Word: number Part of Speech: verb Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *nem- Proto-Italic *nomezos Latin numerus Anglo-Norman noumbrebor. Middle English nombre English number Inherited 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 distribute, to give, to take”). Compare Saterland Frisian Nummer, Nuumer, West Frisian nûmer, Dutch nummer (“number”), German Nummer (“number”), Danish nummer (“number”), Swedish nummer (“number”), Icelandic númer (“number”). Displaced Middle English ȝetæl and rime; more at tell, tale and rhyme. Distantly related (via Proto-Indo-European) to obsolete English nim (“to take, seize”) and its Germanic cognates (e.g. German nehmen), hence also to numb. Pronunciation: /ˈnʌmbər/, [ˈnʌmbə], [ˈnʌ̟mbɚ], [ˈnɐmbɐ], [ˈnʌmbəɾ] 1. To total or count; to amount to. Labels: intransitive Example: I don’t know how many books are in the library, but they must number in the thousands. Example: Do they number in the hundreds, do they number in the thousands? Do they number in the tens of thousand? 2. To limit to a certain number; to reckon (as by fate) to be few in number. Labels: transitive Example: The old man knew that his days were numbered. Example: THE DAYS OF ENGLAND NOT “NUMBERED.” REPLY TO SIR ARCHIBALD ALISON. 3. To count; to determine the quantity of. Labels: archaic, literary, transitive Example: The king ordered that all his subjects be numbered. Example: Who can number all the stars and who can count the desert sands? 4. To label (items) with numbers; to assign numbers to (items). Labels: transitive Example: Number the baskets so that we can find them easily. Example: “Public Health Service Numbered Publications – A Catalog, 1950-1962” and contains those numbered publications issued during the period 1963-64. 5. To call out and assign a series of numbers (usually to people), either for the sake of dividing into groups or for counting. Labels: transitive Example: Shelley numbered off the group into two teams for the baseball game. Example: I counted them and numbered them off, and I found about three hundred and seventy or three hundred and seventy-five. 6. To enumerate or list, especially while assigning numbers to. Labels: transitive Example: 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[…] 7. To classify or include (in a group of things). Labels: transitive, usually Example: Alexander the Great's army numbered an elite cavalry among its ranks. Example: 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! 8. To be classified or included (in a certain group or category of things). Labels: intransitive, usually Example: Her horses number among the fastest in her country. Example: They number among our best people, particularly when we realise that they are models for what the rest of us might also achieve.