Nūm'ber1, n.
n. [O. Fr. nombre, N. Fr. & Pr. nombre, Sp., Pg., & It. numero, Lat. numerus, allied to Gr. νέμω, that which is dealt out, distributed, measured off, from νέμειν, to deal out, distribute.]
Sense 1. That which admits of being counted or reckoned; a single unit, considered as part of a series, or two or more of such units; an enumerable aggregate or collection of individuals; an assemblage made up of distinct things expressible by figures.
Sense 2. A collection of many individuals; a numerous assemblage; a multitude; many.
Ladies are always of great use to the party they espouse, and never fail to win over numbers. Addison.
Sense 3. Numerousness; multitude.
Number itself importeth not much in armies where the people are of weak courage. Bacon.
Sense 4. The quality of being numerable or countable; composition or relation of different individuals which may be reckoned or expressed in figures; quantity regarded as made up by an aggregate of separate things.
Sense 5. That which is regulated by count; poetic measure, as divisions of time or number of syllables; hence, poetry, verse;—chiefly used in the plural.
I lisped in numbers, for the numbers came. Pope.
Yet should the Muses bid my numbers roll. Pope.
Sense 6. (Gram.) The distinction of objects, as one, or more than one (in some languages, as one, or two, or more than two), expressed by a difference in the form of a word; thus, the singular number, the dual number, the plural number, are the names of the forms of a word indicating the objects denoted or referred to by the word as one, as two, or as more than two.
Sense 7. (Math.) That abstract species of quantity which is capable of being expressed by figures; numerical value.
Abstract numbers. See ABSTRACT. — Amicable numbers. See AMICABLE. — Apocalyptic number. See APOCALYPTIC. — Applicate number. See APPLICATE. — Cardinal numbers. See CARDINAL. — Ordinal numbers. See ORDINAL. — Composite number. See COMPOSITE. — Compound number. See COMPOUND. — Concrete number. See CONCRETE. — Cubic number. See CUBIC. — Even number, one divisible by 2. See EVEN. — Figurate numbers. See FIGURATE. — Golden number. See GOLDEN. — Heterogeneal numbers, those referred to different units. — Homogeneal numbers, those referred to the same units. — Imperfect number. See IMPERFECT. — Irrational number, a number incommensurable with unity. — Odd number, one not divisible by 2. See ODD. — Perfect number, one whose aliquot parts, added together, make the whole number, as 28, whose aliquot parts, 14, 7, 4, 2, 1, make the number 28. — Polygonal numbers, numbers such that points representing them are capable of being symmetrically arranged so as to form polygons; thus, 3, 6, 10, 15, &c., can be arranged in triangles, and 4, 9, 16, 25, &c., in squares. — Prime or primitive number, one divisible only by unity; as, 3, 5, 7, &c. — Rational number, one commensurable with unity. — Square number, one which is the product of a number multiplied by itself; as, 16 is the square number of 4. — Whole number, an integer.