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单词 seven
释义

sevenadj.n.

Brit. /ˈsɛvn/, U.S. /ˈsɛvən/
Forms:

α. early Old English sibun- (in compounds), Old English sefon (in derivatives), Old English seofeon- (inflected form, perhaps transmission error), Old English seofum (dative plural, probably transmission error), Old English seofun, Old English sifon, Old English sifun- (Anglian, in compounds and derivatives), Old English siofen, Old English siofon, Old English siofun (Anglian), Old English sufan (rare), Old English sufon, Old English sufun (in derivatives), Old English syfan, Old English syfon, Old English (early Middle English south-west midlands) seofen, Old English (early Middle English south-west midlands) seofon, Old English (Middle English west midlands and south-western) seouen, Old English–early Middle English seofan, Old English (rare)–early Middle English (in compounds) seouan, late Old English seofæn, late Old English–1600s seuen, early Middle English sefenn ( Ormulum), early Middle English seffne ( Ormulum, inflected form), early Middle English seofenn ( Ormulum), early Middle English seoffne ( Ormulum, inflected form), early Middle English seofne (plural), early Middle English souen (south-west midlands and south-western), early Middle English soven (south-western), Middle English ceven, Middle English cevene, Middle English cevyn, Middle English seeuen, Middle English seeuene, Middle English sefen, Middle English sefn, Middle English sefne, Middle English sefuene, Middle English sefyn, Middle English seuon, Middle English seuyan (north-west midlands, in a late copy), Middle English sevene, Middle English sevenne, Middle English sevon, Middle English sevyne, Middle English seyuen (northern), Middle English seyuyn (north-west midlands, in a late copy), Middle English seyvon (northern), Middle English zeuen (Kent), Middle English–1500s seuenne, Middle English–1500s seuin, Middle English–1500s seuyn, Middle English–1500s sevin, Middle English–1500s sevyn, Middle English–1600s seauen, Middle English–1600s seaven, Middle English–1600s seuene, Middle English–1600s sevn, Middle English– seven, late Middle English sueyn (transmission error), 1600s seav'n (poetic), 1600s seavne, 1600s–1900s sev'n (chiefly poetic); English regional 1800s sebben, 1800s sebbm, 1800s sebem, 1800s seeven, 1800s zeb'm (Somerset), 1900s– sivin; U.S. regional (chiefly southern and south Midland) 1800s–1900s seb'n, 1800s–1900s sev'm, 1800s– seben, 1800s– sebm, 1900s– sebun (in African-American usage); also Scottish pre-1700 sauin, pre-1700 savin, pre-1700 scevin, pre-1700 seauen, pre-1700 seauin, pre-1700 seavin, pre-1700 seavine, pre-1700 seav'n (poetic), pre-1700 seavne, pre-1700 seav'ne (poetic), pre-1700 seivine, pre-1700 seivn, pre-1700 seuin, pre-1700 seuyn, pre-1700 seuyne, pre-1700 sevein, pre-1700 seveyne, pre-1700 sevin, pre-1700 sevine, pre-1700 sevne, pre-1700 sev'ne (poetic), pre-1700 sevyn, pre-1700 sevyne, pre-1700 siuene, pre-1700 sivene, pre-1700 1700s seaven, pre-1700 1700s 1900s– siven, pre-1700 1800s– seevin, 1700s seivne, 1800s saven (Aberdeenshire), 1800s seevan, 1800s–1900s seyven, 1800s– saiven (north-eastern), 1800s– seeven, 1800s– seivin, 1800s– sivven, 1900s– seiven, 2000s– sivin; also Irish English 1800s sayven (northern), 1800s– sivin, 1900s saven (northern), 1900s– saiven (northern).

β. Old English sefo (Northumbrian), Old English seofa (Northumbrian), Old English seofo (Northumbrian), Old English siofo (Northumbrian), Old English siofu (Northumbrian), late Old English (early Middle English south-west midlands) seofe, early Middle English scoue (south-west midlands, perhaps transmission error), early Middle English seofue (south-west midlands), early Middle English soue (south-west midlands and south-western), early Middle English souue (south-western), early Middle English sove (south-western), Middle English sef, Middle English seoue (west midlands and south-western), Middle English seve, Middle English zeue (Kent), Middle English zeve (Kent), Middle English–1500s seue, late Middle English fef (transmission error), late Middle English feff (transmission error), late Middle English seffe; N.E.D. (1912) also records a form early Middle English sefe.

γ. Middle English sewen, Middle English sewne, Middle English sewyn, Middle English sewyne; Scottish pre-1700 sawin, pre-1700 seawin, pre-1700 sewein, pre-1700 sewen, pre-1700 sewene, pre-1700 seweyne, pre-1700 sewin, pre-1700 sewine, pre-1700 sewn, pre-1700 sewne, pre-1700 sewyn, pre-1700 sewyne, pre-1700 seywn.

δ. late Middle English sen, late Middle English sene, 1900s– se'm (U.S. regional, in African-American usage); Scottish pre-1700 sean, 1800s sein- (in compounds), 1800s– se'en.

Also represented by the numerical symbols 7, vii, VII.
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian sawen, sowen, sauwen, saun, sān, sigun, siugun, siugen, sogen (West Frisian saun, sān, East Frisian (Saterland) soogen), Old Dutch sivon (Middle Dutch seven, soeven, seuven, Dutch zeven), Old Saxon sivun, sibun, sivon (Middle Low German sēven, sȫven), Old High German sibun, siban, sibin, siben, sebun (Middle High German siben, seben, suben, söben, German sieben), Old Icelandic sjau (Icelandic sjö), Norwegian sjau, sju, Old Swedish siū (Swedish sju), Old Danish siu, syu (Danish syv), Gothic sibun < the same Indo-European base as Sanskrit sapta, Avestan hapta, ancient Greek ἑπτά, classical Latin septem, Gaulish sextan- (in a place name), Early Irish secht, Welsh saith, Armenian ewt'n, Tocharian A ṣpät, Tocharian B ṣukt, Old Church Slavonic sedmĭ (perhaps with formal influence from the ordinal number), Lithuanian septyni, Albanian shtatë.Notes on Germanic phonology. The original medial dental of the Indo-European base (as reflected by e.g. classical Latin septem ) appears to have been lost at an early stage in Germanic, perhaps by analogical influence from the ordinal (see seventh adj.) in which the suffix favoured its loss by dissimilation. However, other explanations have been offered, including (i) derivation from an intermediate form of the cardinal with final dental (arising by analogy with a proposed form with final dental of the Indo-European base of ten adj.) in which similar dissimilatory loss may have occurred, or (ii) phonological loss of t between p and ṃ in the Indo-European base. The retention of the final nasal consonant is unexpected, since word-final -n after an unstressed syllable was regularly lost in Germanic, although it was also retained in nine adj. The reason for this is uncertain and disputed: it could be explained by influence from the ordinal (see above), or by analogy with the development in Germanic of ten adj., although other possibilities have also been proposed. For a summary and discussion of recent theories on the development of this word in Germanic see R. D. Fulk Comparative Gram. Early Germanic Languages (2018) 226. Inflection in Old English. Already in Old English the word is frequently uninflected, especially when it immediately precedes a noun it modifies. But it may show plural inflection (compare accusative plural syfone in quot. OE1 at sense A. 1aα. ). As with other cardinal numerals, Old English often shows use with genitive plural of the noun (compare quot. OE3 at sense A. 1aα. ). This was originally use as noun, but the construction merges with attributive use as adjective in Middle English. Notes on forms. The β. forms with loss of final -n are first attested in Northumbrian Old English, and may partly reflect analogy with the ending of Old English eahta , eahte eight adj.; they are more widespread in Middle English, where they may reflect a more general loss of -n after an unstressed vowel (see N n.). The γ. forms chiefly arise from a convention of writing w for v that is frequently found in the texts in which these forms occur (compare note at V n.). The δ. forms reflect both simplification of the medial consonant cluster of Middle English forms such as sefne at α. forms and also regular loss of intervocalic v in Scots. Compare forms at sennight n. Notes on senses. With sense B. 3b compare classical Latin septem the Seven Sages of Greece. With later use in compounds forming adjectives (compare Compounds 2) compare Old English seofonnihte seven days old, lasting seven days, seofonhīwe septiform, having seven forms, seofonwintre seven years old, in all of which the second element shows an adjectival suffix.
A cardinal number represented by 7 in arabic numerals, or by vii, VII in roman.
A. adj.
1. One more than six.
a. In attributive use and (in early use) as postmodifier.On the constructions in quots. OE1 and OE3 at α. see etymological note.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > seven > [adjective]
sevenOE
septenaryc1484
sevenfolda1555
septenarious1656
septimal1791
α.
OE Beowulf (2008) 3122 Se snotra sunu Wihstanes acigde of corðre cyniges þegnas syfone [to]somne, þa selestan.
OE Blickling Homilies 193 Þær wæron gehealdene heora lic an gear & seofan monaþ.
OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xvi. 10 Ne ge ne geþenceað..þæra seofon hlafa & feower þusend manna?
