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fifth (iou)



fifth adjective, noun, & adverb (ordinal numeral).
[Old English fifta = Old Frisian fifta, Old Saxon fifto (Dutch vijfde), Old High German fimfto (German funfte), Old Norse fimti, from Germanic from Indo-European, whence also Latin quintus, Greek pemptos: see -TH2.]
A. adjective. Next in order after the fourth, that is number five in a series, (represented by 5th). OE.
fifth column [translating Spanish quinta columna] Hist. an extra body of supporters claimed by General Mola as being within Madrid when he besieged the city with four columns of Nationalist forces in 1936; gen. an organized body sympathizing with and working for the enemy within a country at war etc. fifth columnist a member of a fifth column, a traitor, a spy. fifth gear the fifth in a sequence of forward gears in a motor vehicle, bicycle, etc. fifth-generation adjective (of a computer) belonging to a proposed new class of computer employing artificial intelligence. Fifth Monarchy the last of the five great empires referred to in the prophecy of Daniel (Daniel 2:44); Fifth-Monarchy-man, a member of a 17th-cent. sect who expected the immediate coming of Christ and advocated the repudiation of all other government and the establishment of his reign by force. fifth part arch. = sense B.2 below. fifth position Ballet the position, esp. when starting or finishing a step, in which the feet are placed turned outwards one immediately in front of but touching the other, so that the toe of the back foot just protrudes beyond the heel of the front foot; the corresponding position of the arms. fifth wheel (a) the extra wheel of a coach; (b) the horizontal turntable over the front axle of a carriage etc. as an extra support to prevent its tipping; (c) colloq. a superfluous person or thing. smite under the fifth rib arch. strike to the heart, kill. take the Fifth (Amendment) US appeal to Article V of the ten original amendments (1791) to the Constitution of the US, which states that 'no person..shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself'; (in extended use) decline to incriminate oneself.
W. Cowper Just made fifth chaplain of his patron lord.
b. noun.
The fifth person or thing of a category, series, etc., identified contextually, as day of the month, (following a proper name) person, esp. monarch or pope, of the specified name, forward gear, etc. OE.
Shelley Each fifth shall give The expiation for his brethren here. W. Robertson The spoil..after setting apart the king's fifth, was divided.
Music. An interval embracing five consecutive notes in the diatonic scale; a note a fifth above another given note; a chord of two notes a fifth apart. LME.
Each of five equal parts into which something is or may be divided, a fraction which when multiplied by five gives one, (= fifth part above). M16.
In pl. Articles of the fifth degree in quality; fifth-rate material. L19.
(A bottle containing) a fifth of a gallon of liquor. US colloq. M20.
Comb.: Forming compound ordinal numerals with multiples of ten, as forty-fifth (45th), five-thousand-and-fifth (5005th), etc.
C. adverb. Fifthly. E16.
fifthly adverb in the fifth place E16.