fifteen, adj. and n.
Forms:
OE fífténe, fýfténe, fýftýne, ME–15 fif-, fyften(e, ME southern vyftene, (ME fythtene), ME fiveten(e, 16–17 fiveteen, ME–16 fyvetene, 15–16 fifteene, 18 Sc. feifteen, 15– fifteen.(Show Less)
Etymology: Old English fífténe , -týne corresponds to Old Frisian fîftîne , Old Saxon fîftein (Low German föftein , Dutch vijftien ), Old High German fimf-zehen , finfzehan (Middle High German vünf- , fünfzehen , modern German fünfzehn ), Old Norse fimtán (Swedish femton , Danish femten ), Gothic fimftaihun ; < Germanic *fimfi five adj. and n. + *tehun ten adj., n., and adv.: see -teen comb. form.
The cardinal numeral composed of ten and five, represented by the symbols 15 or xv.
A. adj.
1. In concord with noun expressed.
OE Guthlac B 936
Siþþan he on westenne wiceard geceas, fiftynu gear, þa wæs frofre gæst eadgum æbodan ufan onsended.
OE Beowulf 1582
He..sloh..fyftyne men.
c1160 Hatton Gosp. John xi. 18
Ofer fyftena furlenga.
1297 R. Gloucester's Chron.
(1724)
416
A..comete..hym ssewede vyftene nyȝt ywys.
a1325
(▸c1250)
Gen. & Exod.
(1968)
l. 415
For fiftene ger hadde adam, Ðan caim of eue cam.
1340 R. Rolle Pricke of Conscience 4564
Aftir þair dede..Anticrist sal regne, yhit fiften days.
a1400
(▸a1325)
Cursor Mundi
(Vesp.)
l. 27737
Þir ar þe springes o wreth fythtene.
a1400 Prymer
(St. John's Cambr.)
(1891)
59
Heere bygynneth the fyftene psalmes.
1548 W. Forrest Pleasaunt Poesye 472 in T. Starkey Eng. in Reign King Henry VIII
(1878)
i. p. xcvii
The beste ffyuetene shealinges not surmowntinge.
1596 W. Warner Albions Eng.
(rev. ed.)
xi. lxiii. 275
Saint Nicholas Bay..fifteene hundreth Miles from Mosco is away.
1768 T. Pennant Brit. Zool.
(new ed.)
II. ii. 235
Taken in clap-nets of fiveteen yards length.
a1822 Shelley Peter Bell III vii, in Poet. Wks.
(?1840)
246/2
For fifteen months.
1883 R. L. Stevenson Treasure Island i. i. 2
Fifteen men on the dead man's chest.
OE—1883(Hide quotations)
2. With ellipsis of the noun, which may usually be supplied from context. the Fifteen n. the Court of Session (formerly) consisting of fifteen Judges. Also, the first Jacobite rising (in the year 1715).
c1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia
(1885)
8 303
Gif þær synt fiftene to lafe todælað þa eall swa þa oðre.
a1400
(▸a1325)
Cursor Mundi
(Vesp.)
l. 8863
Thritte eln..It [sc. a temple] hade on lenght..And of heght it had fiften.
1660 B. Ruddier in Earl of Pembroke Poems 83
Give me a Virgin of Fifteen.
1714 Pope Rape of Lock
(new ed.)
iv. 33
Hail wayward Queen; Who rule the Sex to Fifty from Fifteen.
1769 Dublin Mercury 16–19 Sept. 2/2
A Black Gelding..about fifteen high.
a1797 H. Walpole Mem. George II I. 266
A man engaged in the former rebellion or as the Scotch call it in the Fifteen.
1815 Scott Guy Mannering II. 323
A man's aye the better thought of in our country for having been afore the feifteen.
1842 J. W. Orderson Creoleana viii. 75
From adolescent fifteen..to mature twenty-five.
c1050—1842(Hide quotations)
†3. = fifteenth adj. Obsolete.
c1430 Freemasonry 251
The fyftene artycul maketh an ende, For to the mayster he ys a frende.
1489
(▸a1380)
J. Barbour Bruce
(Adv.)
ii. 17
On ye fyften day.
1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. cxxv. [cxxi.] 356
To be at Hamton the fyftene day of May.
1605 R. Grenewey tr. Tacitus Annales
(rev. ed.)
vi. vi. 130
The fifteene Kalends of Nouember.
1623 Bill of Compl. in N. Shaks. Soc. Trans.
(1885)
498
In the fifteene yeare of his Maties raigne.
c1430—1623(Hide quotations)
B. n.
1. English History. = fifteenth adj. 1. Obsolete.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce
(1516)
II. f. cxix
In this yere also the Kynge helde his Parlyament..In the whiche was graunted vnto hym thre Fyftenys.
1540 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham
(1885)
III. 379
To Master Meyre in money to make owte the Fyften v.li.
a1616 Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2
(1623)
iv. vii. 20.