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 8399 Forr sefenn winnterr haffde he beon To samenn inn egippte.
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 3841 Þo seiȝe þai seuen baners.
c1480 (a1400) St. Philip 79 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 178 Sewyne dais..before his ded.
?1507 Ballad of Kynd Kittok in W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen sig. b.ivv And yar ȝeris sevin Scho lewit a gud lif.
?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) i. iv. sig. Cjv The line AB whiche I would diuide into 7 equall portions.
1607 E. Howes Stow's Chron. (new ed.) 447 The xi. of Aprill vii. men with their horses, and a Ferriman, were all drowned at Lambeth.
1750 G. Hughes Nat. Hist. Barbados 197 These are succeeded by pods which are lengthways neatly gouged into seven regular channels.
1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 64 Wings one inch one-half to seven-twelfths.
1865 S. Baring-Gould Bk. Were-wolves viii When seven girls succeed each other in one family.
1937 A. Koestler Spanish Test. 303 Got into a rage and chain-smoked all seven cigarettes.
1960 Q. Jrnl. Econ. 74 561 The 7 blocks in Table VII were selected..from the complete list of 170 blocks put up for leasing at this auction.
2017 M. Sugiura It's not like it's Secret iii. 21 Take this first entrance ramp on the right. For seven miles.
β. OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Matt. xv. 37 Quod superfuit de fragmentis tulerunt septem sportas plenas : & þæt gelæfed wæs of screadungum genomon seofo ceulas fulla.a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 41 He him sceaude an ouen on berninde fure he warp ut of him seofe leies.c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 88 Þe saxons..Seve kynges made in engelond.c1450 (a1375) Octavian (Calig.) (1979) l. 1386 (MED) Y was wardeyne Seue ȝere & more.1561 J. Heywood tr. Seneca Hercules Furens sig. C3 Seue starrs..Do call the light with ouerturned wayne.γ. a1400 MS Merton 248 in Neuphilol. Mitteilungen (1997) 98 115 A lombe wyt sewen ornys and sewen eyene.a1425 in R. H. Bowers Three Middle Eng. Relig. Poems (1963) 21 (MED) Thus was Mary benedict in synne When sewen devles were hyre inne.a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 276 We pray to all the sanctis of hewin, That ar abuif the sternis sewin.1639 in J. Stuart Extracts Council Reg. Aberdeen (1871) I. 177 Sewin thowsand merkis money..to be distribute amongst the soiouris.δ. a1450 (?a1400) J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 500 In hevene it [sc. God's body] is sene fote in fourme.a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xi. §7. 44 Þe sen [?c1400 Sidney Sussex seuen] giftis of þe halygast.1818 J. Hogg Brownie of Bodsbeck I. 140 The se'en starns had gaen oure the lum.1953 K. M. Briggs Personnel of Fairyland (1969) 101 Ye'll spin these se'en heids into yarn in three days or I'll gie ye a skelping ye'll no forget.
b. In predicative use.
ΚΠ
OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 6 Semivocales syndon seofan: f, l, m, n, r, s, x.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 118 Yefþe of þe holi gost..byeþ zeuen, ne mo ne les.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1879) VII. 47 The emperour schulde be ichose by þe officers of þe empere; þese officers beeþ sevene.
a1500 (?a1425) tr. Secreta Secret. (Lamb.) 102 Þe..dayes of drynkynge or of medicyn er seuen, & dayes Periodies er seuen, [etc.].
1547 C. Langton Very Brefe Treat. Phisick v. v. sig. B.iiiiv The thinges naturall wherof mannes bodye is conpact & made, be seuen in number.
1647 R. Busby Short Inst. Gram. 4 Genders of Nounes be seven; the Masculine, the Feminine, the Neuter, the Commune of two, the Commune of three, the Doubtfull, and the Epicene.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Character The Numeral Letters that compose the Roman Character are in Number seven, viz. I, V, X, L, C, D, M.
1861 Times 18 Feb. 8/4 Including the new vessel to be built at Chatham, our four ironsides will become seven.
1951 W. V. Quine Math. Logic (rev. ed.) (1981) vi. 237 To say that we are seven is to attribute a property to us as a class.
2010 Daily Mirror (Nexis) 6 Oct. Our two-up, two-down house was small even for the three of us, but over the years we became seven when my two brothers and two sisters came along.
c. Designating culturally significant groupings of seven, common in many religions, mythologies, and traditions, esp. in contexts implying perfection, completion, good fortune, etc.Cf. Seven Champions n. at Compounds 4, seven deadly sins n. at Compounds 4, seven seals n. at Compounds 4, seven sleeper n. 1a, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > completeness > [adjective] > seven, symbolizing completion or perfection
sevenOE
OE Wærferð tr. Gregory Dialogues (Corpus Cambr.) (1900) iv. xliv. 332 Se sæde, þæt he gesawe boc mid seofon inseglum geinseglode [L. signatum librum septem sigillis], & þæt nænig man wære gemeted wyrðe..þe þa boc moste untynan.
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 91 Þat bieð ðo seuen hali mihtes ðe we hier teforen habbeð ȝespeken.
c1390 in C. Horstmann Minor Poems Vernon MS (1892) 280 (MED) Ȝit ben þei spedful to lest [&] most, Seuen ȝiftes of þe holigost.
c1434 J. Drury Eng. Writings in Speculum (1934) 9 76 (MED) The vij vertuys þat þey distroyin arn þese: miknesse, charite, pacyens, gostly besines, chastite, largenes, and abstinens.
1508 Bp. J. Fisher (title) This treatise concernynge the fruytfull saynges of Dauyd the kynge & prophete in the seuen penytencyall psalmes.
a1680 S. Charnock Several Disc. Existence of God (1682) 196 Jesus Christ who is Gods Deputy in the providential government, hath Seven Eyes, as well as Seven Horns, a perfect strength, and a perfect knowledge how to use that strength, and to what end to use it. Seven being the number of perfection of Scripture.
1733 D. Neal Hist. Puritans III. v. 207 When a Bishop consecrates a new Altar, he must go round about it seven Times.
1852 Christian Parlor Bk. 239/1 The rabbins maintain that seven things were created before the foundation of the world—the law, repentance, paradise, hell, the throne of God, the temple, the name of the Messiah.
1878 Demorest's Monthly Mag. Sept. 501 It is considered lucky to have seven sons and daughters in a family, that is, a family of seven children.
1930 E. A. W. Budge Amulets & Superstitions xxvi. 434 In Babylonian we have the 7 gates of the Underworld, the 7 evil spirits of heaven, the 7 evil spirits of earth, the 7 stages of the Tower of Babel, the 7 tablets of Creation.
1951 B. Miall tr. T. Reik Dogma & Compulsion i. 79 The impact of doubt on the text of a doctrine may be seen..in the Islamitish discussion of the seven attributes of Allah.
2013 Women's Era (Nexis) 1 Jan. For Estonians, the tradition of eating seven times on New Year's Day is believed to bring abundant food throughout the year. The seven times is also thought to bring you the strength of seven men.
d. Used to denote a large number, quantity, or amount of something. In early use also in †this seven year (also †these seven years): for a long time (obsolete).With quot. a1500 cf. sevenfold adv. 1.See also sevenfold adj. 2, sevensithe adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > plurality > great number, numerousness > [adjective] > used for large number
sevenOE
fortya1616
any1758
steen1886
steenth1895
zillion1901
umpty1916
umptieth1917
umpteen1918
umpteenth1918
bazillion1939
scrillion1945
OE Homily: Sunnandæges Spell (Corpus Cambr. 419) in A. S. Napier Wulfstan (1883) 214 Þeah ðe seofan men sittan..and þara æghwylc hæfde seofon heafda, and þara heafda gehwylc seofon tungan.., ne magon heo [altered to hi] ariman ealle þa wita.
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. ix. l. 66 I haue suwed þe þis seuen ȝer.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 315 Men sey that he hath seven mennes strength.
c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) ii. 19 I sal strik ȝou vitht ane plag, seuyn tymes mair vehement.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iv. iv. 578 There shall not, at your Fathers House, these seuen yeeres Be borne another such. View more context for this quotation
1756 Prater 4 Sept. 156 I have been trying and trying these seven years, ever since I was out of my Robe-coat, to fix a man.
1855 C. Kingsley Westward Ho! xiii And gold seven times tried he was, when God..took him home at last.
2011 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 31 July 62 The record company made me have my eyebrows plucked, like, seven times a day. I didn't even have bushy eyebrows!
†2. Followed by a comparative clause introduced by so: seven times. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > seven > [adjective] > seven times as much
sevenfoldOE
sevena1398
a1398 (?c1343) R. Rolle Ego Dormio (Rawl.) in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1895) I. 50 Þat ordir þat lest is bryght, is seuen sa bryght as is þis son.
a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) l. 6834 More þank þou getest for swych ȝyuyng Þan seuene so moche with chydyng.
?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 118v in Middle Eng. Dict. (at cited word) He schal drinke water of prunes wiþ vineger oþer wine of garnates wiþ seuen so moche water as he is.
