| 释义 |
▪ I. ten, a., n. (adv.)|tɛn|
Forms: α. uninflected: 1 tíen, tén, later týn, (north. téa), 2 tyen, teon, 4–6 tenn, 4–7 tenne, 6 tien; 1– ten. β. inflected: 1 tíene, týne, 1–5 téne.
[OE. tíen, -e, Anglian tén, -e, Comm. Teut., = OLG. *tehan, OFris. tîan, tîen, OS. tehan (tîan, tein), (MDu., Du. tien, MLG. tein, LG. tein, tien, EFris. tein, tian, tien); OHG. zehan (MHG. zehen, zên, Ger. zehn); Goth. taihun; ON. tíu, tío (Norw. tie, tio, Sw. tio, Da. ti):—OTeut. *teχan, beside *teχun = pre-Teut. *ˈdekm, L. decem, Gr. δέκα, OSl. desja(ti), Skr. daça(n-. As final -n regularly fell away in OTeut., the normal form for OE. would have been *teha, téa (as found in ONorthumbrian); but the actual form, as in OFris., OS., and OHG., had final -n, app. taken from the inflected form, whence also the umlaut in tíen, týn, tén. The inflected form, a plural i- stem (:—teχanīz), in OE. tíene, etc. (neut. -u, -o, gen. -a, dat. -um), ME. tēne, was used when the numeral stood absolutely (sense 2); the uninflected was used with a n., and at length, in ME., in all positions. (But see -teen, from -tēne.)]
The cardinal numeral next higher than nine; the number of the digits on both hands or feet, and hence the basis of the ordinary or decimal numeration.
Expressed by the figures 10, or symbol X, x.
A. adj.
1. a. In concord with a n. expressed.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxxviii. §1 Þa wæron hi sume ten ᵹear on þam ᵹewinne. c897― Gregory's Past. C. xvii. 124 Þa stænenan bredu þe sio æw wæs on awriten mid tien bebodum. a900tr. Bæda's Hist. i. xiii. [xxiii.] §1 Þreotteno ᵹer & syx monað & tyn daᵹas. c1050Charter of Eadwine in Kemble Cod. Dipl. IV. 259 Ic an ðat lond..buten ten acres ic ᵹiue ðer into ðere kirke. a1175Cott. Hom. 219 He ᵹescop tyen engle werod. a1300Cursor M. 7015 Tene [v.r. ten] yeir had [Manigath] þe folk in yeme. 1382Wyclif Matt. xxv. 1 The kyngdam of heuenes shal be lic to ten virgynys. a1400R. Glouc. Chron. (MS. B) (1724) 430 Hys doȝter was a ten ȝer old. a1400–50Alexander 649 Ten ȝere of age. 1502Arnolde Chron. (1811) 189 The rood of reynysh wyne of Dordreight is x. awames. 1513More Rich. III (1641) 299 Which rage of water lasted tenne dayes. 1571Act 13 Eliz. c. 8 The rate of tenne pound for the lone of one hundred pound for a yeare. 1653Holcroft Procopius, Pers. Wars i. 4 A narrow passage, for ten Horse abreast. 1805Scott Last Minstr. i. v, Ten squires, ten yeomen, mail-clad men, Waited the beck of the warders ten. Mod. I shall be with you in ten minutes.
b. As multiple of another higher cardinal number, as in ten hundred, ten thousand, etc.; also in the ordinals of these, as ten thousandth.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xviii. 24 Tea ðusendo cræftas. c975Rushw. Gosp. ibid., Ten þusende. c1000Ags. Gosp. ibid., Tyn þusend punda. c1160Hatton Gosp. ibid., Teon þusend punde. c1400Apol. Loll. 107 Sunnar is þe prayor hard of o buxum man, þan tenþowzand of a dispicer. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 257 b, The footemen were teen thousande. 1685Boyle Enq. Notion Nat. iii. 53 The cælestial part of the universe, in comparison of which the sublunary is not perhaps the ten thousandth part. 1709Chandler Effort agst. Popery 20 'Tis Ten Thousand Pities that a Difference in Opinion and Practice herein should cause such Distances and Withdrawings. 1782Priestley Corrupt. Chr. I. i. 5 The subject [is] considered by thousands and ten thousands. 1893J. Gow Comp. Sch. Classics xxxiii. (ed. 3) 303 The ten-thousandth part of each grain must make a proportionate part of noise. 1905Westm. Gaz. 23 Mar. 2/2 The guarantee for the ten-million loan.
c. Used vaguely or hyperbolically, esp. in ten times, tenfold, and the like. Cf. hundred, thousand.
For hyperbolical use of ten thousand see thousand.
1388Wyclif Baruch iv. 28 Ȝe..schulen seke hym ten sithis so myche. 1508Dunbar Flyting 87 Suppois thy heid war armit tymis ten. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, i. i. 180 A Iewell in a ten times barr'd vp Chest. 1883D. C. Murray Hearts II. 162 His easy cynicism made him ten times more believable than any moral profession could have done.
†d. Occasionally used in the sense of the ordinal tenth. Obs.
(But in 10 Jan., 10 Vict., etc., usually read tenth.)
14..in Todd Three Treat. Wyclif p. xxvii, Siþ þe ten part [v.r. tenþe part] of þe fruyt sufficide for alle þes clerkis. 1567in Cath. Record Soc. Publ. I. 49 Commytyd the x. day of June 1562. 1582L. Kirby in Allen Martyrd. Campion (1908) 77 This morning, the x of Januarie, he was committed to the dongeon. 1586W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 62 Make short either the two, foure, sixe, eight, tenne, twelue sillable, and it will..fall out very absurdly. 1597J. Payne Royal Exch. 24 Let vs solace our selves with these words in the tenn of the Hebr.
e. In special applications.
