number
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: nŭmʹbər
ipa: /ˈnʌmbər/
ipa: [ˈnɐmbə(ɹ)]
ipa: [ˈnʌ̟mbɚ(ɹ)]
ipa: [ˈnɐmbɐ(ɹ)]
rhymes: -ʌmbə(ɹ)
Forms: form: numbers
form: numbering
form: numbered
form: numbered
form: nummer
form: numbre
Etymology: From Middle English number, nombre, numbre, noumbre, from Anglo-Norman noumbre, Old French nombre, from Latin numerus (“number”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to divide”). Compare Saterland Frisian Nummer, Nuumer, West Frisian nûmer, Dutch nummer (“number”), German Nummer (“number”), Danish nummer (“number”), Swedish nummer (“number”), Icelandic númer (“number”). Replaced Middle English ȝetæl and rime, more at tell, tale and rhyme.
Senses: examples: text: I don’t know how many books are in the library, but they must number in the thousands.
text: Do they number in the hundreds, do they number in the thousands? Do they number in the tens of thousand?
ref: 1977, United States Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Crime, Federal Role in Criminal Justice and Crime Research, page 107:
glosses: To total or count; to amount to.
examples: text: The old man knew that his days were numbered.
text: THE DAYS OF ENGLAND NOT “NUMBERED.” REPLY TO SIR ARCHIBALD ALISON.
ref: 1867, The Days of England Not “numbered”: Reply to Sir Archibald Alison, page 1:
text: To conclude this book, we will let Lange’s photo and its three layers guide us. Each layer invites us to explore a different answer to this book's title question—how did our days become numbered?
ref: 2018 February 6, Dan Bouk, How Our Days Became Numbered: Risk and the Rise of the Statistical Individual, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 209:
qualifier: passive voice
glosses: To limit to a certain number; to reckon (as by fate) to be few in number.
examples: text: The king ordered that all his subjects be numbered.
text: Who can number all the stars and who can count the desert sands?
text: From twentie yeare old and above, all that go forth to the warre in Iſrael, thou and Aaron ſhall number them, throughout their armies.
ref: 1610, The Bible: That Is, the Holy Scriptures Contained in the Olde and New Testament, Numbers 1:3:
glosses: To count; to determine the quantity of.
examples: text: Number the baskets so that we can find them easily.
text: “Public Health Service Numbered Publications – A Catalog, 1950-1962” and contains those numbered publications issued during the period 1963-64.
ref: 1964, Education U.S. Department of Health (and Welfare), United States. Public Health Service, Public Health Service Numbered Publications: Supplement:
text: Most of the remaining records in the War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records were designated "miscellaneous" records, consecutively numbered, and placed in a fourth large series of records that came to be known as […]
ref: 1972, United States. National Archives and Records Service, Miscellaneous Numbered Records (the Manuscript File) in the War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records, 1775-1790's, page 3:
text: The remainder of the valley is laid off into cute little squares and streets, with everything named and numbered, ready to be listed in the brokers’ offices.
ref: 2022 September 4, Francis Lynde, The City of Numbered Days, DigiCat:
glosses: To label (items) with numbers; to assign numbers to (items).
examples: text: Shelley numbered off the group into two teams for the baseball game.
text: I counted them and numbered them off, and I found about three hundred and seventy or three hundred and seventy-five.
ref: 1870, USA House of Representatives, House Documents, page 532:
text: At my entrance, the Sergeant called them to attention, numbered them off smartly, and presented two Companies for my instruction.
ref: 2014 March 3, Flora Johnston, War Classics: The Remarkable Memoir of Scottish Scholar Christina Keith on the Western Front, The History Press, →ISBN:
glosses: To call out and assign a series of numbers (usually to people), either for the sake of dividing into groups or for counting.
raw_tags: with off
examples: text: I numbered them off on my fingers as I stated them. “First, I would redeem a small amount of my investment assets to pay off the cleared lot and come up with a down payment for the ten acres. Second, I would seek to obtain an open[…]
ref: 2019 January 11, Mark G. Turner, We Both Shall Row, My Love And I, FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 367:
glosses: To enumerate or list, especially while assigning numbers to.
raw_tags: with off
examples: text: Alexander the Great's army numbered an elite cavalry among its ranks.
text: We fools counted their life madness, and their end to be without honour: how are they numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the Saints!
ref: 1839, Saint Cyprian (Bishop of Carthage.), The Treatises of S. Caecilius Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, and Martyr, page 298:
text: They number among them men of intelligence and education, fitted in almost every respect to share in the responsibilities of government as well as receive a part of its benefits.
ref: 1879, United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Report, page 76:
text: We certainly endorse the essential purpose of S. 708 — namely, that an applicant should not obtain a grant simply because it numbers among its stockholders a Member of Congress […]
ref: 1963, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Hearings, page 69:
text: Unite them to Your Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, and number them with Your chosen flock. That with us they may glorify Your all-honorable and majestic name: of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever and ever.
ref: 2019 August 6, Fr. Joseph Irvin, The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom: Orthodox Service Books - Number 1, Lulu Press, Inc, →ISBN:
glosses: To classify or include (in a group of things)
raw_tags: with among
examples: text: Her horses number among the fastest in her country.
text: They number among our best people, particularly when we realise that they are models for what the rest of us might also achieve.
ref: 2010 September 3, Catherine Tizard, Cat Among the Pigeons: A Memoir, Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited, →ISBN:
text: If they number among those who abuse their wives, they, just like abusing leaders, should stop.
ref: 2020 October 1, Elizabeth Koepping, Spousal Violence Among World Christians: Silent Scandal, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:
glosses: To be classified or included (in a certain group or category of things).
raw_tags: with among
Related terms: word: grammatical numbers
word: Wiktionary’s Appendix of numbers