eleventeen

English

Etymology

eleven + -teen

Numeral

eleventeen

  1. (nonce word) Twenty-one (21).
    • 1600s, Wither, Weakness:
      Many giglets I have married seen / Ere they forsooth could reach eleventeen.
  2. (colloquial) A relatively large number, not precisely specified.
    • 1919, Sinclair Lewis, Free Air:
      "He fitted about eleventeen thousand people last year."
    • 2001, Rick D. Ellison, Gamble to Win: Craps:
      Trust me, I've checked every angle and analyzed a zillion options eleventeen different ways.
    • 2004, Brooks Peterson, Cultural Intelligence: A Guide to Working with People from Other Cultures:
      I can make the locals laugh at my attempts in a few other languages, such as Swedish, but I'm certainly not like the average European who seems to speak "eleventeen" languages
  3. (colloquial) A nonsense number.
    • 1988, Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes:
      Hobbes: Ooh, that's a tricky one. You have to use calculus and imaginary numbers for this.
      Calvin: Imaginary numbers?!
      Hobbes: You know, eleventeen, thirty-twelve, all those.

Synonyms

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