† ten bones, the ten fingers: by these ten bones (ellipt. these ten), also ten ends of flesh and blood, an oath (obs.). Ten Commandments (also † ten bebode, ten bodewords, ten hests, etc.), the Mosaic decalogue; slang, the ten fingers; see also commandment 2, 3. † ten groats, formerly a lawyer's fee, or that paid to the priest for reading the marriage service (obs.). ten tribes, the lost tribes of Israel; humorously, the Jews, as money-lenders.
c1485Digby Myst. (1882) i. 20 By thes bonys ten thei be to you vntrue. c1537Thersites in Hazl. Dodsley I. 429 By this ten bones, She served me once A touch for the nonce. 1562–3Jack Juggler ibid. II. 125, I am a servant of this house, by these ten bones. 1601Chettle & Munday Death Robt. Earl of Huntington v. i. ibid. VIII. 305 By these ten ends of flesh and blood I swear. 1621B. Jonson Masque Gipsies vi. Wks. (Rtldg.) 621/2, I swear by these ten, You shall have it agen.
971Blickl. Hom. 35 We sceolan þa ten bebodu healdan. c1200Ormin 4377 Þa tene bodewordess. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. viii. 170 To Breke þe ten hestes. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxxiv. (Pelagia) 213 Þe commaundmentis tene, Þat god mad for to teche men. c1540J. Heywood Four P's in Hazl. Dodsley I. 381 [That] thy wife's ten commandments may search thy five wits. 1902J. C. Snaith Wayfarers vi, She's not seen you use your ten commandments, young man.
1601Shakes. All's Well ii. ii. 22 As fit as ten groats is for the hand of an Atturney. a1625Fletcher Woman's Prize i. iii, I'll take Petruchio In's shirt, with one ten groats, to pay the priest, Before the best man living.
1889Doyle Micah Clarke 118 The ten tribes have been upon me, and I have been harried..and despoiled.
2. a. Absolutely or with ellipsis of n. (which may usually be supplied from the context).
Often short for ten years of age; also (now Hist.) for ten shillings, in ten and six(pence, or other number of pence, ten-and-sixpenny. In OE. and Early ME. inflected, nom. -e, neut. -o, -u; gen. -a, dat. -um.
Beowulf 2847 Ða hild-latan..tyne æt-somne. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Mark x. 41, & ᵹe-herdon ða teno. c975Rushw. Gosp. ibid., & ᵹiherdun ða tenu. c1000Ags. Gosp. ibid., Þa ᵹe-bulᵹon þa tyne hi. c1160Hatton Gosp. ibid., Þa ᵹe-bulᵹe þa teone hyo. a1000Ags. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 217/21 Decanus,..tyna aldor. c1205Lay. 3388 Do we awai þane twenti, a tene [c 1275 ten] beoð inohȝe. Ibid. 31930 Bi sixe bi seouene, bi tene bi eolleue, bi twelue bi twenti. a1300Cursor M. 4848 Elleuen breþer es we liuand, An at ham, ten in þis land. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xviii. (Egipciane) 514 Sone I fand Of ȝongmen tenne in a place stanand. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 270 In þe date of owre dryȝte..A þousande and thre hondreth tweis thretty & ten. a1500Chester Pl. xxii. 143 But of the Tenne the first three sone wear consumed away. 1548–9(Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Catechism, Q. Tell me how many [commandments] there bee. A. Tenne. 1726De Foe Hist. Devil i. x. (1840) 169 Ten of the twelve tribes. 1814Scott Wav. xv, When I was a girl about ten, there was a skirmish fought. 1823Byron Juan x. xxxiii, Thermometers sunk down to ten, Or five, or one, or zero. 1837Dickens Let. 10 Feb. (1965) I. 235, I made it five pounds instead of two pounds ten. 1872Ruskin Munera P. p. ix, Worth as many ten-and-sixpences as the impressions which might be taken from the lithographic stones. 1874T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd xxvi, Am I any worse for breaking the third of that Terrible Ten than you for breaking the ninth? 1891C. T. C. James Rom. Rigmarole 25 Two girls of, perhaps, eight and ten. 1908Installation News II. 30/2 Witness our first attempt of a ten-and-six-penny kettle.
b. esp. of the hour of the day: orig. ten hours, ten of the clock: see clock n.1 3. Also with ellipsis of ‘minutes’ in phr. ten past or ten to or (U.S.) ten till, ten minutes after or before the hour; to take ten (U.S.): see take v. 52 c.
c1386Chaucer Pars. Prol. 5 Ten of the clokke it was tho as I gesse. [1427[see hour 1 b]. 1582–8Hist. Jas. VI (1804) 116 At ten hor in the morning. ]1681T. White in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 55 Yesterday about tenne in the morning. 1712–13Swift Jrnl. to Stella 27 Jan., He went away at ten. 1753Hanway Trav. (1762) II. i. v. 25 There is admittance till ten, for a toll of one stiver each person. 1795tr. Moritz's Trav. Eng. ii. (1886) 17 It might be about ten or eleven o'clock. 1810Scott Let. to Miss J. Baillie 30 Jan. in Lockhart, The play..lasting till half-past ten. 1843Borrow Bible in Spain xxxix. (Pelh. Libr.) 268 About ten at night, Maria Diaz..arrived with her son. 1852[see to prep. 6 b]. 1897Daily News 18 Nov. 8/5 ‘You are the ten o'clock man’, meaning that he came on duty at that time. 1937‘P. Wentworth’ Case is Closed ix. 95 Then it couldn't have been later than ten past eight when you heard that shot? 1960S. Barstow Kind of Loving i. ii. 53 Nobody ever arranges to meet somebody at ten to and so she must either be late or not coming. 1963[see till prep. 5 d]. 1979‘J. le Carré’ Smiley's People xxiii. 265 The time was ten to eleven.
c. In phrases and specific uses.
