fifth

alternative obsolete fift · alternative obsolete fiveth

1. not comparableThe ordinal form of the number five.

   On Friday, at a former Michelin factory in the north-east of the city, the finishing touches were being put in place for the fifth Dundee design festival, which opens on Monday.

   2024 September 21, Eve Livingston, “‘Students want to stay here now rather than disappear to London’: how design transformed the city of Dundee”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms: 5th, Vth, V., V

plural fifths · alternative obsolete fift · alternative obsolete fiveth

1. ellipsis or nominalizationThe person or thing in the fifth position.
   1. ellipsisellipsis or nominalizationThe fifth gear of a transmission.
2. One of five equal parts of a whole: one-fifth.

   Synonyms: ⅕

3. USA quantity of liquor equal to one-fifth of an American gallon, or, more commonly, 750 milliliters (that is, three quarters of a liter).
4. entertainmentThe musical interval between one note and another five scale degrees higher (the fifth note in a scale)

   Now I've heard there was a secret chord / That David played, and it pleased the Lord / But you don't really care for music, do ya? / It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth

   1984, Leonard Cohen, “Hallelujah”, in Various Positions

5. The fifth voice in a polyphonic melody.

present singular third person fifths · participle present fifthing · participle past fifthed · past fifthed · alternative obsolete fift · alternative obsolete fiveth

1. entertainmentTo sing in the fifth voice in a polyphonic melody.

   Each of these three groups contributes some special insight into the nature of fifthing and the context in which it was practiced.

   1978, Discant and the Theory of Fifthing

   1 more example

   Another extension of strict organum is 'fifthing'. Fifthing is a note-against- note method of creating a two-part texture by improvising a second voice over the given tune, starting and ending each musical phrase at the octave and proceeding mainly in fifths above the tune at others times.

   1996, Music in Early English Religious Drama: Minstrels playing, page 510

2. informaltransitiveTo support something fifth, after four others have already done so.

   It was then moved, seconded, thirded, fourthed, and fifthed, “that Jarman be, and is hereby hung, and ought to be kicked.”

   1892 December 31, Talbot Baines Reed, “Tom, Dick, and Harry. A School Story.”, in The Boy’s Own Paper, volume XV, number 729, page 212, column 2

   2 more examples

   A lisping young “Soundings,” or master’s assistant, sung out “I thecond the mothon,” instantly transferring his beer to our hero’s face. In short the resolution was thirded, fourthed, fifthed, and sixthed, all following suit with the swipes:[…]

   1854 January, “Tregonhorke’s First Trip in a Man-of-War”, in Hunt’s Yachting Magazine, volume the third, London: Hunt and Son, […]; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., […], page 14

   Though seconding (or fifthing) the praise for “BoJack Horseman” and “In Treatment,” I think I’ll use the majority of my space to discuss “You’re the Worst.”

   2017, Critics Pick the TV Shows That Get Mental Health Right — IndieWire Survey

3. nonstandardtransitiveTo divide by five.

   3/5 has been through fifthing. 2/3 has been through thirding. Therefore, 3/5 now needs thirding and 2/3 needs fifthing

   2006, Mathematics for Dyslexics: Including Dyscalculia, page 188

1. USinformalThe Fifth Amendment.
2. USbroadlyinformalThe right not to give self-incriminating testimony.
3. USFifth Avenue.

   […] besides marrying Nate Archibald and living happily every after in the ivy-covered brick town house just off Fifth that she already had picked out

   2003, Cecily Von Ziegesar, Because I'm worth it

4. USFifth Street.