1643 W. Prynne Soveraigne Power Parl. i. 23
Both the Houses gave halfe a tenth and halfe a fifteene, to be disposed of as the Lords thought fit, for the defence of the Realme.
a1513—1643(Hide quotations)
2. A set of fifteen persons or things:
a. A set of fifteen players forming a ‘side’ at Rugby football.
1878 Cliftonian Apr. 232
No O.C. has ever complained of difficulty in accommodating himself to the fifteen game.
1878 Cliftonian Apr. 233
There will..be some competition to get into the fifteen.
1880 Times 12 Nov. 4/4
The two Universities..always place strong fifteens in the field.
1890 Daily News 4 Dec. 2/5
The visitors brought a powerful fifteen, and secured the victory after a splendid game.
1878—1890(Hide quotations)
†b. (see quot. 1688) Obsolete.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 231/2
A pair of Beads called Fifteens, containing fifteen Pater Nosters and 150 Aves.
1688—1688(Hide quotations)
c. Cribbage. An exact sum of fifteen pips counted on two or more cards, a court card reckoning as 10.
1674 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester ix. 108
That makes you six Games, because there is two fifteens and a pair.
1830 R. Hardie Hoyle made Familiar 58
They neither form a pair, a fifteen, a sequence nor a flush.
1674—1830(Hide quotations)
3. A game at cards: see quot. 1884.
1884 Daily News 13 Feb. 5/6
During a game of fifteen, a species of poker, several cards were marked.
1884—1884(Hide quotations)
Compounds
C1.
fifteen-spined adj.
1832 G. Johnston in Hist. Berwickshire Naturalists' Club 1 No. 1. 7
The fifteen-spined stickleback.
1832—1832(Hide quotations)
C2.
fifteen-pounder n. a gun throwing a shot that weighs fifteen pounds.
1684 J. P. von Valcaren Relation Siege Vienna 109
Fifteen pounders.
1684—1684(Hide quotations)
fifteen-shilling adj. worth fifteen shillings.
1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 698
The ministers..resolved to issue..fifteenshilling bills, for the payment of the troops.
1855—1855(Hide quotations)
Draft additions April 2002
fifteen minutes n. (also fifteen minutes of fame) [after famous for fifteen minutes at famous adj. Additions] a brief period of fame or notoriety.
1979 Washington Post Mag. 8 July 9/1
‘Like if I didn't break the world record, people thought I had a bad meet.’ Nehemiah doesn't want Warhol's 15 minutes of fame to go away.
1989 ‘D. Bowie’ & R. Gabrels I can't Read
(song)
in ‘Tin Machine’ Tin Machine
(CD sleeve notes)
When you see a famous smile No matter where you run your mile To be right in that photograph Andy where's my fifteen minutes.
1996 Guardian 7 May i. 7/3
The people of La Iglesuela del Cid, a hamlet in the remote Spanish region of Teruel, had been revelling in their fifteen minutes of fame. But they watched in despair yesterday as the American actress Faye Dunaway was forced by a bishop to leave.
2001 P. Marber Howard Katz i. 61
Hideous, hideous egos—all of them—monsters—kicking and screaming for their ‘fifteen minutes’—and on top of that I'm brown-nosing the press.
1979—2001(Hide quotations)
Draft additions June 2017
Real Tennis and Tennis. The first point won in a game by a player or doubles partnership.In quot. ?1536 as part of an extended metaphor likening an engagement during Henry V's campaign in France in 1415 to a tennis game, based on the insulting gift of tennis balls sent to him by the Dauphin of France.
[After Middle French quinze (late 15th cent. with reference to real tennis or paume).]
?1536 Batayll of Eygyngecourte sig. A.iii
Fyftene afore sayd London tho Her balles full fayre she gan out throwe.
1593 J. Eliot Ortho-epia Gallica ii. ix. 60/3
Fifteene all.
1634 Noble Souldier ii. ii
I ha been at Tennis, Madam, with the King. I gave him 15 and all his faults.
1693 T. Urquhart & P. A. Motteux tr. Rabelais 3rd Bk. Wks. xi. 90
The first Bout..is usually at Tennis called Fifteen.
1740 S. Lowe French Rudim.
(new ed.)
31
15 all, at tennis.
1775 ‘Connoisseur’ Ann. Gaming iii. 52
Instead of its being marked one, two, three, four, it is called fifteen, thirty, forty, game.
1833 W. H. Maxwell Field Bk. 496/2
The game..is called for the first stroke, fifteen; for the second, thirty; for the third, forty.
1875 Edinb. Rev. Jan. 31/1
The marker cries ‘Two faults,’ and adds ‘Fifteen love!’
1908 Amer. Lawn Tennis 15 June 75/1
Long pulled out another game from a 15-40 lead.
1987 Spectator 4 July 46/3
When it was fifteen-thirty, I heard my father say, ‘Go easy with the drop-shots.’
2008 Coaching Youth Tennis
(ed. 4)
iii. 28
If the receiver wins the first point, the score is love-15.
?1536—2008(Hide quotations)