thirty, a. and n.
(ˈθɜːtɪ)
Forms: α. 1 ð-, þr{iacu}tiᵹ, þrittiᵹ, ðr{iacu}t(e)ih, ðrittih, (2 þrihti), 2–3 þrittiȝ, þritti, 3 þrittie, þrytti, þriȝti, 3–4 þritty, 3–5 þrytty, 4 þritte, þrutty, thriti, 4–5 thritte, thritti, 4–6 thritty; also 4 þretti, þretty, threti, threiti, 4–5 thretti, 5 threty, 6–7 threttie, 4–6 (–9 dial.) thratty. β. 5 thirtti (derty), 5–6 thyrty, 6 thurty, thyrtye, 6–7 thirtie, 6– thirty.
[OE. þr{iacu}tiᵹ, f. þr{iacu}, three + -tiᵹ (= Goth. *tigus decade: see -ty); = OFris. thritich; OS. thrītig (LG. dörtig, Du. dertig); OHG. drîzzug (MHG. drîzec, G. dreissig); ON. þr{iacu}rteger (-tigir), later þrjátigi, þrját{iacu}u (Sw. trettio, Da. tredive); Goth. þreis tigjus ‘three tens’. The metathetic form thirty appears in literature in 15th c. and has prevailed since 16th c.
In the oldest Eng., ðr{iacu}tiᵹ was a neuter n. sing. construed with a genitive pl., e.g. he ᵹenam þritiᵹ þeᵹna he took (a) thirty (of) thanes (Beowulf 123), he wæs ðritiᵹes ᵹeara eald he was of (a) thirty (of) years old (Past. C. xlix). Later it was construed as an adj. pl., with dat. þrittiᵹum, gen. þrittiᵹ(r)a, e.g. þara þrittiᵹra manna of those thirty men. Few traces of these inflexional forms remained in early ME.]
A. adj.
1. a. The cardinal number equal to three tens, represented by the symbols 30, or XXX, xxx. In concord with a n. expressed or implied.
| α Beowulf 123 [He] ᵹenam þritiᵹ þeᵹna. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke iii. 23 Hælend wæs onginnende suelce wintra ðrittih [Rushw. ðritiᵹ, Ags. G. þrit[t]iᵹ, Hatt. þrittiᵹ(e.] c 1000 ælfric Gen. vi. 15 Þreohund fæðma..on lenge..and þrittiᵹ on heahnisse. Ibid. xviii. 30 Hwæt, ᵹif þær beoð þritiᵹ? a 1175 Cott. Hom. 225 Þritti fedme [OE. þrittiᵹ fæðma] heah. c 1200 Ormin 3207 Neh Off þrittiȝ winnterr elde. c 1205 Lay. 26631 After þan þreom cnihten þritti þer comen; after þan þrittie heo iseȝen þreo þusende. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7055 He was fleme & frendles mo þan þritty [MS. B. þrutty, C. þretty] ȝer. 13.. Cursor M. 1216 (Fairf.) Vs telles of adam þis story Of sones he had ful þretty [Cott. thirtti, G. thritti, Tr. þritty]. 1375 Barbour Bruce ix. 640 Quhar ay for ane thai var thretty. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 53 Judas sold Him onis..for þritty penies. a 1450 Myrc Festial 22 And duret soo þrytty wyntyr. c 1489 Caxton Blanchardyn xxi. 71 Hath he not taken this daye..threty coursers? 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb. 17 Selfe haue I worne out thrise threttie yeares. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xii, ‘Ye may ca' the twenty punds thretty’, said Dumbiedikes. |
| β 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) v. v. (1859) 76 The sterres..were sette by thyrty and by thyrty, in suche a maner wyse, that in euery thyrty was sette a grete sonne. 1526 Tindale Luke iii. 23 And Iesus..was about thirty yere of age when he began. 1530 Palsgr. 367/2 Trente, thurty, xxx. 1552 Huloet, Thyrtye tymes, tricies. 1671 Milton Samson 1197 Your ill-meaning Politician Lords..Appointed to await me thirty spies. 1837 H. Martineau Soc. Amer. II. 33 Lenders of money into Vermont received thirty per cent. interest from farmers. |
b. In comb. with the numerals
one to
nine, to express numbers between thirty and forty, as
thirty-one,
thirty-six, also (now less commonly)
one-and-thirty,
six-and-thirty, etc., and the ordinals
thirty-first,
thirty-second,