† ten in the hundred, a rate of interest on loans formerly current; hence usury; also transf. a usurer. ten to one, ten chances to one; odds of ten times the amount offered in a bet; hence, an expression of very strong probability. ten out of ten, ten marks or points out of ten; hence transf. = full marks s.v. mark n.1 11 g. [The phrase is much older but printed evidence is lacking.] card of ten: see card n.2 2. to count ten: see count v. 1; spec., to do this in order to check oneself from speaking impetuously; also to count up to ten. hart of ten: see hart 1 b. upper ten (= upper ten thousand): see upper a.
1594Death of Usury 10 He that puts forth money dare not exceede the rate of 10. in the 100. 1618Epitaph J. Combe in Brathwait Rem. after Death (ad fin.), Ten in the hundred must lie in his graue, But a hundred to ten whether God will him haue.
1589Hay any Work 30 Ten to one [I haue bin] among some of these puritans. 1650W. Brough Sacr. Princ. (1659) 481 Is it not ten to one odds if ever thou be called? 1782F. Burney Cecilia vi. vii, Ten to one but that happens to be the very thing I want. 1889J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat 248 Bet us ten to one we didn't.
1981P. O'Donnell Xanadu Talisman iv. 69, I can't claim ten out of ten... I was a bit indecisive. 1981Listener 22 Oct. 481/2 For beating down Whitehall opposition, Mr Sproat gets ten out of ten.
1817T. Jefferson Let. 12 July in Writings (1899) X. 93 When angry count 10. before you speak. 1939F. Thompson Lark Rise xi. 205 Copper-plate maxims..; ‘Count ten before you speak’, and so on. 1953E. Simon Past Masters ii. 122 Don't say anything. Hold it. Count ten. 1976R. Perry One Good Death deserves Another vii. 116 He counted up to ten before he answered me.
c1410Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxii, An hynde commonlyche hathe..more openn þe clee before þenn an herte of tenn. 1486Bk. St. Albans E j b, Then shall ye call hym forchyd an hert of tenne. 1637B. Jonson Sad Sheph. i. ii, A hart of ten, I trow he be.
d. the Ten, † (a) the Decemvirs; (b) the Council of Ten: see council n. 9.
1636E. Dacres tr. Machiavel's Disc. Livy I. 231 As it appear'd in the example of Manlius, and in that of the tenne. 1820Byron Mar. Fal. iii. ii. 193 A sceptic of all measures which had not The sanction of ‘the Ten’. 1878L. Villari Life & Times Machiavelli (1898) I. iv. iv. 205 The old Magistracy of the Ten for war affairs was preserved. Ibid. II. iii. 41 The Ten brought swift and exemplary justice to bear.
(c) the group of countries comprising the European Economic Community after January 1981 when Greece joined the existing group of nine countries (the expectation expressed in quot. 1971, but not fulfilled, was that Norway would become a member in 1973 together with Denmark, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom) (cf. six a. 2 j).
1971Guardian 20 Dec. 10/2 The objective for the Six (and the prospective Ten) should be to bring down the trade barriers. 1981Times 24 Dec. 1/2 The EEC denounced ‘the grave violation of the human and civil rights of the Polish people’..and said these were causing ‘growing concern’ among the people and governments of the Ten.
B. n. (With plural tens; and (less usually) possessive ten's.)
1. a. The abstract number; also, a symbol or the figures representing this.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt., Prol. (1887) 4 Oðer..tal..ðe to tenum wið fore-cyme. c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 228 Tele þu..oð þæt þu cume to þrittiᵹa foh eft on þone niwan oð tyne. c1200Ormin 4312 Þe firrste staff iss nemmnedd I, & tacneþþ tale off tene. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxiii. (1495) 923 The nombre of ten passyth nyne by one. c1440Promp. Parv. 488/2 Tenne, nowmyr, decem. 1530Palsgr. 367 Dix, tenne, x. 1594Blundevil Exerc. i. (1636) 84, 12 tens, which do make 2 sixties. 1837Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857) I. 52 Ten is a perfect number. Mod. Five tens are fifty.
b. In a number expressed in decimal notation, the digit expressing the number of tens, e.g. in 1837 the figure 3.
1542Recorde Gr. Artes 116 b, Then come I to the articles of tennes, where in the fyrste summe I fynde 90, and in the seconde summe but only 40. 1806Hutton Course Math. I. 9 Set..the numbers under each other,..that is, units under units, tens under tens, hundreds under hundreds, &c... Add up the figures in the column or row of units, and find how many tens are contained in that sum.
c. A thing or person distinguished by the number ten, usually as the tenth of a series; 10 A (see quot. 1907). number ten, also No. 10: see number n. 5 e.
1888H. Morten Sk. Hosp. Life 70, I say, tell Ten I am so sorry for him. I wish I could go to the ward! 1906H. Müller Reminiscences 43 Giovanni endured the punishment that is the Austrian equivalent for ‘10 A’. 1907Cassell's Mag. Feb. 295/1 For fourteen [days] he was put on ‘10 A’, which is short for no grog, no tobacco. a1911Mod. Number ten, it is your turn to play. 1927P. Riley Memories 74 The drastic punishment, known as ‘10.A’ was introduced into the Service at the same time [sc. Jan. 1875].
