ten
nounEtymology PIE word *déḱm̥ From Middle English ten, tene, from Old English tīen, from Proto-West Germanic *tehun, from Proto-Germanic *tehun, from Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥. Cognate with Scots ten, tene (“ten”), West Frisian tsien (“ten”), Saterland Frisian tjoon (“ten”), North Frisian tiin (“ten”). See also teen.
7 senses
- 1A set or group with ten elements.
- 2An inexact quantity, typically understood to be between…
- 3A card in a given suit with a value of ten.
- 4A denomination of currency, such as a banknote, with a…
- 5A perfect specimen, (particularly) a physically…
- 6A high level of intensity.
- 7The act of rowing ten strokes flat out.
1
A set or group with ten elements.
- We divided the chocolates into tens to hand out to Hallowe'en visitors.
- They can readily state the number of tens in a hundred. But somehow they do not have a full appreciation of the "tenness" of our system and how the system is structured.1958 May 23, Carolyn J. Ingham, Joseph N. Payne, “An eighth-grade unit on number systems”, in The Mathematics Teacher, volume 51, number 5, page 392:
1 more example
- Understanding that numbers are composed of tens and ones is an important foundational concept, setting the stage for work with larger numbers.(Can we date this quote?), “What is a Ten Frame and why is it a useful tool for developing early number relationships and fact fluency?”, in Rhodes University, page 1:
2
In plural An inexact quantity, typically understood to be between 20 and 100.
- Our houses are tens of meters apart, so we don't have to worry about noise from our neighbours.
- tens of thousands of voters
1 more example
- No trees have grown on the windswept Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean for tens of thousands of years — just shrubs and other low-lying vegetation. That’s why a recent arboreal discovery nearly 20 feet (6 meters) beneath the ground caught researchers’ attention.2024 September 27, Katie Hunt, “Scientists discover hidden ancient forest on treeless island”, in CNN:
3
Card games, Games A card in a given suit with a value of ten.
4
A denomination of currency, such as a banknote, with a value of ten units.
- Can you give me two tens for this twenty?
- I was in the Woodley Park–Zoo in D.C. and mom and sister were waiting to see the pandas, so me and my pops broke away to check out the monkey house. Well, there was a beautiful teacher, I mean we're talking a ten, she was blond, had a low-cut dress on, just gorgeous. And she has about eight or nine students and she's pointing out all the different monkeys. And me and my dad noticed this huge orangutan kind of fiddling with himself. And on close [censored] And we kept checking it out and he was looking directly at the teacher. Well, a couple minutes passed by [censored] he proceeds to [censored] that's when the teacher noticed and, you know, took the kids away very hurriedly. But I looked at my dad and said, you know, they're so much like us.2006 May 9, Penn Jillette, Michael Goudeau, quoting Chris, 22:22 from the start, in Penn Radio:
- An Office Ten is a person who falls somewhere between average to mildly good-looking in the world at large but skyrockets to wildly attractive within the confines of an open-concept desk plan.2023 September 11, Danielle Cohen, “Why Am I Attracted to My Coworker? Meet ‘The Office Ten’”, in New York Magazine:
- "Intensities in 10 Cities"1981 March 2, Intensities in 10 Cities, performed by Ted Nugent:
- ... Marty Di Bergi (Rob Reiner): "Why don't you just make ten louder, and make ten be the top number?" Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest): "These go to eleven."1984 March 2, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner (writers), This is Spinal Tap:
1 more example
- ... Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers): "You guys kick ass. You're Double Live Gonzo. Intensities in 10 Cities. Live at Budokan."1992 February 14, Mike Myers, Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, Wayne's World (film):
- At the 1,000-metres post we gave a ten, which raised our lead to 1⅔ lengths; the Belgians were rowing hard, but one felt that they still had plenty of spurting power.1911, The Cambridge Review, volume 32, page 486:
- Morris gave a ten, and an unbelievable surge ran through the boat, one that I had never felt before.1982, Stanley French, Aspects of Downing history, page 105:
- Derived terms
103 terms
a hundred and ten percent, at ten and two, Bayard of ten toes, card of ten, catch the ten, count to ten, feel ten feet tall, five-and-ten, five and ten, five will get you ten, four score and ten, grade ten, handbags at ten paces, hang ten, high ten, nine times out of ten, not touch something with a ten-foot pole, not touch with a ten-foot pole, number ten, starter for ten, take ten, teenty, ten a penny, ten-bagger, ten bagger, ten-ball, ten-cent, ten-cent store, ten-cent tour, ten-cent word, ten-code, Ten Commandments, tenday, ten-dollar word, ten-eighty, tenfoot, ten foot, ten-footer, ten foot pole, ten-for, ten-four, ten-gallon hat, ten-hut, ten-in-one, tenish, tenkey, ten-lined June beetle, tenmantale, Ten Mile Bank, Ten Mile Hollow, ten million, tenner, tenness, ten o'clock, tenpence, tenpenny, ten-penny nail, ten penny nail, ten-percenter, tenpercentery, ten piece, tenpins, ten-pin, ten-pin bowling, tenplex, ten points from Gryffindor, ten points to Gryffindor, ten-pounder, tenpounder, ten pound pom, ten pound Pom, ten-pound tourist, ten pound tourist, ten sack, tens across the board, tenscore, ten-second car, ten-second rule, ten-shun, tensies, tensomething, ten-speed, ten-spot, ten-strike, ten-strip, ten-tenths, ten thousand, ten-thousandth, ten toes, ten toes down, ten to one, ten to the dozen, ten ways from Sunday, ten ways to Sunday, ten-wheeler, ten will get you twenty, ten-year series, three score and ten, top ten, two and ten, two upon ten, upper ten, upper ten thousand- Related terms
- tenfold, tenth, deca-, deka-, decadal, decenary, decimate, decimal, decaplet, decuplet, decimestrial, decade and decennium, decadal and decennial, decennial, decemvirate, decener, tithingman, tithe