thirty-ninth, etc., now less usually
one-and-thirtieth,
five-and-thirtieth, etc. Also as a multiple of higher numbers, as
thirty thousand,
thirty-six millions.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 35 Ne bið þara fæstendaᵹa na ma þonne syx & þritiᵹ. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John v. 5 Ðær wæs sum man eahta and þrittiᵹ [c 950 Lind. ðrittih, c 975 Rushw. ðritiᵹ] wintra on his untrumnysse. c 1200 Vices & Virt. 51 Þrie and þrihti wintre and an half. 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 4532 Þe nombre was, veraiment, To and þretti þosent. 13.. Cursor M. 2158 (Gött.) Thre hundrid and eyt and thriti ȝere. c 1425 Craft of Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.) 5 Rede forth þus, 9 thousand sex hundryth thritty & foure. 1536 Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) II. 26 In the yere of our Lorde god a thousande five hundreth syxt and thritty. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 696 Thirty thousand Englishmen were that day left dead in the field. 1711 Lond. Gaz. No. 4903/2 On the Thirty-first of the last Month. 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Aloe, The fifth,..thirty-fourth, and thirty-fifth Sorts require a greater Share of Heat. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVIII. 659/1 In the 39th degree of latitude. 1837 Southey Let. 24 Nov., The difference of five and thirty years between me and Bertha. 1884 Harper's Mag. Feb. 471/2 One-thirty-sixth of their..area. |
c. Phrases.
the Thirty (Tyrants): the thirty magistrates imposed by Sparta upon the Athenians at the end of the Peloponnesian war (403 b.c.).
the Thirty Years' War: the religious wars of 1618–48 fought chiefly on German soil.
like thirty cents and
varr., cheap, worthless (
U.S. slang).
| 1842 Penny Cycl. XXIV. 382/1 This conquest was the last important event of the Thirty Years' War, which began and ended at Prague. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 266 Anytus..had joined Thrasybulus in the conflict with the Thirty. 1896 [see Reub, Rube]. 1906 J. London Let. 24 Nov. (1966) 225 You made my exposition look like thirty cents. 1944 Chicago Daily News 31 July 3/6 (heading) Sues to make Uncle Sam feel like a 30-cent refund. 1973 T. Tobin Lett. G. Ade 2 Feeling ‘like thirty cents’ and ‘the cold gray dawn of the morning after’ became part of the American idiom. |
2. spec. (
ellipt.)
a. The age of thirty; thirty years (of age, old, etc.). So
thirty-one, etc.
| c 1000 in Anglia XI. 3/77 Se hælend wæs þrittiᵹ þa hine mann fullude. 1618 Chapman Hesiod's Georg. ii. 486 Thy selfe, if well in yeares; thy wife take home, Not much past thirtie; nor haue much to come. a 1715 Burnet Own Time iii. (1724) I. 373 A cooler and elder man than I was, being then but thirty. 1780 F. Burney Diary 7 Apr., Conversable as he could have been at thirty-two. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede xxxi, She might well die o' th' inflammation afore she war thirty. |
b. In stating the time of day, thirty minutes; as in
six-thirty = 6.30 o'clock, half-past six; also
attrib. as
the 6.30 train.
| 1870 M. Bridgman Rob. Lynne xvi, Mr. Lynne had come down..by the 7.30, and departed by the 9.45. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 23 Dec. 6/3 He who came a moment after eleven-thirty stood very small chance of getting anywhere near the carriage door. |
† 3. As ordinal:
= thirtieth. So
thirty-two for
thirty-second, etc.
