Meaning of five in English:

cardinal number

• 1

  (also v, V)

  Equivalent to the sum of two and three; one more than four, or half of ten; 5.

  ‘five minutes later she came back’

  ‘five of Sweden's top financial experts’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The sum of money is the equivalent of four or five month's wages for a fisherman in the area.’
  • ‘Now there were just four points between the teams with five minutes of the half remaining.’
  • ‘Bring to a full rolling boil, add the knob of butter and boil rapidly for four to five minutes, until setting point is reached.’
  • ‘He was also critical of a proposal to make many timetabled journeys to London four to five minutes longer.’
  • ‘Warm over a low heat for four to five minutes, until the dates are softened.’
  • ‘Half an hour is five minutes longer than it used to take from the flat.’
  • ‘The five minutes at the end of the first half were the five minutes which separated the teams.’
  • ‘The referee had to add on over five minutes in each half to allow for balls to be retrieved.’
  • ‘Mark now stretches out four or five days a week for up to half an hour each day.’
  • ‘Our masterpiece must be no longer than five minutes, no shorter than four.’
  • ‘He was wearing a white hooded top with red writing across the chest and a number five on the back.’
  • ‘She told me there was a man in unit five that she was looking for.’
  • ‘However, she was admitted, given five more units of blood, and kept in to await a vacancy in the hospice.’
  • ‘The application was for nine town houses, a restaurant, five shop units and flats above the shops.’
  • ‘Young drivers are set to increase in number over the next five years.’
  • ‘New magazines and newspaper supplements devoted to design have risen in number in the last five years.’
  • ‘The running of the number five service will be altered to ensure the new 17 bus can run to timetable.’
  • ‘I have five players under the age of 20 and it's extremely difficult for them.’
  • ‘There are more than five people of working age to every pensioner in Ireland.’
  • ‘However old you are, every woman needs five fashion garments to form the basis of her wardrobe.’

  1. 1.1A group or unit of five people or things.
     ‘the bulbs are planted in threes or fives’
     More example sentences

     • ‘It has taken me since forever to spot the next five of my consecutive number plates.’
     • ‘The other five slept on a bunk bed, the old couple down and the other three up.’
     • ‘Some were still in packages of fives and 10s.’
     • ‘Do any of my readers know what the nurse meant by twos and fives?’
     Synonyms

     quintet, quintuplets

     View synonyms
  2. 1.2Five years old.
     ‘Vic moved to Darlington when he was five’
     More example sentences

     • ‘He became his father's disciple at the age of five and gained dexterity in playing the instrument.’
     • ‘He has been wooing audiences with his musical ability ever since his first performance at the age of five.’
     • ‘Dancers aged from five to adults will perform their own version of the Tchaikovsky classic and also a mix of tap and modern dance.’
     • ‘The artist, inspired by her grandmother to take up a needle and thread at the age of five, is determined it does not become a dying art.’
     • ‘The nursery started with just six babies and now some ten staff look after around 30 local children up to the age of five.’
     • ‘Singing is a statutory requirement of the music national curriculum from the age of five, but it ends at 14.’
     • ‘Born in Irvine, she left Scotland with her family at the age of five because there were no job opportunities for her father.’
     • ‘From the age of five, she would drop off during trips to the cinema.’
     • ‘Mariam had become blind at the age of five as a result of measles.’
     • ‘More than half the children were still-born; most others died before they reached the age of five.’
     • ‘Most of the students range in age from five to 17 and they all played with great confidence.’
     • ‘There are also separate morning and afternoon sessions for children aged between five and 14.’
     • ‘A little girl who suffered a form of stroke at the age of five has been allowed home to start the New Year with her family.’
     • ‘The audience shivered but not the children, whose ages ranged from five to 11.’
     • ‘Poverty has also caused a drastic increase in the number of neglected children under the age of five.’
     • ‘Families with children aged five to 13 are now being contacted through churches and schools.’
     • ‘Born in Croydon in 1931, Brian knew he would be a writer from the age of five.’
     • ‘Sitting on a picnic table was a beautiful little girl of maybe five or six.’
     • ‘Suddenly she felt a small tug on her cloak, a child about five or six stood staring up at her.’
     • ‘One day when he was about five and I was six or seven, we took a walk to the park by ourselves.’
  3. 1.3Five o'clock.
     ‘we left at half past five’
     More example sentences

     • ‘When the taxi dropped me home it was ten past five in the morning.’
     • ‘Never have they sounded as good as they sounded at five past five on Monday afternoon.’
     • ‘I would guess it was about five or six in the evening before we arrived at the outskirts.’
  4. 1.4A size of garment or other merchandise denoted by five.
     ‘Her size five Wellingtons, mac and hat were in the hall as if waiting for her to put them on.’
  5. 1.5A playing card or domino with five pips.
     More example sentences

     • ‘There are eight players and fives and spades are trumps.’
     • ‘When fours are trumps, threes and fives become consecutive.’
     • ‘The object of the play is to win tricks containing counting cards, that is kings, tens and fives.’
     • ‘But you bet, and you're called, and you lose to one of the perpetual callers who flips over 5-6 for a weak two-pair win of fives and fours.’
     • ‘But when following suit the 6-5 can be used to follow to a lead of either sixes or fives.’
     • ‘Both players tie in sixes and fives, the former has a 4 and the latter does not.’
     • ‘There are 7 suits: blanks, ones, twos, threes, fours, fives and sixes.’
     • ‘If the second player drops another five on top, she scores a Soda, too.’