Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Topic: NEWSPAPERS, PUBLISHING

Date: 1200-1300
Language: Old French
Origin: nombre, from Latin numerus

number

1 noun
     
number1 S1 W1
1

number

[countable]HMN a word or sign that represents an amount or a quantity [↪ numeral, figure]:
They wrote various numbers on a large sheet of paper.
Five was her lucky number.
an even number (=2, 4, 6, 8, 10 etc)
an odd number (=1, 3, 5, 7, 9 etc)
round number (=a number ending in 0)
A million pounds seemed a suitably round number.
be good/bad/no good with numbers informal (=to be good, bad etc at calculating things using numbers)
➔ cardinal number, ordinal number, prime number, whole number
2

phone

[countable]HMNTCT a phone number:
My new number is 502-6155.
somebody's home/office/work number
I gave him my home number.
mobile/fax number
What's your mobile number?
Sorry, you have the wrong number.
3

in a set/list

[countable]HMN a number used to show the position of something in an ordered set or list:
Answer question number 4.
a number 17 bus
 ➔ E number among their own number.
18

grammar

[uncountable] technicalSLG the form of a word, depending on whether one thing or more than one thing is being talked about:
'Horses' is plural in number, while 'horse' is singular.
Definition of number from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English within
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