numerativeadj.n.

1788 T. Taylor Diss. Platonic Doctr. Ideas in tr. Proclus Philos. & Math. Comm. I. p. xvii The numerative soul..gives form and subsistence to all her inherent numbers.

1845 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Feb. 114/1 What new system of numerative process shall tell the amount of British National Debt?

1870 Rep. U.S. Commissioners Paris Universal Expos. 1867 479 The following selections will show more clearly the numerical value of each letter, and the extent to which this numerative system may be carried.

1889 R. K. Douglas Chinese Man. 40 The indefinite article is, when necessary, expressed by the first numeral.., with, in the case of persons or things, a numerative noun interposed between it and the substantive.

1945 Q. Jrnl. Econ. 59 321 On the contrary, ‘abstract,’ ‘numerative’ concepts (i.e. point, line, triangle, free motion), originate the ‘mathematical sciences’.

1983 Amer. Banker (Nexis) 16 Mar. 4 The numerative, rationalist approach tends to dominate the business schools and management thought.

1863 J. Summers Handbk. Chinese 47 Under the appositional relation we must also consider the very large class of nouns formed by the use of what have been called numeratives or classifiers... The Chinese, in conversation, extend the use of such words to every object; they say..‘one handle fan’ for a fan, ‘one length road’ for a road.

1889 R. K. Douglas Chinese Man. 64 These numeratives correspond to a certain extent to the use of such words as ‘head’, ‘sail’.

1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. xvi. 266 As an ordinary numerative it [sc. one] occurs with the definite determiners (the one man, this one book, my one friend).

1966 N. Waterson in C. E. Bazell In Memory of J. R. Firth 471 The wide use of a large number of numeratives in Uzbek made the writer wonder whether numeratives are not in fact more widely used in Turkic languages than is generally acknowledged.

1976 Archivum Linguisticum 7 99 ‘Giraffe’ is not plural in form though it is preceded by a numerative greater than one.