696) 209 To set down 3 Fourths and 4 Fifths. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. v. (1725) 147 When the Publick shall have lost..Four Fifths of its Annual Income for ever. 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. (1783) III. 370 The spoil..after setting apart the king's fifth, was divided among 480 persons. |
2. Mus. a. A note five diatonic degrees above or below a given note; the interval of three tones and a semitone, embracing five diatonic degrees of the scale.
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 70 A third, a Fift, a Sixt. 1652 News fr. Lowe-Countr. 8 He..Knows Thirds, Fifths, Eights, Rests, Moods, and Time. 1737 Ozell Rabelais V. 80 La Quinte..a Fifth, or the Proportion of Five in Musick. 1825 Danneley Encycl. Music, Fifth, a note in music, of which there are three species, viz. the perfect fifth, called also dominant, the diminished and augmented. 1864 Mrs. Gatty Parables fr. Nature Ser. iv. 131 All the fifths were either too flat or too sharp. |
b. The concord of two tones separated by this interval.
| 1656 tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. iv. xxix. 372 The Organ [of hearing] will..make that Concord which is called a Fifth. 1674 [see concord n. 5]. |
3. pl. Articles of the fifth degree in quality; fifth-rate material.
| 1881 Daily News 7 Sept. 3/4 Butter..thirds, 106s.; fourths, 99s.; fifths, 78s. 1893 Westm. Gaz. 5 June 6/3 Formerly only as low a quality as good fifths were imported. |
4. A fifth part of a gallon of liquor; a bottle containing such a part.
U.S. colloq.| 1938 D. Baker Young Man with Horn (1939) i. 69 Davis pulled the glass stopper out of the square bottle..—Shorty's fifths never came sealed; they never came fifths for that matter. 1967 E. McGirr Here lies my Wife ii. 63 Bring a fifth—if you drink—and I'll provide ice. |
C. Comb. a. fifth-chain (see
quot.);
fifth (cranial) nerve Anat., either of the trigeminal nerves (see
trifacial,
trigeminal adjs.), together called the
fifth pair of nerves;
fifth-essence = quintessence;
fifth-penny,
= fifth part;
fifth-wheel, (
a) (see
quot.); (
b) chiefly
U.S., something superfluous (
ellipt. for sense A. 1 c above); also as
adj.| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 839/2 *Fifth-chain, the chain by which the single lead horse in a team of five is hitched to the end of the tongue. |
| 1585 Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 35 Poure out, my frends, there your *fift-essence fyne. |
| 1685 S. Collins Syst. Anat. II. 1047 The *Fifth pair of Nerves, called by the Antients the Third, are seated below the other pair of Nerves. 1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. II. 270 The fifth nerve is attached to the surface of the brain on either side of the pons Varolii, at a distance of three-fourths of an inch from its middle line. 1875 Encycl. Brit. I. 881/2 The Trifacial or fifth is the largest cranial nerve. 1931 Daily Tel. 19 Jan. 11/3 The Archbishop is suffering from severe fifth nerve neuralgia. 1968 W. H. Hollinshead Anat. for Surgeons (ed. 2) I. 70 The trigeminal, or fifth cranial, nerve is..the largest of all cranial nerves except the optic. |
| 1732 Swift Prop. Pay Nat. Debt, Wks. (1841) II. 123 The lands of the primacy..are let so low that they hardly pay a *fifth penny of the real value. 1809 Bawdwen Domesday Bk. 416 Torksey and Hardwick paid the fifth-penny of the tax of the city of Lincoln. |
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 839/2 *Fifth wheel, a wheel or segment above the fore-axle of a carriage and beneath the bed..the fifth wheel forms an extended support to prevent the careening of the carriage bed. 1881 Fifth wheel [see wheel-plate (wheel n. 19)]. 1962 Engineering 30 Mar. 418/2 The turntable on a tractor is known as the fifthwheel. 1916 O. H. Prouty (title) The fifth wheel: a novel. Ibid. xx. 187 (heading) The fifth wheel gains wings. 1944 H. S. Truman in M. Truman Harry S. Truman (1973) ix. 184 Maybe your dad can make a job out of the fifth wheel office. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 24 Apr. 2/5 The vaunted and proud FSO ‘generalist’ has become a fifth wheel in many posts. |
b. When prefixed to certain
ns., as
form,
rate, etc.
fifth forms a combination, which is used attributively, passing
occas. into an
adj., and through the absolute use into a
n.| 1666 Lond. Gaz. No. 38/4 A Fifth Rate Fregat, called the Sweepstakes. 1672 Lacy Dumb Lady, Prol., My less than fifth rate wit. 1689 Lond. Gaz. No. 2451/4 Admiral Herbert had with him..10 fourth Rates, 1 fifth Rate, and 2 Tenders. 1747 J. Lind Lett. Navy i. (1757) 22 Captains of a fifth rate. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. ix, For most of the sixth spent their evenings in the fifth-form room. |
c. In Quaker use;
fifth day (
i.e. of the week), Thursday; similarly
fifth month, May.
| 1698 S. Sewall Let.-Bk. in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1886) I. 203 Am going to keep Court at Springfield, next Fifth day. 1799 E. Fry in S. Corder Life (1853) 63 Fifth Month, 1st. 1821 Ibid. 318 My beloved daughter, Rachel, was married last Fifth-day, the 23rd, at Runcton. 1868 G. G. Channing Early Recoll. Newport, R.I. 231, I went frequently to hear him at the fifth-day meetings. |
Hence
ˈfifthly adv., in the fifth place.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de. W. 1531) 8 b, Fyfthly, they must despyse y⊇ deuyll with all his pompes. 1681 H. More Exp. Dan. App. iii. 297 Fifthly, If it be demanded why, etc. 1681–6 J. Scott Chr. Life (1747) III. 252 Fifthly and lastly, That Christ also was that Jehovah and divine Lord and King..is evident. 1800 Young in Phil. Trans. XCI. 82 Fifthly by immerging the eye in water. |