†3. As an ordinal number: next in order after the sixth; = seventh adj. Obsolete (chiefly Scottish in later use). Cf. sevenday n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > seven > [adjective] > seventh
sevenc1440
c1440 (?c1350) in G. G. Perry Relig. Pieces in Prose & Verse (1914) 24 The seuen braunche of pryde es Elacion.
a1500 Partenay (Trin. Cambr.) l. 1261 The seffe child Ffromont that tyme callyd was.
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid i. xi. 755 For now the sevin symmir hidder careis the Wilsum, and errant, in euery land and see.
1588 A. King tr. P. Canisius Cathechisme or Schort Instr. 39 Ye sawin commandiment.
1699 J. Raynor & J. Coughen tr. N. Fontaine Hist. Old & New Test. (new ed.) 320/1 The Apparitions and Prodigies, which happened at the opening of each Seal; which Vision reacheth to the end of the 7 Chapter.
B. n.
1.
a. One more than six as an abstract number; the figure or symbols representing this (7 in arabic numerals, vii, VII in roman). at or on six and seven, at sixes and sevens: see six n. 5. See also by sic seven at sic adj. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > in disorder [phrase]
at or on six and sevenOE
out of kinda1375
out of rulea1387
out of tonea1400
out of joint1415
out of nockc1520
out of tracea1529
out of order1530
out of tune1535
out of square1555
out of kilter1582
off the hinges?1608
out of (the) hinges?1608
in, out of gear1814
out of gearing1833
off the rails1848
on the bumc1870
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > seven > [noun]
sevenOE
septenary1598
the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > careless or heedless [phrase]
at or on six and sevena1398
(with) gay abandon1842
the world > existence and causation > causation > chance or causelessness > [adverb] > randomly or haphazardly
into uncertain1382
uncertainlya1387
at adventure (also adventures)c1390
at or on six and sevena1398
auntersa1450
at all adventure (also adventures)1485
by hab or by nab1530
at rovers (rarely rover)c1531
hab or nab1542
hitty-missy1553
rovingly1583
haphazard1600
random1619
unsight, unseena1627
happy-be-lucky1633
cross and pile1648
temerariously1669
happy-go-lucky1672
à tort et à travers1749
randomly1765
chance-medley1822
haphazardly1832
willy-nilly1908
by guess and by God (or Godfrey)1931
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > [adverb] > hazard of whole fortune
at or on six and sevena1398
OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) i. ii. 32 Twia seofon beoð feowertyne.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 5351 Forr tale off seoffne tacneþþ uss. Þatt seofenn kinne bene.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xix. cxx. 1359 Oon ydo to sixe, þat makeþ seuene. And þis nombre hatte septenarius, and is þe þridde among odde nombres.
a1500 (?a1425) tr. Secreta Secret. (Lamb.) 102 (MED) Many oþer þinges bylonges to þe nombre of seuen.
?1606 M. Drayton Man in Moone in Poemes sig. H7 The which fower seuens the eight & twenty make.
1621 T. W. tr. S. Goulart Wise Vieillard 42 The number of seuen, is otherwise iudged of in the holy Scriptures.
1724 J. Maubray Female Physician iii. xxiii. 138 I have also remarkably observ'd, that the Number Seven is most powerful and signally predominant in Celestials; as..the Seven Stars about the Artick-Pole, call'd Charle's-Wain.
1842 Oberlin Evangelist 17 Aug. 132/2 It requires but little arithmetic to show that seventy sevens make four hundred ninety.
1993 Harper's Mag. Feb. 22/1 Corporal Yinger has for years written the number seven (7) with a horizontal line across the downstroke. This is sometimes referred to as an ‘international seven’.
2004 I. G. Marcus Jewish Life Cycle i. 37 The number seven is a lucky number in many cultures.
b. More fully 07, oh-seven (see oh n.2). Short for the date of the seventh year of a particular century; esp. in the year seven.Frequently with reference to the Acts of Union of the Scottish and English parliaments in 1707, and associated events.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > year > [noun] > period of specific number of years > a century > specific year of century
seven1795
1795 T. Maurice Elegiac Poem 29 (note) Aurengzebe..died in the year 7 of this century.
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian xii, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. II. 295 At the last riding of the Scots Parliament, and that was in the gracious year seven.
1908 Financial Rev. of Rev. July 86/1 Farm land sales during '07 were 15,471 acres for $175,362.
2010 D. Hannah Exile Sara Stevenson 161 Jamie Chisholm had a cousin what sailed with ye in the year oh-seven.
2.
a. Seven people or things identified contextually, as parts or divisions of a whole, members of a group, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > seven > [noun] > seven things, persons, etc.
seveneOE
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) iv. iii. 262 He deagolice mid feaum broðrum, þæt is seofonum oðþo eahtum, he gewunade, þæt he him gebæd.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 27 Erðon he nefde bute enne deofel, nu he haued sefene.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 7924 Ioram þe witie. & seofue [c1300 Otho soue] of his iueren.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 8372 Her ost hii delde a seuene [?a1425 Digby departed in seuene].
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. vii. 2 Of all hauyng souleȝ clene þou schalt take seuen & seuen: male & female.
a1450 ( in J. Kail 26 Polit. Poems (1904) 41 Wiþ water, for synne þe world y slow, Saue seuene, and noe þat was my gest.
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 259 Bot beneficis ar nocht leill devydit. Sum men hes sewin and I nocht ane.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iii. 648 Th' Arch-Angel Uriel, one of the seav'n Who in Gods presence..Stand. View more context for this quotation
1780 T. Jefferson Let. 3 Sept. in J. Piecuch Battle of Camden (2006) v. 104 He supprised the enemy's Guard killed Seven and took about thirty.
1837 J. Phillips Treat. Geol. I. 27 The remaining substances are metallic or metalloidal. Seven of them are earthy metals or metalloids.
1932 Engineering 22 Jan. 98/2 Seven of these openings are equipped with a falling sluice.
1957 Parl. Deb. House of Representatives New Zealand 11 Oct. 3013/1 There was something wrong with the whole set-up if the Army could select only seven out of one hundred applicants.
2020 Hunts Post (Nexis) 1 July They failed to score at home in eight of 20 league fixtures and in 13 cup ties, won seven and lost six, by an aggregate of 25–22.
b. The time of seven hours after midnight or midday, esp. as indicated by a clock, watch, etc. Frequently in seven o'clock (formerly † seven of the clock); also as modifier, with the sense ‘occurring or scheduled for seven o'clock’.Also used with reference to any position comparable to that of the hour-hand of a clock at that time.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > particular time > [adjective] > of the time of day > of specific times
tenc1386
seven?c1425
twoc1485
six1600
twelve-hour1791
undecimarian1874
undeciman1883
?c1425 (c1412) T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum (Royal 17 D.vi) (1860) 72 It failethe not, aboute the houre of seven.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) III. 1170 Or hit be seven of the clok.
?a1580 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 72 Afternoone seavenaclocke dinnars.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) iv. iii. 189 It shall be seuen ere I go to horse. View more context for this quotation
c1690–1740 Househ. Ordinances of Matthew Parker, Abp. Canterbury (Lamb. 1072) App. 32 At vii a clock in the morning in the sommer season.
1779 Mirror No. 43. ⁋6 A clock was heard to strike seven.
1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India II. v. v. 494 From half after seven..they remained exposed to the fire..till nine o'clock.
1860 Birmingham Daily Post 13 July 4/5 At a quarter to seven Grundy hit another ball into the hands of a long-fieldsman without incurring any penalty.
1930 Ann. Surg. 92 719 Two trunks were found on the right side forming roots of the inferior mesenteric nerve, a larger at the position of seven o'clock and a smaller at ten o'clock.
1969 Guardian 14 Feb. 11/1 My problem is that I go home at night feeling ‘I simply must get to sleep quickly because I must get up at seven’.
2012 Washington Post (Nexis) 29 Oct. a18 That 7 o'clock appointment has become a coveted spot.
c. Seven years of age. †to be more than seven (colloquial): to have a shrewdness born of experience; to be worldly-wise (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > age > [adjective] > specific age
seven?1440
yearing1451
year-old1556
yeared1583
seventy1590
two-year1596
quinquagenarian1603
septuagenary1605
twelvea1616
thirty1618
three-yearling1621
one-eared1645
quadragenarious1656
trimenstruous1656
septennian1662
sexagenarian1663
sexagenary1663
octogenarya1696
seven-year-old1713
quinquagenary1715
yearling1729
septuagesimal1781
septuagenarian1793
octogenarian1818
fortyish1821
seventeen-year-old1821
three-year-old1825
week-old1826
centenarian1828
day-old1831
70-year-old1832
quadragenarian1834
century-old1836
nonagenarian1877
teenaged1913
thirtyish1925
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > knowledge, what is known > experience > be experienced [phrase]
to know the ginc1530
to know what something is1535
to find (know, etc.) the length (also measure) of a person's foot1580
to know one's way around1814
to be more than seven1896
to know whereof one speaks (or writes, etc.)1922
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) iv. l. 886 The markis of their age ar lost at seuen.
