n. & adj.
n. 1 one more than four or one half of ten; the sum of three units and two units. 2 a symbol for this (5, v, V). 3 a size etc. denoted by five. 4 a set or team of five individuals. 5 the time of five o'clock (is it five yet?). 6 a card with five pips. 7 Cricket a hit scoring five runs.
adj. that amount to five. bunch of fives Brit. sl. a hand or fist. five-corner (or -corners) Austral. 1 a shrub of the genus Styphelia. 2 the pentagonal fruit of this. five-eighth Austral. & NZ Rugby Football either of two players between the scrum-half and the centre three-quarter. five-finger exercise 1 an exercise on the piano involving all the fingers. 2 an easy task. five hundred a form of euchre in which 500 points make a game. five o'clock shadow beard-growth visible on a man's face in the latter part of the day. five-star of the highest class. five-year plan 1 (in the USSR) a government plan for economic development over five years, inaugurated in 1928. 2 a similar plan in another country.
[ OE fif f. Gmc ]