number

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)Quantity of countable things.

   “Any number of people can be reading from a given repository at a time.”

   “There are, in addition to all the red socks, a number that don’t suit me either.”

   “The number of malnourished children has decreased.”

   “From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much.[…] But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.”

   “Number itself importeth not much in armies where the people are of weak courage.”

2. (countable)An abstract entity used to describe quantity.

   “Zero, one, −1, 2.5, and pi are all numbers.”

3. (countable)A numeral: a symbol for a non-negative integer.

   “The number 8 is usually made with a single stroke.”

   “The former FBI director James Comey has said it did not occur to him that that the numbers 8647 – which he spotted spelled out in seashells on a beach, and posted on social media – could be interpreted as a call to assassinate the president, as many supporters of Donald Trump have claimed.”

4. (countable)An element of one of several sets: natural numbers, integers, rational numbers, real numbers, complex numbers, and sometimes extensions such as hypercomplex numbers, etc.

   “The equation e#123;i#92;pi#125;#43;1#61;0 includes the most important numbers: 1, 0, #92;pi, i, and e.”

5. (attributive, countable, uncountable)Indicating the position of something in a list or sequence. Abbreviations: No or No., no or no. (in each case, sometimes written with a superscript "o", like Nº or №). The symbol "#" is also used in this manner.

   “Horse number 5 won the race.”

6. (countable, uncountable)A sequence of digits and letters used to register people, automobiles, and various other items.

   “Her passport number is C01X864TN.”

   “You can take the number 8 (bus) all the way to the airport.”

7. (countable, informal)A telephone number.

   “Let's give her a call. Do you have her number handy?”

   “I'm definitely interested. Here's my number. Call me back anytime.”

   “Rikki, don't lose that number / You don't wanna call nobody else / Send it off in a letter to yourself”

   ““[...] I wonder if you could get hold of him and have him call me here at Interior. I’m in my office, do you have my number?””

   “When I agreed to go surfing with him he said, “Great, can I have your number?” Well, I don’t give my number to guys I don’t know.”

8. (countable, uncountable)Of a word or phrase, the state of being singular, dual or plural, shown by inflection.

   “Adjectives and nouns should agree in gender, number, and case.”

9. (archaic, countable, in-plural, uncountable)Poetic metres; verses, rhymes.

   “Griefe brought to numbers cannot be ſo fierce, / For, he tames it, that fetters it in verſe.”

   “As yet a Child, nor yet a Fool to Fame, / I liſp'd in Numbers, for the Numbers came.”

10. (countable)A performance; especially, a single song or song and dance routine within a larger show.

    “For his second number, he sang "The Moon Shines Bright".”

11. (countable, formal, singular, singular-only, uncountable)A group of people.

    “I include myself in their number.”

    “As an association, we demonstrate near-Olympic sang-froid. As I write, the gods are smiling upon us, but in the past decade – not to mince words – two of our number have got divorced, one of us checked into rehab, and all of us have had distressful troubles with teenage kids.”

12. (countable, informal)A person.

    “I laughed. "Don't doubt that. She's a saucy little number."”

    “"Signorina Jessica," says the maid, a saucy little number, "your father has gone to his prayers and demands that you come to the synagogue at once [...]"”

    “He had to focus on the mission, staying alive and getting out, not on the sexy number rubbing up against him.”

13. (countable, informal)An outfit, particularly a stylish one.

    “The trouble was I was wearing my backless glittering number from the night before underneath, so unless I could persuade the office it was National Fancy Dress Day I was doomed to sweat profusely in bottle blue.”

    “"I doubt the sexy number you wore earlier tonight fell from the sky."”

14. (US, countable, slang, uncountable)A marijuana cigarette, or joint; also, a quantity of marijuana bought from a dealer.

    “These were the two that Tommy had chosen to collect a debt owed to his family by a dude named Heath who ran numbers out of a grocery store on 131st and Lenox.”

    “Back at his place again, Doc rolled a number, put on a late movie, found an old T-shirt, and sat tearing it up into short strips […]”

15. (countable, dated, uncountable)An issue of a periodical publication.

    “the latest number of a magazine”

    “When, in July, 1897, my father brought home the first number of The Railway Magazine, I little thought that, sixty years later, I should still be reading it, without having missed a single number.”

16. (countable, uncountable)A large amount, in contrast to a smaller amount; numerical preponderance.

    “Despite last week's woes, the Braves still sport numbers that would make Christie Brinkley blush.”

17. (countable, uncountable)An activity; assignment; job, as in cushy number.
18. Something that numbs.

verb

1. (intransitive)To total or count; to amount to.

   “I don’t know how many books are in the library, but they must number in the thousands.”

   “Do they number in the hundreds, do they number in the thousands? Do they number in the tens of thousand?”

2. (transitive)To limit to a certain number; to reckon (as by fate) to be few in number.

   “The old man knew that his days were numbered.”

   “THE DAYS OF ENGLAND NOT “NUMBERED.” REPLY TO SIR ARCHIBALD ALISON.”

   “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?”

3. (archaic, literary, transitive)To count; to determine the quantity of.

   “The king ordered that all his subjects be numbered.”

   “Who can number all the stars and who can count the desert sands?”

   “From twentie yeare old and above, all that go forth to the warre in Iſrael, thou and Aaron ſhall number them, throughout their armies.”

4. (transitive)To label (items) with numbers; to assign numbers to (items).

   “Number the baskets so that we can find them easily.”

   ““Public Health Service Numbered Publications – A Catalog, 1950-1962” and contains those numbered publications issued during the period 1963-64.”

   “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 […]”

   “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.”

5. (transitive)To call out and assign a series of numbers (usually to people), either for the sake of dividing into groups or for counting.

   “Shelley numbered off the group into two teams for the baseball game.”

   “I counted them and numbered them off, and I found about three hundred and seventy or three hundred and seventy-five.”

   “At my entrance, the Sergeant called them to attention, numbered them off smartly, and presented two Companies for my instruction.”

6. (transitive)To enumerate or list, especially while assigning numbers to.

   “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. (transitive, usually)To classify or include (in a group of things)

   “Alexander the Great's army numbered an elite cavalry among its ranks.”

   “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!”

   “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.”

   “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 […]”

   “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.”

8. (intransitive, usually)To be classified or included (in a certain group or category of things).

   “Her horses number among the fastest in her country.”

   “They number among our best people, particularly when we realise that they are models for what the rest of us might also achieve.”

   “If they number among those who abuse their wives, they, just like abusing leaders, should stop.”

adj

1. (comparative, form-of)comparative form of numb: more numb