Obs.| c 1380 Wyclif Last Age of Chirche p. xxiv, Þe þre and þritty sermon. 1540 R. Hyrde tr. Vives' Instr. Chr. Wom. (1592) Cc vij, In the hundred and thirtie Psalme. 1594 Contention i. i. 50 Ere the thirty day of the next month. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Lives Emperors in Hist. Ivstine Ff ij, He died the thirty two year of his age. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Stat. K. William 3 The sextene veshell, or the tuentie or threttie. |
B. n. 1. The abstract number; also, a symbol representing this. So
thirty-one,
thirty-six, etc.
| c 1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia (1885) VIII. 302 Fif siðon seofon beoð fif & þrittiᵹ. c 1425 Craft of Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.) 4 The figure of 3...betokens ten tymes more þen he schuld & he stode þere þat þe figure of 4. stondes, þat is thretty. 1501 in Exch. Rolls Scotl. XII. 236 note, The nomir threttynyne. Mod. A Roman thirty is written thus: xxx. Twice thirty are sixty. |
2. the thirties: the years of which the numbers begin with 30; the fourth decade of a century.
| 1880 G. Meredith Tragic Com. xvi, His forty years..matched the twenties and thirties of other men. 1883 Seeley Expansion Eng. 288 Dating only from about the thirties of the present century. 1892 A. E. Lee Hist. Columbus, Ohio II. 73 The company..maintained its primary organization until some time in the early thirties. |
b. attrib. spec. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the 1930s.
| 1967 Observer 10 Sept. 24/3 Heaven knows, you can peg people by their opinions—‘thirties communist’ or ‘New Statesman type’ seems as hard a definition as ‘whisky priest’ or ‘teacher's pet’. 1969 ‘J. Munro’ Innocent Bystanders xiv. 205 The whole thing was as English as a Thirties farce: sandwiches and tinkling spoons. 1971 G. Charles Destiny Waltz v. 149 It was{ddd}furnished in a heavy, thirties style. 1976 S. Hynes Auden Generation iii. 82 New Signatures..was the first anthology of 'thirties poets. 1981 C. Leopold Night Fishers of Antibes ii. 15 His Thirties forehead with the thin black hair brushed back from a parting precisely dead centre. |
3. (See
quot. 1895.)
U.S. Also in journalism, broadcasting, and wider slang use.
| 1895 Funk's Standard Dict., Thirty..among printers and telegraphers, the last sheet, word, or line of copy or of a despatch; the last; the end. 1929 Amer. Speech IV. 290 ‘30’ or ‘Thirty’ indicates the end of a shift or of the day's work, and has come to mean, also, death. 1938 Sun (Baltimore) 20 Jan. 2/8 Newsmen..mourned today at the bier of Edward J. Neil,..who was killed by shrapnel while covering the civil war..in Spain. Prominent..was a shield of white carnations with a red⁓flowered figure ‘30’—the traditional ‘good night’ in the lore of the fourth estate. 1941 J. Smiley Hash House Lingo 58 30, end of anything. 1945 J. O'Hara in New Yorker 27 Jan. 22/3 ‘I say thank you and thirty.’ This last, the word ‘thirty’, is the traditional signing-off signal of the newspaper business. 1973 R. Ludlum Matlock Paper xxix. 251 The number 30 at the bottom of any news copy meant the story was finished. 1978 G. Vidal Kalki iv. i. 88 ‘When we know those two things, it's fat thirty time.’ Bruce had obviously been impressed by journalism school. |
4. Thirty and its compounds in elliptical uses:
e.g. thirty-four, port-wine of the year 1834;
thirty-eight, a revolver of ·38 calibre; ammunition for such a revolver;
thirty-three (and a third),
33({oneon3}), 33
1/
3 revolutions per minute; a gramophone record to be played at this speed;
thirty-two, a thirty-two-pound gun; a flower-pot of which there are 32 in a ‘cast’ (see
cast n. 15); a revolver of ·32 calibre; see also
thirtytwomo.
