ninern.
/ˈnʌɪnə/, U.S. /ˈnaɪnər/ 1. A person or thing distinguished by the number nine.Quots. illustrate various senses, as a criminal sentenced to nine years' imprisonment, a ninth anniversary, a keg containing nine gallons of beer (Australian), etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > prisoner > [noun] > sentenced to specific number of years
sevener1847
niner1897
1897 ‘P. Warung’ Tales Old Regime 219 Pedder was a ‘sevener’, Blake was a ‘niner’.
1927 Granta 28 Oct. 58/2 To-day I kept a niner [sc. attendance at College Chapel].
1965 G. McInnes Road to Gundagai x. 185 We anchored..to get out the ‘niner’ and booze between races.
1980 H. Stephenson Cattlemen & Huts High Plains 336 W'jer 'appen to 'ave a niner?
1995 Interzone June 48/2 For days a niner had been scurrying in from the Getz ice sheets, but now a repose had settled over the straits.
2. Nautical. A senior naval cadet on the training ship Britannia. rare. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > hostilities at sea > seafaring warrior or naval man > leader or commander > [noun] > naval officer > naval cadet
new1909
niner1914
1914 ‘Bartimeus’ Naval Occasions ix. 63 Jerry had to submit to strange indignities and stranger torments at the hands of Olympian ‘Niners’ (Fourth-term Cadets).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1897