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forty

 - 3 dictionary results

for⋅ty

[fawr-tee] noun, plural -ties, adjective
–noun
1. a cardinal number, ten times four.
2. a symbol for this number, as 40 or XL or XXXX.
3. a set of this many persons or things.
4. forties, the numbers, years, degrees, or the like, from 40 through 49, as in referring to numbered streets, indicating the years of a lifetime or of a century, or degrees of temperature: His office is in the West Forties. Her parents are in their forties. The temperature will be in the forties.
–adjective
5. amounting to 40 in number.

Origin:
bef. 950; ME fourti, OE fēowertig (c. OFris fiuwertich, OHG fiorzug, G vierzig). See four, -ty 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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for·ty   (fôr'tē)   
n.   pl. for·ties
  1. The cardinal number equal to 4 × 10.

  2. forties

    1. A decade or the numbers from 40 to 49: They stopped smoking in their forties. At night the temperature fell into the forties.

    2. often Forties The decade from 40 to 49 in a century.


[Middle English, from Old English fēowertig; see kwetwer- in Indo-European roots.]
for'ty adj. & pron.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

forty 
O.E. feowertig, from feower "four" + tig "group of ten" (see -ty (1)). Roaring Forties are rough parts of the ocean between 40 and 50 degrees latitude. Forty winks "short sleep" is attested from 1828.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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