2. A set of ten things or persons.
ten of rupees, a unit of account in Indian money.
c961æthelwold Rule St. Benet xxii. (1885) 47 Tynum and twentiᵹum on anum inne ætgædere restan mid heora ealdrum. 1539Bible (Great) Gen. xviii. 32, I wil not destroye them for tens sake [1885 Bible (R.V.) for the ten's sake]. 1611Bible Deut. i. 15, I..made them..captaines ouer tennes. 1894Field 9 June 839/1 They came forth in their tens, for thirty-eight members turned out on the occasion of the first meet. 1895Westm. Gaz. 4 Sept. 5/1 The revenue was better by 74,000 tens of rupees. 1897Flandrau Harvard Episodes 94 One never said of Wolcott, as is said of some fellows, ‘He made the first ten of the Dicky’.
3. Coal-mining. A measure of coal, locally varying between 48 and 50 tons, being the unit of calculation on which the lessor's rent or royalty is based. (See quot. 1894.) north. dial.
1590Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) II. 181 At the grannde lease pitts, ccclxxxviij tenns of coolls, the twelfth parte is xxxij tenns, and the thirde parte of a tenn, praised worthe 2l per tenn is 64l 13/–4d. 1789Brand Hist. Newcastle II. 279 In the year 1622 there were vended by the society of hostmen of Newcastle 14,420 tens of coals. 1851Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh. 54 Ten, the measure of coals upon which the landlord's rent is paid. It usually consists of 440 bolls of 8 pecks, but varies much under different landlords, generally, however, within the range of from 418 to 440 bolls. 1894Northumbld. Gloss., Ten, a measure of coals upon which the lessor's rent or royalty is paid. In the seventeenth century the term meant ten score bolls, barrows, or corves of coal.
4. A playing-card marked with ten pips. catch the ten , a card-game played in Scotland in which the ten of trumps may be taken by any honour-card, and counts ten points, the game being a hundred. long ten, the ten of trumps in this game: cf. long trump (long a.1 5 b). See also quot. 1870.
1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, v. i. 43 But whiles he thought to steale the single Ten, The King was slyly finger'd from the Deck. 1680Cotton Compl. Gamester xv. (ed. 2) 94 The rest follow in preheminence thus; the King, the Queen, the Knave, the Ten. Ibid. xvi. 97 You are not to play a ten first. 1816Scott Old Mort. xli, These were Claver'se's lads a while syne, and wad be again, maybe, if he had the lang ten in his hand. 1870Modern Hoyle, Cribbage 77 The court-cards and the ten of each suit count ten, and they are all indiscriminately spoken of as ‘tens’ during the game. 1887P. M'Neill Blawearie 146 They are playing at ‘catch the ten’, the stake being a few pence a-head.
5. Short for (a) a ten-oared boat; (b) a ten-pound note; (c) a ten-dollar note; (d) a ten-horse-power car.
1875Blake-Humfrey Eton Boating Bk. p. ix, The first eight had a strong picked crew, whilst the ten had several ‘courtesy’ oars... Mr. Canning was sitter in the ten.
c1863T. Taylor Ticket-of-Leave Man iii. 54 Here are notes—two hundreds—a ten—and two fives. 1894A. Robertson Nuggets, etc. 190 To their intense disgust they only got about {pstlg}200 in notes (chiefly tens).
1829Vancouver Herald (Fredericksburg) 18 Apr. 3/3 The public are cautioned against receiving spurious 5's 10's and 20 dollar bills, purporting to be on the Bank of Virginia. 1907‘O. Henry’ Trimmed Lamp 171 He drew out his ‘roll’ and slapped five tens upon the bar. 1977J. Crosby Company of Friends xxvi. 161 Roger tipped the waiter a ten.
1931Daily Express 16 Oct. 11/2 Cheap ‘Tens’. There was a big demand also for cars just above the ‘baby’ class, the numerous 10's that are cheap to buy. 1942R.A.F. Jrnl. 3 Oct. 24 He would soon be driving around in a family eight or ten. 1968Compl. Encycl. Motorcars 59/1 In 1910 a 1·6 litre 4-cylinder [Austin] Ten was made for export only. Ibid. 399/1 That year [sc. 1933] Morris's sv 1·3-litre Ten-Four came out as an answer to Austin's Ten and Hillman's Minx.
6. a. Short for tenpenny nail (i.e. costing 10d. a hundred); double ten, a nail costing the double of the tenpenny (i.e. 20d. a hundred). b. A tallow candle weighing ten to a pound.
1572in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 175 Nayles vc of single tenns—iiij s. ij d. c. Dubble tens—xviij d. 1629MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., Itm halfe a hundred of double tennes xd. 1665J. Webb Stone-Heng (1725) 124 An huge old Nail, in Shape somewhat like those which we call commonly double Tens, or Spikes, such as are used in Scaffolding. 1717[see double A. 6]. 1802Sporting Mag. XX. 15 Some have gone so far as to illuminate our discussions with tens instead of long-sixes.
†C. quasi-adv. Ten times, tenfold. Obs.
c1330King of Tars (Ritson) 336 Thaugh heo weore ten so briht. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 736 (Thisbe) Forbede a loue & it is ten so wod. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 177 Þe lengþe of a manis body..be..ten so moche as þe depnesse þat is from þe rugge to þe wombe. 1399Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 168 Þei ffor þe pesinge paieth pens ten duble That þe cloþe costened. c1400Siege of Troy 396 in Archiv neu. Spr. LXXII. 21 Ector is ten so strong as þou [older version, ten siþe streyngor þen þow]. c1420Sir Amadas (Weber) 746 Yette was Y ten so glad When that thou gaffe all that thou had.
D. Combinations.
Comb.