1609 W. Shakespeare Pericles xix. 78 Did you goe too't so young, were you a gamester at fiue, or at seuen ? View more context for this quotation
1693 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §199. 254 The first Season to get Foreign Languages,..I should think, should be from Seven to Fourteen or Sixteen.
1781 tr. Comtesse de Genlis Good Mother i. i, in Theatre of Educ. II. 246 Mrs. Davers. That excessive childishness makes all your follies more excusable.—Harriot. Surely, since I am only seven.
1896 Racing Illustr. 25 Nov. 518/2 Slowby knows what's what, he's more than seven.
1947 Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Nov. 594/4 When he was seven he was given a pony on condition that he mastered a halter hitch.
2013 Vanity Fair Feb. 111/1 A black-and-white photograph of McCorvey—a girl of seven in cat's-eye glasses crouched beside a German shepherd on a dirt road—stood in a frame.
d. With reference to British pre-decimal currency: seven shillings; (occasionally also) seven pence. Typically in prices or costs expressed in shillings and pence, as seven and six, seven and sixpence, four and seven, etc. Now only in historical contexts.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > monetary value > price > [adjective] > specific prices
sixpenny1591
fourpenny1597
eight-penny1598
twelvepenny1609
six-shilling1631
ninepenny1632
seven1643
threepenny1698
sevenpenny1712
fivepenny1799
shilling gallery1801
1643 R. Baker Chron. Kings of Eng. iii. 63 The Angell which went before but for seven shillings, should now goe for seven and six pence, and every ounce of Gold should be five and forty shillings, which was before but forty.
1839 W. M. Thackeray Stubbs's Cal. Dec. I had charged a gentleman in the coffee-rooms seven-and-sixpence for a glass of ale and bread and cheese.
1892 Scots Mag. June 72 The gloves on the dainty fingers from which that copper dropped cost seven and six a pair.
1935 A. McArthur & H. Kingsley Long No Mean City (1957) i. 7 The Factor would call in the morning and demand seven and elevenpence.
1988 L. Dawkins Chasing Shadows ix. 167 ‘That'll be four and seven’. Joanna counted out the money carefully and pushed it under the grill.
2002 R. A. Sisson First Love, Last Love viii. 20 He didn't smile at them or say anything except ‘Yes?’ or ‘Which one d'you want?’ or ‘Seven and a penny, please.’
e. Sport. Seven points, goals, runs, etc., as scored in one match or game, or at one time. Cf. B. 6c.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > winning, losing, or scoring > [noun] > gaining points > score > unit in > specific
goose-eggc1394
love1742
seven1807
blank1867
maximum1986
1807 New Pocket Hoyle (ed. 3) 301 If the striker should hole both his adversary's and the red ball, after having caramboled, he scores seven; two for the carambole, two for the white, and three for the red ball.
1867 Bell's Life in London 6 July 4/3 Mr F. J. Crooke made 150 before he was caught, and whilst obtaining this fine score he gave but two chances, and hit a ball for seven.
1932 Winnipeg Free Press 2 Jan. 7/7 The Midgets made a courageous comeback, winning by a score of seven to two.
2017 Guardian (Nexis) 6 Dec. Our referee spares Spartak Moscow the anguish of added time and it's all over at Anfield, where Liverpool have slaughtered Spartak Moscow 7-0.
3. the Seven.
a. Church History. In early use also with lower-case initial. A group of seven men elected by the early Christian community in Jerusalem and ordained by the Apostles to minister to the material and spiritual needs of that community, thus enabling the Apostles to devote their time to prayer and preaching (see Acts 6:1–6). Also called the Seven Deacons.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > Bible, Scripture > Biblical personages > other New Testament > [noun]
innocentc1325
the Sevenc1384
Cananaean1585
kill-Christ1647
myrrhophore1848
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Deeds xxi. 8 Philip euangelist, that was oon of the seuene [L. septem].
1593 T. Bilson Perpetual Govt. Christes Church vii. 297 When the seuen were chosen to see the whole assemblie prouided for, and the goods of the faithfull well distributed; the Apostles praied for them and laied their hands on them.
1698 T. Gipps Remarks on Remarks iii. 32 I observ'd that hence a Question might be started, Whether the People or the Apostles did appoint the Seven unto their Office, and by consequence whether the People or the Bishops have Authority to appoint Parochial Ministers.
1854 W. Smith Dict. Greek & Rom. Geogr. I. 527/1 On the other hand there is abundant testimony that the early church in general considered the order of deacons to have originated in the institution of the Seven.
1902 T. M. Lindsay Church & Ministry in Early Cent. iv. 117 They are never called deacons; the Seven is the technical name they were known by.
2011 Jrnl. Biblical Lit. 130 140 The accounts of the work of Philip, one of the Seven, in Samaria..and with the Ethiopian eunuch..likewise depict the ministry of the Seven as reaching beyond the confines of Judea.
b. In early use also with lower-case initial. A group of seven philosophers, statesmen, and legislators of ancient Greece, renowned for their wisdom and pithy maxims. See sage n.2 a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > wisdom, sagacity > wise man, sage > [noun] > group of > in Greece
the Seven1605
1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Ee2v Which later kind of Parabolical wisedome was much more in vse in the ancient times, as by the Fables of Aesope, and the briefe sentences of the seuen..may appeare. View more context for this quotation
1836 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece II. xii. 129 (note) According to Dicæarchus..there were only four names which were universally admitted: Thales, Bias, Pittacus, Solon. Hermippus reckoned up thirteen more, from which the remainder of the Seven were selected by various authors.
2009 S. G. Miller Berkeley Plato 21 Plato mentions Pittakos, Bias, and Thales as members of the Seven..,and in yet another he names Solon as the wisest of the Seven.
c. Greek Mythology. Also the Argive Seven. A group of seven military leaders raised by Oedipus's son Polynices and under the command of Adrastus, king of Argos, who fought against the city of Thebes in Boeotia when Polynices's brother Eteocles refused to share its rule with him. Often in the Seven against (also before) Thebes, translating or with reference to Ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ Θήβας, the title of a play by Aeschylus (first produced in 467 b.c.).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > courage > heroism > [noun] > host of noble warriors
douthOE
douzepersc1275
the Argive Seven1646
1646 T. Blount tr. H. Estienne Art making Devises viii. 18 But..doe we not see a great resemblance of Devises, even from the time of the Theban Warre..as Aeschylus noteth, in his Tragedy, entituled, The seven before Thebes [Fr. les sept deuant Thebes], where (speaking of Capaneus) he saith, that in his Shield he had a naked man painted with a flaming Torch in his hand.
1800 J. Dallaway Anecd. Arts Eng. ii. i. 172 A league made by the Argivi, against the Thebans, and the expedition of the seven against Thebes, prior to the Trojan war, are the most remote and renowned events recorded in their annals.
1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 230 War of the ‘Seven’ (under Adrastus of Argos).
2009 Classical Philol. 104 487 Death in battle is the fate of all the Argive Seven (with the exception of Adrastus, whose end is postponed until another epic).
†d. British Army slang. The seven years for which a soldier's term of service lasts. Apparently only attested in it's all in the seven and variants: ‘it's to be expected’, ‘it's a matter of course’. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1898 United Service Mag. Mar. 649 In their way soldiers are very philosophical. If anything in their work annoys them they say, ‘It's all in the seven’, i.e., the seven years for which they join the army.
1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 254 There's nothing in that—it all comes in my seven.
e. The group of nations (Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) constituting the European Free Trade Association at its foundation in 1959 (see Efta n.). Cf. six adj. 2j. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > management of national resources > [noun] > political economy > types of economic system > international committee concerned with
the Seven1959
Group of 101963
Paris Club1963
G101964
Group of Five1973
G51977
Group of Eight1977
G81988
1959 Daily Tel. 20 Nov. 1/1 The creation of the ‘Six’ and the ‘Seven’ should under no circumstances lead to a trade war in Europe.
1978 Internat. Relations Dict. (U.S. Dept. State Library) 13/1 The original members..were referred to as ‘The Seven’..as a counterpart to ‘The Six’ original members of the Common Market.
2011 N. J. Crowson Brit. & Europe (e-book ed.) The EEC Commission's response was to refuse to sanction any further discussions with the Seven.
4. Dice. In the game of hazard: a throw of seven as a main (main n.2 1b). Now chiefly in historical contexts.See also Phrases 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > dice-playing > [noun] > hazard > type of throw
sevenc1405
nicka1635
seven and eleven1684
crabs1768
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Pardoner's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 325 Seuene is my chance and thyn is cynk & treye.
1560 Nice Wanton sig. A.iiiiv Here sirs [?1565 six], come on seuen.
1680 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 121 If again Seven be the Main, and the Caster throws eleven, that is a Nick.
1726 Whole Art & Myst. of Mod. Gaming 13 Whereas of the 36 Changes 24 only are Mains, viz. 8 Fives and Nines, 10 Sixes and Eights, and 6 Sevens.
1814 C. Jones Hoyle's Games Improved (new ed.) 362 If seven is thrown for a main, and four the chance, it is 2 to 1 against the person who throws.