| 1802 W. Forsyth Fruit-Trees viii. 114 note, [Flower] pots are denominated by the number contained in what the Potters call a Cast... [The] 5 [size, of] 32 [in the Cast is called] Thirty-two's. 1860 All Year Round No. 66. 378 ‘Toasts are almost out of date’, I replied; ‘but the 'thirty-four must pay for this’. 1870 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. Feb. 85 They..could knock the thirty-twos about in the style characteristic of British sailors. 1903 D. McDonald Gard. Companion Ser. ii. 70 They choose pots of various sizes—those called thirty-twos (6 in.) seem to be most liked. 1942 L. Hughes Shakespeare in Harlem 3 Gonna go get my pistol, I mean thirty-two. 1951 Sackville-West & Shawe-Taylor Record Guide 716 While we in England cannot say how bad were the worst of the early Columbia 33s, or how good the best of the Victor 45s, the difference would have to be great to justify..the Victor system. 1953 W. Burroughs Junkie i. 20 Jack's voice..went on and on... ‘Give me a thirty-eight every time. Just flick back the hammer and let her go. I'll drop anyone at five hundred feet.’ 1959 I. Jefferies Thirteen Days iv. 46 Mostly I filled up with nine-milli..but I threw in some thirty-eights and three-oh-three. 1968 Melody Maker 22 June 2 This is the EP which is recorded at 331/3 and plays for 18 minutes. 1974 R. B. Parker Godwulf Manuscript iii. 17 The girl's voice..was thick and very slow, almost like a 45 record played at 33. 1978 R. Thomas Chinaman's Chance III. xxix. 291 We need a couple of pieces... Revolvers. No smaller than a thirty-two, no larger than a thirty-eight. |
C. Comb. a. With
ns. forming
attrib. phrases, as
thirty-acre,
thirty-day,
thirty-foot,
thirty-hour,
thirty-knot,
thirty-pound,
thirty-ton,
thirty-word,
thirty year; hence
thirty-footer,
thirty-miler,
thirty-tonner, etc. (a{ddd}of thirty feet, miles, tons, etc.). So with the compounds
thirty-one,
thirty-nine, etc., as
thirty-two-horse (power),
thirty-months-old;
thirty-three-year;
thirty-two-celled,
thirty-four-seated,
thirty-eight-volumed adjs.;
thirty-five-tonner,
thirty-six-pounder, etc. (a{ddd}of thirty-{ddd}tons, pounds, etc.);
thirty-five millimetre,
thirty mm.,
thirty mil(l). (photographic film, camera).
| 1666 J. Davies Hist. Caribby Isles 200 These French Servants, by reason of the three years service they are engaged to, are commonly called the Thirty-six-months-men. 1733 Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. xiv. 176 Drill Double Rows with Eight-Inch Partitions, and Thirty-Inch Intervals. 1775 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 163/2 They are about the size of a thirty-six shilling piece. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 491 The great wheel..pulley on its axis, over which the cord goes (as in a common thirty-hour clock). 1876 Blackmore Cripps xxxv, A May cold is a thirty-day cold. 1880 J. F. Carll Geol. of Oil Regions III. 197 Sand shells and slate, ‘30' Rock’. 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 13 Where the mighty thirty-five-tonner is shaking the earth. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 21 Mar. 9/1 The working expenses of thirty-four-seated petrol motor-omnibuses. 1909 Ibid. 8 Mar. 12/2 A thirty-six holes match has been arranged between..one-armed golfers. 1909 Times Lit. Suppl. 18 Mar. 101/2 This thirty-eight-volumned behemoth. 1938 R. M. Fanstone Colour Photogr. i. 17 Agfacolor... 35 mm. film for miniature cameras. 1969 ‘H. Pentecost’ Girl Watcher's Funeral (1970) iii. i. 123 ‘What kind of a camera was it, Morrie?’ I asked. ‘Leica—thirty-five millimeter,’ he said. 1971 O. Norton Corpse-Bird Cries vi. 116 ‘He couldn't have—well, turned the film back, or anything?’ ‘On a thirty-five mil Paxette? No, he couldn't.’ 1972 I. Hamilton Thrill Machine xxii. 102 It's a low-quality blow-up from thirty-five mill. movie film. 1978 F. Maclean Take Nine Spies vi. 196 His visitor brought out two rolls of 35 mm film. 1978 S. Sheldon Bloodline xxxviii. 341 The thirty-foot police boat..had been built for service, not comfort. |
b. Special
Combs.:
† thirty-cross, one of the transverse bars of a cross staff,
viz. that used for about 30°;
Thirty-nine Articles: clauses of a doctrinal statement drawn up by the Church of England in the sixteenth century, to which those taking orders in that Church have to assent;
thirty-penny nail, a size of nail: see
penny 10;
† thirty-perforce, name of an old card game: see
quot.;
thirty-pounder, a gun throwing a shot of thirty pounds: so
thirty-six-pounder, etc.;
† thirty-pound knight, one alleged to have obtained his knighthood for a payment of thirty pounds;
thirty-second-note (
Mus.), a note of the length of
1/
32 of a semibreve, a demisemiquaver;
thirty-year rule, a rule that public records should normally be open to inspection after a lapse of thirty years from their compilation.