1. a. Adjectives, formed by ten with a n., meaning consisting of, containing, measuring, or costing ten of the things named (also occasionally ellipt. as n.), as ten-acre, ten-bell, ten-cell, ten-cent, ten-course, ten-day, ten-dollar, ten-drachm, ten-figure, ten-grain, ten-guinea, ten-horse, ten-hour, ten-inch, ten-league, ten-mile, ten-minute, ten-month, ten-point, ten-second, ten-shilling, ten-stone, ten-syllable, ten-toe, ten-ton, etc.; also, phrases thus formed prefixed to a simple adjective, forming a compound adj., as ten-mile-long, ten-inch-thick, etc. See also 2, and tenpenny. b. Parasynthetic adjs., formed on such phrases as those in a, as ten-acred, ten-armed, ten-barrelled, ten-coupled, ten-cylindered, ten-fingered, ten-footed, ten-headed, ten-horned, ten-jointed, ten-keyed, ten-oared, ten-parted, ten-peaked, ten-rayed, ten-ribbed, ten-roomed, ten-spined, ten-stringed, ten-syllabled, ten-talented, ten-tongued, ten-toothed, (also ten-teethed), ten-wheeled, etc. c. Parasynthetic ns. (see -er1 1), as ten-bedder, ten-knotter, ten-seater, ten-tonner, ten-wheeler; see also ten-pointer in 2, tenpounder. d. Compounds of ten n., as ten bed (= bed No. 10), ten-bore, ten-team (team of ten); also ten-shaped adj. (= X-shaped); tentale [tale n. 6], used attrib. in phr. tentale rent: see quots.
1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. 55 (Copse) On inquiring my destination, and hearing that I was bent to the *ten-acre copse. 1871Kingsley At Last ii, Having a considerable quantity of land in each parish allotted to ten-acre men (i.e. white yeomen).
1807Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 377 A *ten-acred enclosure might be as..proper a size as any other.
1881Times 15 Jan. 5/6 The short *ten-barrelled Gatling was brought to the front.
1888H. Morten Sk. Hosp. Life 69 [He] operated on that boy in *Ten bed; but, I fear, unsuccessfully.
1899Kipling Stalky iii. 79 She's busy in the middle of King's big upper *ten-bedder.
1905Daily News 24 Apr. 2 In 1817 a *ten-bell record of 12,312 changes of Grandsire Caters was rung on these bells.
1892Greener Breech Loader 127 The *10-bore duck-gun full-choked, weighing 8½ lbs. and over.
1876Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 28 A *ten-cell Leclanché [battery].
1846D. Corcoran Pickings 26, I gave him a $2 bill, and he only gave me thirteen of these (*ten cent pieces) in change. 1873E. Eggleston Myst. Metrop. xviii. 158 The joyful keys and the cheerful ten-cent coins lay in his pocket. 1901H. Robertson Inlander 118 The sleepers in the grass-grown churchyard..had been removed elsewhere to make room for the thriving innovation known as the ‘Ten Cent Store’. 1962E. Snow Other Side of River (1963) xxxix. 283 Ten-cent prints are also sold of Italian Renaissance painters and a few French impressionists.
1903J. K. Jerome Tea Table Talk (ed. Tauchn.) 31 The *ten-course banquet.
1883‘Mark Twain’ Life on Mississippi lx. 582 A *ten-day trip by steamer. 1898Westm. Gaz. 1 Nov. 10/1 The ten-day fog of 1880, credited with such heavy mortality.
1807Deb. Congr. U.S. 19 Aug. (1852) 429, I got two of the notes changed, and one, a *ten dollar note, was returned on my hands. 1825J. Neal Bro. Jonathan I. 221 For a ‘ten-dollar bill’..Peters would have set fire to it. 1891H. Herman His Angel 138 Underwood took three ten-dollar bills from his wallet.
1886Guide Exhib. Galleries Brit. Mus. 145 A *ten-drachm piece of Athens.
1842Penny Cycl. XXIII. 498/1 Nathaniel Roe, ‘Tabulæ Logarithmicæ’, London. Seven-figure numbers to 100 thousand, *ten-figure sines, &c. to hundredths of degrees. 1922Biometrika XIV. 160 It was necessary to calculate τ1 to eight places, which was done with the help of Vega's ten-figure logarithms.
1861Photogr. News Alm. in Circ. Sc. (1865) I. 160/2 A *ten-grain silver solution.
1752Foote Taste i. Wks. 1799 I. 8 A poor *ten-guinea job.
1678Butler Hud. iii. ii. 1117 And turn'd the Men to *Ten-Horn'd Cattel, Because they came not out to Battel.
1837P. Keith Bot. Lex. 107 It is as if there was a certain ponderable mass which the application of a *ten-horse power was utterly incapable of moving.
1905Westm. Gaz. 7 Mar. 5/2 The new scale is calculated on a *ten-hour basis.
1903Ibid. 18 June 5/1 The shell which was being filled was a *ten-inch shell.
1839Penny Cycl. XV. 84/1 In the genus Melolontha the antennæ are *ten-jointed.
1843Borrow Bible in Spain xxxi. (Pelh. Libr.) 228 After the *ten-league journey of the preceding day.
1876‘Ouida’ Winter City ix, A *ten-mile stretch across the open country.
1806Lamb Let. to Manning 5 Dec., They all had their *ten-minute speeches.
1711Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) III. 265 To find a plain defect in these *ten-monosyllable heroicks.
1886C. Scott Sheep-Farming 64 *Ten months old lambs.
1800Hull Advertiser 16 Aug. 1/4 A *ten-oared cutter..with twelve volunteers.
1874Garrod & Baxter Mat. Med. (1880) 297 Capsule ovoid, inflated, *ten-ribbed.