1997 W. Smith Birds of Prey 462 Vincent took up the cup and rolled it out. Llewellyn read the dice. ‘The Main is seven’.
5.
a. The seventh of a set or series with numbered members, the one designated seven; a person or thing marked or distinguished by the number seven. Usually as number seven, or with specification, as book seven, chapter seven, etc. [Quot. ?a1450 probably shows comparable use of Latin in English context.]
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > seven > [noun] > group of seven > one bearing number seven
seven1535
?a1450 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (BL Add. 12056) (1894) 4 Cap. vii of lepre, & of knowlechynge of leprys Man.]
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Gen. (table of contents) Chap. vii.
1701 tr. F. Burgersdijck Introd. Art Logick xvii. 59 The first of these [Conditions of the Transient Cause] is precepted, Book 7. Physics, Cap. 3.
1830 F. Marryat King's Own III. i. 14 ‘Had not I better get a piece of duck for that?’ ‘No, no—number seven [sc. canvas] will do as well.’
1913 W. E. Kellicott Textbk. Gen. Embryol. iii. 92 As regards the nature of the organization, or promorphological relations, of the egg, two views have been taken and will be discussed in Chapter VII.
1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Feb. 24/1 The dark-haired Darling Point girl who was seven in the queue (I was six) rolled into a more comfortable position on the pavement.
2003 Liverpool Echo (Nexis) 5 June 20 His single, Husan, is number seven in the charts.
b. Rowing. More fully number seven. In an eight-oared boat: the rower occupying the seat behind the stroke (stroke n.1 13d).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > boat racing or race > [noun] > types of rowing race > oarsman
seven1870
trial eight1873
sweep-swinger1949
society > travel > travel by water > one who travels by water or sea > sailor > types of sailor > [noun] > rower or oarsman > crew of 4- or 8-oared boat > one of
eight-man1600
seven1870
1870 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 22 Mar. The crew of each boat is now made up as follows: Oxford—Mirrebans, bow; Lewis, two; Baker, three;..Benson, seven.
1912 Times 18 Mar. 15/1 No. 5 is still not long enough to help transmit to the rest of the crew the length set them by stroke and No. 7.
2016 N. McCrery Extinguished Flame 165 Now president of the Oxford Rowing Club he rowed number seven and was at last in the winning eight.
6.
a. A set of seven people or things of the same kind or with the same purpose; a group having seven similar members.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > seven > [noun] > group of seven
septenarya1500
seven1548
sevenfold1548
sevensome1568
septarchy1630
septuary1656
septuplet1795
septet1832
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Luke xxiiii. f. cxciiv As for Daniel doeth also shewe the tyme of his birth, accoumptyng it by seuens or seuenfoldes of wekes and yeres, if a man will any thyng curiously serche and trye it out.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xi. 735 Of everie Beast, and Bird, and Insect small Came seavens, and pairs. View more context for this quotation
1787 B. Foster Diss. Seventy Weeks Daniel iii. 10 The Jews had special occasion to measure their time by weeks, or sevens of years.
1820 T. B. Howell Compl. Coll. State Trials XXVIII. 419 The parliament that was to be raised after the king was dethroned; ‘that every parish was to form themselves into a committee of fourteen, and then into seven, and one out of every seven was to come into the parliament house.’
1969 Awards 2nd Div., National Railroad Adjustm. Board 59 No. 5652 2 A work week of 40 hours, consisting of five days of eight hours each, with two consecutive days off in each seven is hereby established.
2013 Shaw 33 183 The classical civilizations also grouped many totemic items in sevens, such as the Seven Sages of Greece and the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
b. A playing card marked with seven pips (pip n.3 1a).A standard pack of playing cards contains four sevens, one of each suit.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > card or cards > [noun] > number card > others
twoa1500
cater1519
single ten1595
ten1595
eight1598
four1599
nine1599
six1599
seven1656
deuce1674
five1674
trey1680
spot1830
four-spot1878
two-spot1885
five-spot1913
ten-spot ladybird-
1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Polit. Touch-stone in tr. T. Boccalini Ragguagli di Parnasso 448 The fair advantage which he had of three sevens in hand.
1680 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 90 You then play your seven of Clubs.
1774 W. Hooper Rational Recreations I. xl. 120 You discard the knave, ten, and eight of spades, with the seven and eight of diamonds.
1873 Routledge's Young Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 121 Gather up the four sevens, and place them on the top of the pack.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XX. 101/1 The order for red suit trumps [in ombre] is: ace of spades, 7 (called manille), ace of clubs (called basto), ace (called ponto), K, Q, [etc.].
1955 A. Sheinwold Bridge Play for Beginners ii. 64 With your mind made up, you play the seven of hearts from the dummy at the first trick.
2017 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 13 Aug. 80 Arbuckle shuffles his deck, telling Graham to pick a card, from the Jack of clubs to the seven of diamonds.
†c. Cricket. A score of seven runs from one hit. Cf. six n. 6. Obsolete.Although it is still technically possible to score a seven, it is a rare occurrence since boundaries (boundary n. 3b) became standard in the early 20th cent.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > batting > [noun] > types of stroke > for specific number of runs
seven1765
four1837
single1851
five1859
sevener1862
sixer1870
fourer1875
two1881
twoer1887
thirteener1893
six1920
Dorothy Dix1979
1765 London Evening-post 5 Sept. Stephen Harding, one of the Chertsey bowlers, fetched 24 notches off his own batt at four strokes; that was, one five, two sixes, and one seven.
1886 J. Pycroft Oxf. Memories II. 101 He hit Mr. Lowth for a fair seven.
1927 F. S. Ashley-Cooper Cricket Highways & Byways ii. 37 Earlier in the month, A. Anscombe had made 103 for Cuckfield against Horsted Keynes,..among his strokes being a seven, two sixes and a five.
d. In verse: a line of seven syllables. Also: a line in a metrical psalm or hymn tune intended to fit seven syllables. Chiefly in plural, often in in sevens. Now somewhat rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > versification > metre > [noun] > variety of > seven syllables
heptasyllabica1771
seven1781
1781 J. Murlin Sacred Hymns 46 (note) Four Lines, all Sevens.
1847 Christian Hymns for Public & Private Worship (ed. 11) (Cheshire (Conn.) Pastoral Assoc.) p. xxviii (table) 7, 6, & 8s. M. Seven, Six, and Eights Metre... [See Hymns] 514.
1895 Derby Mercury 19 June 7/3 The lay preacher..announced that a hymn as written in a metre of eight syllables would be sung to a tune in sevens.
1967 Hispanic Rev. 35 188 A short gap after the internal rhyme in the Second Eclogue's leonines enables readers to feel the metre and make sense of the verses. Where sevens alternate with elevens, the sevens are indented.
2003 L. Callahan In Shadows of Divine Perfection i. 37 If this were the case, then lines thirteen through sixteen would constitute a quatrain of the Miltonic version of eights and sevens used in ‘L'Allegro’.
e. In plural. A ball game in which players aim to catch a ball in a particular manner seven times in succession.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > children's ball games > [noun]
catchball1631
hop-ball1811
Anthony over1838
barn-ball1841
bull-pen1857
sevens1864
catch1887
pig in the middle1887
alairy1916
monkey in the middle1952
kingy1959
piggy in the middle1967
dandy shandy1978
1864 Every Little Boy's Bk. 88 Sevens. This game is very like catch-ball. The object is to catch a ball seven times in a particular fashion.
1959 Midwest Folklore 9 78 [With reference to Australian children in 1954–5.] Boys and girls..played in pairs, taking turns going through a set ritual which had a definite name such as ‘Sevens’, ‘Drunken Sailor’ or ‘Oliver Twist’.
2007 Times 30 June (Mag.) 75/3 Get him to try a game of Sevens. Seven times, throw a tennis ball against a wall and catch it.
f. In plural (with singular agreement). Rugby Union. A modified form of rugby union football with seven players on each team, played on a standard rugby union pitch over two halves of seven minutes each, and following the same scoring system as the standard fifteen-a-side game. Frequently as modifier, as in sevens match, sevens tournament, etc. Cf. Rugby sevens n., seven-a-side n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > rugby football > [noun] > types of
rugby football1852
rugby union1873
seven-a-side1896
rugby league1923
sevens1926
touch rugby1926
Rugby sevens1929
touch1936
touch rugger1942
tag rugby1969
mini-rugby1974
1926 Times 26 Apr. 5/5 Cussen showed in the semi-final what pace means in the game of Sevens.
1977 Daily Mirror 15 Mar. 30/1 Rosslyn Park are angry that they cannot call their famous schools sevens tournament by the names of their sponsors.
1987 Daily Tel. (Sydney) (Nexis) 27 Feb. Possession is the key factor for any side in a Sevens match..unlike 15-man rugby, where by a side must continually go forward to get to the advantage line, a Sevens side will run forwards and backwards in the search for a break.
2013 Independent on Sunday 18 Aug. (Sport section) 22/2 Sevens allows countries such as Kenya, Fiji and Spain to make a mark without a full-blown 15-a-side culture at home.
7. Music. In early use: †an interval of a seventh (obsolete). In later use: the seventh note of a diatonic scale; a chord containing this note. Cf. seventh n. 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > pitch > interval > [noun] > seventh
seven1561
seventh1591
septime1725
1561 T. Hoby tr. B. Castiglione Courtyer i. sig. E.iii The verye sence of our hearing..often times deliteth in a seconde or in a seuen [It. settima].
