Meanings
- idiomaticI strongly believe.
Five will get you ten that he's either gone or dead by midnight Sunday.
1957, Clyde Brion Davis, Unholy Uproar3 more examples
Five will get you ten that your sheet will have an editorial on the Orchard case Sunday, and what will it say?
1948, Rex Stout, And Be a VillainShe has a nice strong tone that falters just a bit in the upper ranges; five'll get you ten that problem clears up as soon as [she] gets completely comfortable with performing publicly.
1983 December 3, Jolanta Benal, “Spandex, Sousa, Bad Politics”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 20, page 6As it is I'm going to be in big trouble financially if I lose my job and five will get you ten the bastards will try to drum me out.
2003, F. Winston Pate, SerenitySynonyms: ten will get you twenty
Synonyms & antonyms
phraseI strongly believe.
Origin
Betting parlance for even odds, i.e. betting five pounds (dollars, etc.) should win you ten.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Hungarian nyakamat rá, a nyakam(at) teszem/tenném rá
- nyakamat ráI strongly believe
- a nyakam(at) teszem/tenném ráI strongly believe
- mérget vehetsz ráI strongly believe
Polish założę się
- założę sięI strongly believe
Cite this entry
five will get you ten. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/five%20will%20get%20you%20ten
“five will get you ten.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/five%20will%20get%20you%20ten. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “five will get you ten,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/five%20will%20get%20you%20ten.
Source: five will get you ten on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.