forty

views updated May 18 2018

for·ty / ˈfôrtē/ • cardinal number (pl. -ties) the number equivalent to the product of four and ten; ten less than fifty; 40: Troy was only forty miles away forty were arrested there were about thirty or forty of them. (Roman numeral: xl or XL.) ∎  (forties) the numbers from forty to forty-nine, esp. the years of a century or of a person's life: Terry was in his early forties. ∎  forty years old: a tall woman of about forty. ∎  forty miles an hour: they were doing about forty.PHRASES: forty winks inf. a short sleep or nap, esp. during the day.DERIVATIVES: for·ti·eth / -tēə[unvoicedth]/ ordinal numberfor·ty·fold / -ˌfōld/ adj. & adv.

forty

views updated May 17 2018

forty the name The Forty is given to the members of the Académie Française; also called the Forty Immortals.
Forty-five an informal name for the Jacobite rebellion of 1745.
Forty Martyrs of England and Wales the name given to a group of English and Welsh Roman Catholics canonized in 1970 as representing those martyred for their faith between 1535 and 1679. Their feast day is 25 October.
forty-niner a seeker for gold in the Californian gold rush of 1849.
forty-ninth parallel the parallel of latitude 49° north of the equator, especially as forming the boundary between Canada and the US west of the Lake of the Woods.
forty winks informal expression for a short sleep.
Forty years on are the opening words of the Harrow school song by the English schoolmaster E. E Bowen (1836–1901). The words were used by Alan Bennett as the title of a satirical comedy (1968) set in an English public school.

see also a fool at forty is a fool indeed, forties, life begins at forty, Saint Swithin's day, if thou be fair, for forty days it will remain.

forty

views updated May 23 2018

forty OE. fēowertiġ = OS. fiwartig (Du. veertig), OHG. viorzug (G. vierzig), ON. fjórir tigir, Goth. fidwōr tigius; see FOUR. -TY1.
So fortieth. OE. fēowertigoða = ON. fertugandi; see -TH2.

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