| 1726 G. Roberts Four Yrs. Voy. 102 They left my Fore⁓staff, with only the *Thirty-cross, having as I suppose, flung the other Crosses over-board. |
| 1607 T. Rogers Faith, Doctrine, & Relig. in Realme of Eng. expressed in 39 Articles 3 The purpose of our church is best knowne by the doctrine which shee doth professe; the Doctrine by the *39. Articles established by Act of Parliament. 1739 (title) Thirty nine articles of constitutions & canons of Church of England. 1903 G. B. Shaw Man & Superman viii. 211 Straightforward public lying has reached gigantic developments, there being nothing to choose..between..the clergyman subscribing the thirty-nine articles, and the vivisector who pledges his knightly honor that no animal operated on in the physiological laboratory suffers the slightest pain. 1969 A. Richardson Dict. Christian Theol. 336/1 In their revised form the Thirty-nine Articles were passed by Convocation in 1571 and the text finally determined in 1604... Subscription is still required from clergymen on their ordination. |
| c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 135 Nails of sorts are..*30, and 40-penny nails. |
| 1599 Minsheu Sp. Dict. Dial. iii. 25 Behold here are the cards, let vs play at *thirtie perforce, or Albures [Sp. juguemos treinta por fuer{cced}a, o los albures], for these are good plaies. |
| 1812 R. Hall in Examiner 12 Oct. 648/1 Two batteries of..*thirty-six pounders commanded the beach. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) I iv, A thirty-two-pounder. |
| 1605 Chapman, etc. Eastward Hoe iv. i. F j b, I ken the man weel, hees one of my *thirty pound knights. |
| 1966 Times 11 Aug. 13/2 In two years' time the *30-year rule will be operating. 1979 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 25 Oct. 52/2 British Foreign Office papers recently opened under the thirty-year rule verify Butterfield's point. |
______________________________
Add:
[C.] [b.] thirty-something colloq. (
orig. U.S.) [popularized as a catch-phrase by the
U.S. television programme
thirtysomething, first broadcast in 1987], an undetermined age between thirty and forty;
spec. applied to members of the ‘baby boom’ generation entering their thirties in the mid-1980s; also
attrib. or as
adj. phr. (hence, characteristic of the tastes and lifestyle of this group).
| 1981 N.Y. Times 26 July ii. 7/5 William Finn is 29 or thereabouts. Wendy Wassenstein is *30-something. 1987 New Republic 2 Nov. 50/1 The show is a critical success (most people reviewing television are thirtysomething), touted as this season's ‘L.A. Law’. 1988 Los Angeles Times 26 June i.1/6 These are the women who should be the bread and butter of U.S. retailing, the baby boomers in the workplace, the thirty-something crowd seen by retailers as having money to burn. 1990 Independent 23 Feb. 18/8 I am the thirtysomething mother of a two-year-old and a six-month-old. I find nothing glamorous about it at all. |