1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie iii. x. sig. H6v When they sute Some harsher seauens for varietie My natiue skill discernes it presently.
1853 H. H. Pierson tr. L. van Beethoven Stud. Thorough-bass i. 44 The chord of Nine-seven includes, in addition to the 9th and 7th, also the Third.
1980 Jrnl. Music Theory 24 103 He mentions that the prototype of a certain hexachord (a subset of the half- and whole-step alternation) is Moussorgsky's combination of an A-flat 7 and a D 7 chord.
2004 M. Overly Guitar Fretboard Facts 98/1 Roman numerals are used to notate the chords function (place) with the blues progression and the chords type (major, minor, dominant seven, or whatever).
8. A size or measurement denoted by seven; an object or item of clothing, esp. a shoe, of such a size. Also in number seven, size seven.
ΚΠ
1836 Hampshire Tel. & Sussex Chron. 26 Dec. Fifty pair of Men's Shoes..five pair of nines, nine pair of eights, nine pair of sevens.
1888 Outing: Fishing Excerpts 3 332/2 In regard to hooks, opinions vary; some anglers use them as small as number sevens.
1937 H. Jennings et al. May 12th Mass-observ. Day-surveys (1987) ii. 385 I explained to the hat salesman that I wanted something brown, size about 7.
2016 Birmingham Evening Mail (Nexis) 9 Jan. 8 I take size five shoes but have been sent hobbling down the catwalk in size sevens, far too big and taped on.

Phrases

P1.
seven names of God n. Chiefly with the. In Christianity, Judaism, and Islam: seven principal or significant designations by which God is known; spec. (Judaism) a list of seven designations of God considered so holy that a scribe must take particular care in writing them.Quots. c1330, a1500 show earlier ways of referring to the same concept. ( N.E.D. (1911) interpreted seven in these quots. differently, as a name of God.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > [noun] > name of > scriptural name(s)
AdonaiOE
Sabaotha1325
Lord (God) of Hosts1382
Jehovah1530
I AM1539
Jah1539
the Ancient of Days1560
Elohim1605
Shaddaia1631
seven names of God1657
Yahweh1869
Hashem1877
c1330 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) l. 2841 God, for his name seuene, He bring ȝou to gode heuene!
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xiii. 134 Now, Lord, for thy naymes vii, That made both moyn and starnes Well mo then I can neuen, Thi will, Lorde, of me tharnys.]
1657 J. Davies tr. G. Naudé Hist. Magick xiv. 169 A book which Trithemius sayes was made by Geber King of the Indians, upon the relation between the seven Planets and the seven names of God.
1846 Western Lit. Messenger 29 Aug. 52/2 In the center were inscribed the seven names of God in Turkish, Persian, and Arabic, forming a large circle of gilt letters.
1923 in F. Achad Crystal Vision through Crystal Gazing v. 80 Note first the Holy Sevenfold Table containing seven Names of God which not even the Angels are able to pronounce.
2007 A. Kurzweil Kabbalah for Dummies iv. xvi. 284 Kabbalistic tradition requires that the following seven names of God be given special care by scribes who write sacred scrolls.
†P2. to set (something) on (also upon) seven: (of God) to create (the universe, or a part of it) in seven days. Chiefly as to set all on seven. Obsolete.Perhaps influenced by Phrases 3a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > [verb (transitive)] > of God
workOE
rearOE
shapeOE
makeOE
raisec1384
to set (something) on (also upon) sevenc1390
spire1435
c1390 Pistel of Swete Susan (Vernon) l. 264 (MED) Þou maker of Middelert..Boþe þe sonne and þe see þou sette vppon seuene.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xiii. 157 The fader of heuen, God omnypotent, That sett all on seuen.
1508 Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. cvi I swere be suthfast god that settis all on sevin.
P3. Dice, and related phrases. See sense B. 4.
†a. to set (all) on seven: to stake everything on a desperate venture; (hence) to make an attack. Cf. to set on six and seven at six n. 5. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > attack > attack [verb (intransitive)]
to lay ona1225
assailc1325
sailc1330
assemblea1375
to fall inc1384
to fall ona1387
givec1430
brunt1440
to set (all) on sevenc1440
to ding on1487
to fall down1534
offend1540
to go on1553
to give on?1611
to let fly1611
strikea1616
insult1638
to set on1670
aggress1708
to carry the war into the enemy's camp1791
hop over1929
c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure l. 2131 (MED) Thus he settez on seuen with his sekyre knyghttez.
c1440 Sir Degrevant (Thornton) (1949) l. 1295 I sold haf sett all on seuen For Mildor þe swete.
1508 Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. bvi With seymely schei[l]dis to schew thai set vpone seuin.
†b.
(a) come on seven (also come a seven): the exhortation ‘come on, seven!’ as uttered in the game of hazard, used in reference to the game, or to gambling in general. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
?c1599 J. Davies & C. Marlowe Epigrammes & Elegies sig. B4 Hee still doth sweare By, come a seauen, that all is lost and gone.
1631 T. Dekker Penny-wise, Povnd Foolish sig. C2v One part of my mony ranne away with Come on sixe, and Come on seuen: I could play at Novum, Passage, In and In, Mum Chance, at Tables, Irish, Tick-tack, any thing.
(b)
† come you seven n. a habitual gambler. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > [noun] > player of games of chance
tavlereOE
playera1387
gamera1450
adventurer1474
gamester1549
come you seven1605
tableman1608
knight of the elbow1705
sitter1748
gambler1784
gamestress1828
playman1844
sport1856
spieler1859
punter1860
tiger-hunter1896
1605 G. Chapman Al Fooles ii. i. 42 Shall I be made A foolish novice..By everie cheating come you seaven?
†c. seven and eleven: the game of hazard; cf. sense B. 4. Obsolete.With reference to the fact that seven and eleven are the two throws with which a player can win when seven is the main (main n.2 1b).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > dice-playing > [noun] > hazard > type of throw
sevenc1405
nicka1635
seven and eleven1684
crabs1768
1684 T. Otway Atheist v. 61 Farewell for ever old Hock,..Seven and Eleven; Sink-Tray, and the Doublets.
1693 Humours & Conversat. Town 25 But at Seven and Eleven to shake away an Estate to known Rooks that live by the Dice, is an unaccountable piece of folly.
1722 Freeholder's Jrnl. 26 Sept. 232/1 We are sunk to the vile Degeneracy of Back Gammon, Seven and Eleven, &c.
†d. seven's-the-main: the game of hazard; cf. sense B. 4 and main n.2 1b. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1731 Read's Weekly Jrnl. 28 Aug. Robin's Game, or Seven's the Main.
1839 W. M. Thackeray Lect. Fine Arts ii, in Wks. (1900) XIII. 273 A gambling-house, where many a bout of seven's-the-main..has been had.
1866 Australasian 8 Dec. 1130/3 Merry-go-rounds, unders and overs, seven's the main, and tiddlywinks, a few sleight-of-hand gentry with their three cards.
e. Australian slang. to throw (also chuck) a (or the) seven and variants: to die; (occasionally also) to faint; to lose one's composure. Also (rarely) to vomit.
ΚΠ
1886 Globe (Sydney) 1 June 5/6 Any man wot' 'ud swear another's liberty away ought to chuck a seven right off.
1894 H. Lawson Martin Farrell in Coll. Verse (1967) I. 269 I am pretty cronk and shaky—too far gone for hell or heaven, An' the chances are I'm goin'—that I'm goin' to ‘do the seven’.
1899 W. T. Goodge Hits! Skits! & Jingles! 17 You could bet on me chuckin' the seven If she slung me for some other bloke!
1966 T. Ronan Once there was Bagman x. 217 The partially digested fruit must have swollen inside me, for before long I was chucking sevens around the flat as I had done a few years before when I had that touch of ptomaine poisoning.
1978 P. Hanigan & R. Lindsay No Tracks on River 96 Of course, his Mum straight away chucked a seven and squealed, ‘Careful, Deryck, careful. Oh, do be careful!’
2008 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 12 Jan. 29 His sister goes mad and kills herself; his mum dies of lung cancer. A disproportionate number of friends also throw a seven. He is acquainted with grief.
P4. seven bells. [Apparently originally with allusion to the nautical tradition of sounding ‘eight bells’ to mark a sailor's death (i.e. sounding the ship's bell eight times, the usual signal for the end of a watch; compare bell n.1 3b); hence ‘seven bells’ would carry the implication ‘almost to death’.]
a. Originally slang (originally U.S. Nautical). to knock (also beat, kick, etc.) seven bells out of a person: to beat (kick, etc.) a person severely.
ΚΠ
1844 N.Y. Herald 13 Jan. I heard Linden, as he came out of the forecastle, say that he would knock ‘seven bells’ out of the mate.
1932 J. W. Harris Days of Endeavour ix. 158 Three angry Norwegians..knocked seven bells out of him.
1992 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 20 Dec. 31 They beat seven bells out of someone who had the temerity to sing a song badly. They just snapped.