1882M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal II. ix. 180 The shabby little *ten-roomed house in South Belgravia.
1898Westm. Gaz. 30 Nov. 5/3 Doubt..whether the Oriten ‘*ten-seater’ machine exhibited at the Stanley Show could be ridden.
1907Daily Chron. 30 Nov. 4/6 More technically known as the ‘crux decussata’—the ‘*ten-shaped cross’, because its form is identical with that of the Latin numeral X.
1745M. Folkes Eng. Gold Coins 9 Double-crowns or *ten shilling pieces. 1959A. Christie Cat among Pigeons iv. 51 She accepted the ten shilling note her mother handed to her. a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1976) II. 279 Then there came fifteen speakers of whom the ten well-informed were all passionately for the ten-shilling unit.
1900Daily News 4 Dec. 6/1 A *ten-stone man, who has to ride, is of more use than a twelve-stone man.
a1300E.E. Psalter cxliii[i]. 9 To þe sal I sing in *ten-strenged sautre. 1535Coverdale ibid., That I maye..synge prayses vnto the vpon a tenstrynged lute.
1881H. Morley Eng. Lit. Q. Vict. iii. (ed. Tauchn.) 89 The all pervading couplets of *ten-syllabled lines.
1883Gresley Coal Mining Gloss., *Tentail rent, a rent or royalty paid by a lessee upon every ten of coals which are worked in excess of a minimum or certain rent. 1888Nicholson Coal Trade Gloss. s.v. Rent (E.D.D.), A surplus or tentale rent payable for the coal worked..above the certain quantity.
1901Daily Chron. 17 July 5/2 One *ten-team of one N.C. officer of any rank and nine lance-corporals or privates from any regiment, battalion, or depot.
1883Harper's Mag. Aug. 442/2 Some of the rated *ten-tonners were..over twenty-two tons in displacement.
1844Stephens Bk. Farm II. 536 The wheels..are *ten-toothed.
1867Emerson May-Day 86 Speaking by the tongues of flowers, By the *ten-tongued laurel speaking.
1904Westm. Gaz. 28 Dec. 3/2 Powerful *ten-wheeled tank engines.
1904Ibid. 29 Jan. 5/1 This mammoth *ten-wheeler cost {pstlg}5,000.
2. Special combinations and collocations: ten-code, a code of signals (all beginning with the number ten) originally used in radio communication by police in the U.S. and later adopted by Citizens' Band radio operators; ten-eighty (more commonly1080) [see quot. 1945], a formation of sodium fluoroacetate used as a poison against predatory animals; ten-finger, a species of star-fish: cf. five-finger 2; ten-foot a., measuring, or having, ten feet; fig. phr. ten feet tall used contextually to convey extreme self-assurance or pride; ten-foot coal, a thick seam in Yorkshire; ten-foot rod, a levelling-pole; ten-four, 10-4 int., in the ten-code (see above), the code phrase for ‘message received’; used loosely as an expression of affirmation; also as v. intr.; ten-gallon a., that can contain ten gallons; ten-gallon hat, sombrero, a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat of a kind esp. worn in the south-western U.S. (cf. Stetson); ten-gauge a., having a calibre such that ten balls of matching size weigh one pound; also ellipt. for ten-gauge shotgun; ten-hours act, a law limiting the hours of work in factories; spec. the popular name of the Act 10 & 11 Vict., c. 29; so, in U.S.A., ten-hour law (Cent. Dict. 1891); ten-inch a., measuring ten inches; spec. designating a 78 r.p.m. coarse-groove gramophone record having this diameter; also ellipt. = seventy-eight s.v. seventy a. 2 b; ten-minute rule (also ten minutes rule), a standing order of the House of Commons allowing brief discussion of a motion for leave to introduce a bill, each speech being limited to ten minutes' duration; ten o'clock, (a) an American name for Ornithogalum umbellatum, the flowers of which open late in the morning (Cent. Dict. 1891); (b) a name for Portulaca grandiflora, a subtropical annual herb whose flowers open late in the morning; (c) a light meal taken at ten o'clock; ten per center U.S. Theatr. slang, a theatrical agent (so called from the ten per cent commission that an agent takes); ten-pointer, a stag having antlers with ten points; a ‘hart of ten’; ten-pound a., of or involving the amount or value of ten pounds; also, weighing ten pounds; spec. ten-pound land (Sc.), land of the annual value of ten pounds; ten-pound householder, = ten-pounder 2 b; ten signal U.S., any of the signals that form part of the ten-code (see above); ten-speed, a multiple-speed set of gears on a vehicle, esp. a bicycle; freq. attrib.; ten-spot a., having ten spots, as ‘ten-spot ladybird’, Coccinella decem-punctata; n. (U.S.), a ten-dollar ‘bill’; also, a playing-card, = ten n. 4; ten-strike, in the game of ten-pins, a throw which bowls over all the pins; hence fig., spec. a success, esp. in phr. to make a ten-strike, to score a success (U.S. colloq.); ten tenth(s) attrib. (orig. Meteorol.), complete, one hundred per cent; ten-to-two, a position of the hands or feet resembling that of the hands of a clock at ten minutes to two, esp. a position of the hands on the steering-wheel of a car; freq. attrib.; ten-week stock, Matthiola annua, said to continue ten weeks in flower; ten-yard coal, a very thick seam of coal near Dudley; ten-year a., of ten years' duration or standing, as ten-year-old, also as n.; spec. ten-year-man, at Cambridge University: see quot. 1903. See also tenpenny, ten-pins, etc.
