number

Noun (1)

number (countable and uncountable, plural numbers)

1. Quantity of countable things.
   • Any number of people can be reading from a given repository at a time.
   • There are, in addition to all the red socks, a number that don’t suit me either.
2. (countable) An abstract entity used to describe quantity.
   • Zero, one, −1, 2.5, and pi are all numbers.
3. (countable) A numeral: a symbol for a non-negative integer.
   • The number 8 is usually made with a single stroke.
   • The former FBI director James Comey has said it did not occur to him that that the numbers 8647 – which he spotted spelled out in seashells on a beach, and posted on social media – could be interpreted as a call to assassinate the president, as many supporters of Donald Trump have claimed.2025 May 16, Edward Helmore, “What does ‘8647’ really mean? Not what Trump’s supporters are saying”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms:

   scalar, rime

4. (countable) An element of one of several sets: natural numbers, integers, rational numbers, real numbers, complex numbers, and sometimes extensions such as hypercomplex numbers, etc.
   • The equation e#123;i#92;pi#125;#43;1#61;0 includes the most important numbers: 1, 0, #92;pi, i, and e.
5. (attributive, Followed by a numeral) Indicating the position of something in a list or sequence. Abbreviations: No or No., no or no. (in each case, sometimes written with a superscript "o", like Nº or №). The symbol "#" is also used in this manner.
   • Horse number 5 won the race.
6. A sequence of digits and letters used to register people, automobiles, and various other items.
   • Her passport number is C01X864TN.
   • You can take the number 8 (bus) all the way to the airport.
7. (countable, informal) A telephone number.
   • Let's give her a call. Do you have her number handy?
   • I'm definitely interested. Here's my number. Call me back anytime.
8. Of a word or phrase, the state of being singular, dual or plural, shown by inflection.
   • Adjectives and nouns should agree in gender, number, and case.
9. (archaic, in plural) Poetic metres; verses, rhymes.
   • Griefe brought to numbers cannot be ſo fierce, / For, he tames it, that fetters it in verſe.a. 1631 (date written), J[ohn] Donne, “The Triple Foole”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC, page 204
   • As yet a Child, nor yet a Fool to Fame, / I liſp'd in Numbers, for the Numbers came.1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 7, lines 124–125
10. (countable) A performance; especially, a single song or song and dance routine within a larger show.
    • For his second number, he sang "The Moon Shines Bright".
11. (formal, singular, singular-only) A group of people.
    • I include myself in their number.
    • As an association, we demonstrate near-Olympic sang-froid. As I write, the gods are smiling upon us, but in the past decade – not to mince words – two of our number have got divorced, one of us checked into rehab, and all of us have had distressful troubles with teenage kids.2020 August 22, Robert McCrum, “For ever and a day: why we turn to Shakespeare at times of crisis”, in The Observer
12. (countable, informal) A person.
    • I laughed. "Don't doubt that. She's a saucy little number."1968, Janet Burroway, The dancer from the dance: a novel,, Little, Brown, page 40
    • "Signorina Jessica," says the maid, a saucy little number, "your father has gone to his prayers and demands that you come to the synagogue at once [...]"1988, Erica Jong, Serenissima,, Dell, page 214

Verb

number (third-person singular simple present numbers, present participle numbering, simple past and past participle numbered)

1. (intransitive) To total or count; to amount to.
   • I don’t know how many books are in the library, but they must number in the thousands.
   • Do they number in the hundreds, do they number in the thousands? Do they number in the tens of thousand?1977, United States Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Crime, Federal Role in Criminal Justice and Crime Research, page 107
2. (transitive, passive voice) To limit to a certain number; to reckon (as by fate) to be few in number.
   • The old man knew that his days were numbered.
   • THE DAYS OF ENGLAND NOT “NUMBERED.” REPLY TO SIR ARCHIBALD ALISON.1867, The Days of England Not “numbered”: Reply to Sir Archibald Alison, page 1
3. (archaic, literary, transitive) To count; to determine the quantity of.
   • The king ordered that all his subjects be numbered.
   • Who can number all the stars and who can count the desert sands?
4. (transitive) To label (items) with numbers; to assign numbers to (items).
   • Number the baskets so that we can find them easily.
   • “Public Health Service Numbered Publications – A Catalog, 1950-1962” and contains those numbered publications issued during the period 1963-64.1964, Education U.S. Department of Health (and Welfare), United States. Public Health Service, Public Health Service Numbered Publications: Supplement
5. (transitive) To call out and assign a series of numbers (usually to people), either for the sake of dividing into groups or for counting.
   • Shelley numbered off the group into two teams for the baseball game.
   • I counted them and numbered them off, and I found about three hundred and seventy or three hundred and seventy-five.1870, USA House of Representatives, House Documents, page 532
6. (transitive) To enumerate or list, especially while assigning numbers to.
   • I numbered them off on my fingers as I stated them. “First, I would redeem a small amount of my investment assets to pay off the cleared lot and come up with a down payment for the ten acres. Second, I would seek to obtain an open[…]2019 January 11, Mark G. Turner, We Both Shall Row, My Love And I, FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 367
7. (transitive, usually) To classify or include (in a group of things).
   • Alexander the Great's army numbered an elite cavalry among its ranks.
   • We fools counted their life madness, and their end to be without honour: how are they numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the Saints!1839, Saint Cyprian (Bishop of Carthage.), The Treatises of S. Caecilius Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, and Martyr, page 298
8. (intransitive, usually) To be classified or included (in a certain group or category of things).
   • Her horses number among the fastest in her country.
   • They number among our best people, particularly when we realise that they are models for what the rest of us might also achieve.2010 September 3, Catherine Tizard, Cat Among the Pigeons: A Memoir, Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited, →ISBN

Noun (2)

UK/ˈnʌmə/US/ˈnʌmɚ/

number (plural numbers)

1. Something that numbs.