2005 Cheshire Life Aug. 141/3 How can I enjoy watching someone trying to knock seven bells out of my son? You do worry because boxing is such a brutal sport.
b. slang (chiefly Australian and New Zealand). to scare (also frighten) seven bells out of a person: to terrify a person.
ΚΠ
1890 Taranaki Herald (New Plymouth, N.Z.) 1 May The white colour of the pup, and the night habiliments of the performers,..had tended to create such a complete ghostly illusion as to frighten seven bells out of one of our sturdiest and most courageous pioneers.
1943 F. C. Hendry True Tales of Sail & Steam i. 11 She [sc. a ship] scared seven bells out of us and gave us the worst month I have ever known at sea.
2015 Southland Times (N.Z.) (Nexis) 28 Dec. 8 The milk side of it is very volitile [sic] with prices sliding up and down the financial scale scaring seven bells out of our dairy farmers.
P5.
a. slang (originally U.S.). seven kinds (also sorts, etc.) of ——: used as an intensifier, emphasizing the extent or degree of something; cf. seven shades of.
ΚΠ
1875 Chicago Tribune 2 Oct. 11/1 You've raised seven kinds of blazes with the parents of the girls.
1922 Camp Log (N.Y. State Coll. Forestry) Feb. 33/1 It was not long before the heat began to tell on us and our throats felt like seven varieties of sand paper.
1967 N. Nye Trail of Lost Skulls xxvii. 137 I've been seven kinds of a parblind idjit but the only one I ever loved was you!
2009 Sun (Nexis) 18 Feb. I remember..apprehensively waiting for her, imagining she'd be seven sorts of nightmare.
b. slang (originally U.S.). to knock seven kinds of —— out of (a person) and variants: to beat or attack a person severely. [Probably after to knock (also beat, kick, etc.) seven bells out of a person at Phrases 4a.]
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impact > striking > beating or repeated striking > beat [verb (transitive)] > specifically a person
to-beatc893
threshOE
bustc1225
to lay on or upon?c1225
berrya1250
to-bunea1250
touchc1330
arrayc1380
byfrapc1380
boxc1390
swinga1400
forbeatc1420
peal?a1425
routa1425
noddlea1450
forslinger1481
wipe1523
trima1529
baste1533
waulk1533
slip1535
peppera1550
bethwack1555
kembc1566
to beat (a person) black and blue1568
beswinge1568
paik1568
trounce1568
canvass1573
swaddle?1577
bebaste1582
besoop1589
bumfeage1589
dry-beat1589
feague1589
lamback1589
clapperclaw1590
thrash1593
belam1595
lam1595
beswaddle1598
bumfeagle1598
belabour1600
tew1600
flesh-baste1611
dust1612
feeze1612
mill1612
verberate1614
bethumpa1616
rebuke1619
bemaul1620
tabor1624
maula1627
batterfang1630
dry-baste1630
lambaste1637
thunder-thump1637
cullis1639
dry-banga1640
nuddle1640
sauce1651
feak1652
cotton1654
fustigate1656
brush1665
squab1668
raddle1677
to tan (a person's) hide1679
slam1691
bebump1694
to give (a person) his load1694
fag1699
towel1705
to kick a person's butt1741
fum1790
devel1807
bray1808
to beat (also scare, etc.) someone's daylights out1813
mug1818
to knock (a person) into the middle of next week1821
welt1823
hidea1825
slate1825
targe1825
wallop1825
pounce1827
to lay into1838
flake1841
muzzle1843
paste1846
looder1850
frail1851
snake1859
fettle1863
to do over1866
jacket1875
to knock seven kinds of —— out of (a person)1877
to take apart1880
splatter1881
to beat (knock, etc.) the tar out of1884
to —— the shit out of (a person or thing)1886
to do up1887
to —— (the) hell out of1887
to beat — bells out of a person1890
soak1892
to punch out1893
stoush1893
to work over1903
to beat up1907
to punch up1907
cream1929
shellac1930
to —— the bejesus out of (a person or thing)1931
duff1943
clobber1944
to fill in1948
to bash up1954
to —— seven shades of —— out of (a person or thing)1976
to —— seven shades out of (a person or thing)1983
beast1990
becurry-
fan-
1877 Chester (Pa.) Daily Times 13 July The irate female..started homeward with the avowded [sic] intention of knocking seven kinds of grace ‘out'n’ her husband.
1955 Snyder (Texas) Daily News 5 Oct. 4/6 He is the most dirty, low-down, whisky-soaked, beer-guzzling, bull-necked, foul-mouthed hypocrite. I'd knock seven kinds of pork out of that old hog.
2014 @MulberryPoppins 14 Apr. in twitter.com (accessed 1 Oct. 2020) She'd..be able to batter seven types of shit out of you, even tho she's tiny, so you'd best be careful.
P6. seven shades.
a. slang. (like) seven shades of ——: used as an intensifier, emphasizing the extent of a condition or quality.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > greatly or very much [phrase] > extremely
like mada1375
with a mischief1538
(as) — as anything1542
with a vengeance1568
with a siserary1607
(to be pleased) to a feathera1616
in (the) extremea1616
with the vengeance1693
to a degree1740
like hell1776
like the devil1791
like winky1830
like billy-o1885
(like) seven shades of ——1919
like a bandit1943
on wheels1943
1919 U.S. Tobacco Jrnl. 10 May 24/2 When..the future looks like seven shades of blue,..you can bet no one's to blame excepting you.
1974 R. Doliner For Love or Money xvii. 157 I look like seven shades of hell.
2012 Laura B archive.domesticsluttery.com 20 Aug. (blog, accessed 16 Jan. 2020) I don't know about you, but remembering to eat seasonally makes me feel seven shades of smug.
b. slang. to —— seven shades of —— out of (a person or thing): to —— (a person or thing) to an excessive or violent degree, esp. in to —— seven shades of shit out of (a person or thing). Cf. to —— the shit out of (a person or thing) at shit n. and adj. Phrases 2, and to —— (the) hell out of at hell n. and int. Phrases 5e. [Probably after to knock (also beat, kick, etc.) seven bells out of a person at Phrases 4a and to knock seven kinds of —— out of (a person) at Phrases 5b.]
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impact > striking > beating or repeated striking > beat [verb (transitive)] > specifically a person
to-beatc893
threshOE
bustc1225
to lay on or upon?c1225
berrya1250
to-bunea1250
touchc1330
arrayc1380
byfrapc1380
boxc1390
swinga1400
forbeatc1420
peal?a1425
routa1425
noddlea1450
forslinger1481
wipe1523
trima1529
baste1533
waulk1533
slip1535
peppera1550
bethwack1555
kembc1566
to beat (a person) black and blue1568
beswinge1568
paik1568
trounce1568
canvass1573
swaddle?1577
bebaste1582
besoop1589
bumfeage1589
dry-beat1589
feague1589
lamback1589
clapperclaw1590
thrash1593
belam1595
lam1595
beswaddle1598
bumfeagle1598
belabour1600
tew1600
flesh-baste1611
dust1612
feeze1612
mill1612
verberate1614
bethumpa1616
rebuke1619
bemaul1620
tabor1624
maula1627
batterfang1630
dry-baste1630
lambaste1637
thunder-thump1637
cullis1639
dry-banga1640
nuddle1640
sauce1651
feak1652
cotton1654
fustigate1656
brush1665
squab1668
raddle1677
to tan (a person's) hide1679
slam1691
bebump1694
to give (a person) his load1694
fag1699
towel1705
to kick a person's butt1741
fum1790
devel1807
bray1808
to beat (also scare, etc.) someone's daylights out1813
mug1818
to knock (a person) into the middle of next week1821
welt1823
hidea1825
slate1825
targe1825
wallop1825
pounce1827
to lay into1838
flake1841
muzzle1843
paste1846
looder1850
frail1851
snake1859
fettle1863
to do over1866
jacket1875
to knock seven kinds of —— out of (a person)1877
to take apart1880
splatter1881
to beat (knock, etc.) the tar out of1884
to —— the shit out of (a person or thing)1886
to do up1887
to —— (the) hell out of1887
to beat — bells out of a person1890
soak1892
to punch out1893
stoush1893
to work over1903
to beat up1907
to punch up1907
cream1929
shellac1930
to —— the bejesus out of (a person or thing)1931
duff1943
clobber1944
to fill in1948
to bash up1954
to —— seven shades of —— out of (a person or thing)1976
to —— seven shades out of (a person or thing)1983
beast1990
becurry-
fan-
1976 Daily Express 27 Sept. 20/2 Italy can be expected to knock seven shades of hell out of England on November 17.
2007 S. Kennedy in F. Emerson et al. Clean Cabbage in Bucket 322 These stories frightened seven shades of shite out of me as an impressionable kid.
2013 M. Gartside Last to Know 191 Stay the fuck away from me and my family... Or I swear I will kick seven shades of shit out of you. Understand?
c. slang. to —— seven shades out of (a person or thing): to —— (a person or thing) to an excessive or violent degree. Cf. to knock (also beat, kick, etc.) seven bells out of a person at Phrases 4a.Often regarded as a euphemism for Phrases 6b, in the form to —— seven shades of shit out of (a person or thing).