1969T. E. Drabnek Lab. Simulation Police Communications Syst. under Stress 135 Above code corresponds to the ‘*Ten-Code System’ used by many police agencies. 1976CB Mag. June 67/2 Well, it really grabbed me, all this ‘good buddy’ stuff, the ten-code. 1977Rolling Stone 13 Jan. 45/3 Get a CB and take on a persona, use the 10 code and all the language, and be anybody you want to be.
1945Science 31 Aug. 232 (heading) ‘*Ten-eighty’, a war-produced rodenticide. Ibid., One, commonly referred to under its laboratory serial number, ‘1080’,..has been subjected to sufficiently adequate field-testing to warrant the assertion that a promising new rodenticide has been discovered. 1961New Scientist 13 Apr. 17/1 About one and a half grains of ‘ten-eighty’ are dissolved in a little water and injected into 100 lb of meat. 1971W. Hillen Blackwater River xii. 117 Then Compound 1080 (ten-eighty)..reached British Columbia and created a ‘predator control’ bureaucracy more difficult to eliminate than wolves.
1701Moxon Math. Instr. 19 *Ten foot Rods, See Station-staffs. 1793A. Seward Lett. (1811) III. 322 The iambic accent, unmixed with the trochaic, especially in the ten-feet couplet. 1834–5J. Phillips Man. Geol. (1855) 190 The thickest coal in the district,..that called the thick or ten-foot coal in Yorkshire.
[1955(television film title) The man is *10 feet tall.] 1962M. Hastings Yes, & After ii. i. 72 You must always be ten feet tall imagining yourself doing this or doing that. 1964D. Francis Nerve xvii. 237 It made me feel warm inside... I felt ten feet tall. 1970A. Draper Swansong for Rare Bird i. 11, I must say I felt 10 feet tall and there was a soppy grin on my face.
1962Amer. Speech XXXVII. 272 *Ten-four (verb), to understand a message. From the radio code 10-4, meaning ‘I receive you clearly’. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 30 Oct. 5/1 Judge Floyd Smith, a CB operator himself, went by the ‘handle’ of ‘Marryin' Sam’, the bride was ‘Little Lulu’, and the groom was ‘Stanley Steamer’. They didn't say ‘I do’; they said ‘10-4’. And the judge didn't pronounce them man and wife; he said, ‘Put the hammer down.’ 1978N.Y. Times Mag. 23 July 23/2 The CB'ers have a language that's 10-4 with them.
1841C. Gray Lays & Lyrics 241 This song was written on the presentation of a *Ten-Gallon China Punch-Bowl{ddd}to the Club. 1922Joyce Ulysses 303 Hard by the block stood the grim figure of the executioner, his visage being concealed in a tengallon pot with two circular perforated apertures. 1928Daily Express 7 Oct. 3/7 She instinctively recognized that he was a cowboy, even though he did not wear a ten-gallon hat and a jacket embroidered with Mexican dollars. 1929T. Wolfe Look homeward, Angel (1930) xxvii. 374 He removed from his head the ten-gallon grey sombrero. 1939Amer. Speech XIV. 201/1 In the nomenclature of the South-western cowboy, sombrero is used interchangeably for hat, but the qualifying phrase of ‘ten gallon’ has been arrived at by a mistaken translation of a Spanish word. The word ‘gallon’..served to describe the braid with which a vaquero's hat was trimmed..it should have been ‘galloon’. 1977C. McCullough Thorn Birds xiv. 331 Only the handful of half-caste aborigines..aped the cowboys of the American West, in high-heeled fancy boots and ten-gallon Stetsons.
1894Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 443/1 A couple of *ten-gauge breech-loaders. 1936J. Steinbeck In Dubious Battle v. 70 ‘Shot-guns,’ he said... ‘Soon's somebody sounds off with a ten-gauge, they go for the brush like rabbits.’ 1940W. Faulkner Hamlet iii. 194 Looking..into the face which with his own was wedded and twinned forever now by the explosion of that ten-gauge shell.
1908Sears, Roebuck Catal. 201/2 Disc Record Cases... No. 2 holds 50 *10-inch disc records. 1959Manch. Guardian 11 Aug. 5/7 Beecham (whose reading has just reappeared on a Fontana ten-inch, KFR 4003). 1979Listener 4 Oct. 461/3 Nearly all the 23 Gillespie tracks..were originally marketed on ten-inch, 78 rpm discs.
1908A. E. Steinthal tr. J. Redlich's Procedure House of Commons III. ii. x. i. 86 Under a standing order passed in 1888, popularly known as the ‘*ten minutes rule’ (Standing Order 11) an abbreviated mode of procedure is authorised for the introduction of bills. 1971Hindell & Simms Abortion Law Reformed xi. 232 Ten minute rule bills can be brought before the House with a short speech each Tuesday and Wednesday after question time, but if the House agrees to the introduction of such a bill all further progress to a second reading and beyond depends, in practice, on the Government..giving it parliamentary time.
1826W. Darlington Flora Cestrica 40 Ornithogalum..umbellatum... *Ten o'clock. Twelve o'clock. Star of Bethlehem. 1838Howitt Rur. Life I. ii. iii. 161 Betty mean-time has put up their ‘luncheons’ or ‘*ten-o'clocks’. 1953Caribbean Q. III. i. 10 Ten o'clock is a kind of portulaca which blooms in mid morning.
1926Variety 29 Dec. xi. 5/4 Broadway chatter is full of theatrical cracks such as..‘*ten per center’. 1962Punch 26 Dec. 920/1 A condition of the licence being granted is that the applicant advertises for two weeks in The Stage, stating his intention of joining the ten-percenters.
1883E. L. Peel in Longm. Mag. Nov. 72 We had..stalked and slain a fine *ten-pointer upon the Caenlochan marches.
1673S'too him Bayes 5 You..would have lost your *ten pound wager. 1845Disraeli Sybil ii. vi, It is a great thing in these ten-pound [franchise] days to win your first contest. 1855J. R. Leifchild Cornwall Mines 263 Send the author a ten-pound-note for his advice—good in either event! 1863H. Cox Instit. i. viii. 106 A new uniform qualification [to vote]..frequently designated that of the ‘ten-pounds householders’. 1890Cent. Dict. s.v. Pound, Ten-pound Act, a statute of the colony of New York (1769) giving to justices of the peace and other local magistrates jurisdiction of civil cases involving not more than the sum named.
1951Directory Nat. Police Communications Network (ed. 6) 19 The ‘*10’ signals were developed by A.P.C.O...and the system has been widely adopted. 1970V. A. Leonard Police Communications Syst. ii. 34 APCO's Project Series Foundation has produced four nationally recognized projects:..the publication of the APCO Ten Signal Cards.
1971M. Tak Truck Talk 165 *Ten-speed, a ten-speed Roadranger transmission. 1977C. McFadden Serial (1978) i. 8/2 They spent it rapidly on..twin Motobecane ten-speeds. 1977New Yorker 9 May 34/1 The owner of a ten-speed model asked her why.
1844‘J. Slick’ High Life N.Y. II. 215 ‘Jest so,’ sez I, a flingin' down the *ten-spot o' clubs. 1848‘N. Buntline’ Mysteries & Miseries N.Y. iv. iii. 27 Be quick, and I'll give you a ten spot! 1888Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 6 Nov. 2/3 The point was seen at once, and the ‘ten spot’ was forthcoming. c1895Thompson St. Poker Club 65 The Rev. Mr. Smith dealt Mr. Williams two cards,..helped himself to the last ten-spot remaining in the pack. 1936E. Culbertson Contract Bridge Complete 21 Any six-card suit, even without a ten-spot, is a biddable suit. 1971B. Malamud Tenants 153 Hi, sugar, I took a ten-spot out of your loose change.
1840Spirit of Times 11 July 228/1 [This] he says is an extra touch—a *ten strike and two spare balls. 1850Hawthorne in Bridge Pers. Recollect. (1893) 111, I may calculate on what bowlers call a ten-strike. 1887Scribner's Mag. May 624/1 But I have got the family to consider, and I am in a position now where I can make a ten-strike for it. 1889Farmer Dict. Amer., Ten-strike, where..all the men are bowled over at one throw... Hence..a fortunate occurrence: a thoroughly well done and complete work. 1900G. Ade Fables in Slang 72 He could tell by the Scared Look of the People in Front that he had made a Ten-Strike. 1949E. Pound Pisan Cantos lxxxiii. 124 It comes over me that Mr. Walls must be a ten-strike With the signorinas.
[1945Meteorol. Office Air Obs. Handbk. 34 In estimating the amount of cloud the observer should aim to give the fraction (in tenths) of sky covered by cloud.] 1948Daily Tel. 23 Apr. 6/6 There was *ten-tenth cloud at the time. 1973‘A. Hall’ Tango Briefing ix. 114 There was a ten-tenths flap on in London so they'd have alerted the whole network. 1977C. Forbes Avalanche Express xviii. 186 One moment he had ten-tenths vision, the next second he was blind. 1979D. Brierley Cold War vii. 57 There was ten-tenths cloud cover, the clouds coming from the north-east..like billowing poison gas.
1961C. H. D. Todd Pop. Whippet iv. 68 It stands with its feet at ‘*ten to two’. 1962Which? Car Suppl. Apr. 55/2 The steering wheel was..rather high. This made a ‘ten-to-two’ hand position uncomfortable after a time. 1974Drive Autumn 26/2 We found the square wheel made it difficult for drivers to hold the rim in the ten-to-two position they are taught to adopt.
1785Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxiii. (1794) 323 The Annual or *Ten-week Stock differs in having an herbaceous stalk. 1909Daily Chron. 20 Mar. 7/6 A well-grown aster or ten-week stock is a beautiful object in itself.
1834–5J. Phillips Geol. in Encycl. Metrop. VI. 594/2 The upper part of the *ten-yard coal separates from the rest of the beds. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 980 The very remarkable seam near the town of Dudley, known by the name of the ten-yard coal, about 7 miles long, and 4 broad.
1693G. Stepney in Dryden's Juvenal viii. (1697) 216 Courage to sustain a *Ten Years War. 1813Gentl. Mag. LXXXIII. ii. 530. 1816 Ibid. LXXXVI. i. 200/1 A query respecting the Ten-Year-Men at Cambridge.
1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xxx, Ever since he had first played the *ten-year-old imps in the Christmas pantomimes. 1868Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 443 The average yield for a three-year old vine is one peck;..full grown, ten-year old vine, twenty-five bushels. 1895Westm. Gaz. 17 July 8/1 What terrible tyrants these ten-year-olds are! 1900Ibid. 7 Mar. 7/1 What the terms of the new war loan for thirty millions in ten-year bonds will be, or ought to be. 1903Daily Chron. 4 Feb. 5/1 The Ten Year man..being over twenty-four years of age, was admitted, and after keeping his name on the boards of a college for ten years was allowed to proceed B.D. on payment of certain fees. 1906Ibid. 18 Aug. 4/4 An average of 11.4 in the previous ten-year period.
▪ II. ten
obs. form of tee v.1, teen n.1
▪ III. † ten
obs. variant of tenné, Her.
1677Plot Oxfordsh. To Rdr. b ij b, If ever hereafter I shall meet with any bearing Purpure, Ten, or Sanguine;..Ten [shall be represented] with lines salter-ways, mixt of Vert and Purpure. |