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impact > striking > beating or repeated striking > beat [verb (transitive)] > specifically a person
to-beatc893
threshOE
bustc1225
to lay on or upon?c1225
berrya1250
to-bunea1250
touchc1330
arrayc1380
byfrapc1380
boxc1390
swinga1400
forbeatc1420
peal?a1425
routa1425
noddlea1450
forslinger1481
wipe1523
trima1529
baste1533
waulk1533
slip1535
peppera1550
bethwack1555
kembc1566
to beat (a person) black and blue1568
beswinge1568
paik1568
trounce1568
canvass1573
swaddle?1577
bebaste1582
besoop1589
bumfeage1589
dry-beat1589
feague1589
lamback1589
clapperclaw1590
thrash1593
belam1595
lam1595
beswaddle1598
bumfeagle1598
belabour1600
tew1600
flesh-baste1611
dust1612
feeze1612
mill1612
verberate1614
bethumpa1616
rebuke1619
bemaul1620
tabor1624
maula1627
batterfang1630
dry-baste1630
lambaste1637
thunder-thump1637
cullis1639
dry-banga1640
nuddle1640
sauce1651
feak1652
cotton1654
fustigate1656
brush1665
squab1668
raddle1677
to tan (a person's) hide1679
slam1691
bebump1694
to give (a person) his load1694
fag1699
towel1705
to kick a person's butt1741
fum1790
devel1807
bray1808
to beat (also scare, etc.) someone's daylights out1813
mug1818
to knock (a person) into the middle of next week1821
welt1823
hidea1825
slate1825
targe1825
wallop1825
pounce1827
to lay into1838
flake1841
muzzle1843
paste1846
looder1850
frail1851
snake1859
fettle1863
to do over1866
jacket1875
to knock seven kinds of —— out of (a person)1877
to take apart1880
splatter1881
to beat (knock, etc.) the tar out of1884
to —— the shit out of (a person or thing)1886
to do up1887
to —— (the) hell out of1887
to beat — bells out of a person1890
soak1892
to punch out1893
stoush1893
to work over1903
to beat up1907
to punch up1907
cream1929
shellac1930
to —— the bejesus out of (a person or thing)1931
duff1943
clobber1944
to fill in1948
to bash up1954
to —— seven shades of —— out of (a person or thing)1976
to —— seven shades out of (a person or thing)1983
beast1990
becurry-
fan-
1983 F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen, Pet xii. 217 You're all listless. Same with our budgie back home—if he's not nuttin' seven shades out of his bell, we know there's somethin' bothering him.
2014 N.Z. Herald (Nexis) 13 Oct. Next thing I knew they were rolling on the ground beating seven shades out of each other.
P7.
† seven-and-sixer n. School slang Obsolete rare a hat costing seven shillings and sixpence.Apparently an isolated fictional use.
ΚΠ
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. v. 100 We're allowed two seven-and-sixers a half.
P8. Cards. seven-and-a-half: a gambling game similar to blackjack, in which players try to acquire cards with a face value totalling seven and a half and no more.Court cards (except for the King of Diamonds) are counted as worth half a point. The game is usually played using a standard deck from which the eights, nines, and tens have been removed.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > other card games > [noun] > others
laugh and lie down1522
mack1548
decoyc1555
pinionc1557
to beat the knave out of doors1570
imperial1577
prima vista1587
loadum1591
flush1598
prime1598
thirty-perforce1599
gresco1605
hole1621
my sow's pigged1621
slam1621
fox-mine-host1622
whipperginnie1622
crimpa1637
hundred1636
pinache1641
sequence1653
lady's hole1658
quebas1668
art of memory1674
costly colours1674
penneech1674
plain dealing1674
wit and reason1680
comet1685
lansquenet1687
incertain1689
macham1689
uptails1694
quinze1714
hoc1730
commerce1732
matrimonya1743
tredrille1764
Tom come tickle me1769
tresette1785
snitch'ems1798
tontine1798
blind hazard1816
all fives1838
short cards1845
blind hookey1852
sixty-six1857
skin the lamb1864
brisque1870
handicap1870
manille1874
forty-five1875
slobberhannes1877
fifteen1884
Black Maria1885
slapjack1887
seven-and-a-half1895
pit1904
Russian Bank1915
red dog1919
fan-tan1923
Pelmanism1923
Slippery Sam1923
go fish1933
Russian Banker1937
racing demon1938
pit-a-pat1947
scopa1965
1895 Compl. Codes & Statutes Montana II. iv. 1071 Every person who deals, plays, carries on..any game of..fan-tan, stud-horse poker, draw poker, craps, seven-and-a-half, twenty-one, or any banking or per centage game played with cards, dice, or any device for money..is punishable by fine.
1964 A. Wykes Gambling vii. 178 Blackjack and seven-and-a-half are found more rarely in the casinos of Europe than those of America.
2008 News & Observer (Raleigh, N. Carolina) (Nexis) 31 Dec. His family will start after midnight playing seven-and-a-half, a card game similar to blackjack, a tradition common in his native Lebanon.
P9. Originally and chiefly U.S. seven minutes in (also of) heaven: a party game played chiefly by adolescents in which two selected participants are shut in a closet or other dark, enclosed space for seven minutes, during which they are expected to engage in amorous activity such as kissing.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > parlour and party games > [noun] > other party or parlour games
drawing of glovesc1540
drawing gloves1599
substantives and adjectives1601
draw gloves1648
grinning-match1711
Move All1782
consequences1811
stagecoach1831
letters1845
Russian scandal1861
buzz1864
snap1865
slappy1868
apple-ducking1886
up Jenkins1889
piladex1895
telephone1910
hot potato1915
sardines1924
murder in the dark1930
pass the parcel1953
seven minutes in (also of) heaven1953
Chinese whispers1964
1953 Jet 6 Aug. 22 The winner in ‘Seven Minutes of Heaven’ has the privilege of choosing any girl in the room, going into the bedroom with her, closing the door, turning out the lights and doing whatever he pleases for seven minutes.
1991 I. Zahava Word of Mouth II. 147 Debbie Katz spins the bottle and it lands on me, and Alan Allen and I had to go into Debbie Katz's parents bedroom for Seven Minutes In Heaven.
2013 J. S. Doktorski How my Summer went up in Flames i. 8 I got busted at an eighth-grade graduation party playing seven minutes in heaven with Armand DelVecchio, who, by the way, kisses like a seal.

Compounds

C1.
a. In combination with other numbers to express multiples of seven, as seven hundred, seven thousand, etc.
ΚΠ
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) ii. v. 45 His heres wæs seofon hund þusenda, þa he on Sciðþie for.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 185 We habbeð seoue þusunð [c1300 Otho seue þusund] of gode cnihten.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 1488 Lameth his sun his eild to neuen, Seuen hundret yeir seuenti and seuen.
c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure l. 3788 (MED) Sekerly assembles thare one seuenschore knyghtes.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 4 Seuin hundir thousand pace lang.
1650 in C. Innes Fasti Aberdonenses (1854) 587 Seivine dusson egges.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth I. 216 The river Missisippi is of more than seven hundred leagues in length.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. v. 656 They were determined to prosecute..unless a reasonable sum were forthcoming, and..by a reasonable sum was meant seven thousand pounds.
1936 Liberty Mag. 12 Sept. 54/2 The cost of the various local agencies of government is approximately seven billion.
2015 Daily Express 21 May 24/2 Precious ‘me time’ is now so hard to find that seven million of us get fewer than 20 minutes a day, a survey says.
b. Forming compound numbers with and and multiples of ten, as in seven and twenty, seven and thirty, etc. Now archaic and in historical contexts.Now usually as the second element of compound numerals, as in twenty-seven, thirty-seven, etc. (also rarely twenty-and-seven, etc.): see the first elements.
ΚΠ
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) iii. xi. 82 Seleucus hæfde seofon & seofontig wintra.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 594 Seuene and .xx.ti dais.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) ii. xiv. sig. Y3v A young girle of a seuen and twenty yeare old.
1789 D. Collins Acct. Eng. Colony New S. Wales (1804) (ed. 2) iv. 74 A boat belonging to the Sirius caught seven-and-forty of the large fish.
1897 R. Kipling Captains Courageous 255 They sat unmurmuring through seven-and-thirty hatchet-made verses describing at fullest length the loss of the schooner Joan Hasken.
2000 K. Hawkins Abduction of Julia i. 10 She was seven-and-twenty years old, far too advanced in age to worry about sitting in a parlor for a pleasant half-hour with a known rake.
c. Forming compound ordinal numbers with and and ordinals in multiples of ten from twentieth to ninetieth, as in seven-and-twentieth, seven-and-thirtieth, etc. Now archaic and rare.In later use chiefly imitating biblical language.
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OE King Ælfred tr. Psalms (Paris) (2001) xxvii. Introd. Dauid sang þisne seofon and twentigoþan sealm.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1963) 4 Kings xxv. 27 In þe seuene & þrettiþe ȝeer of þe transmygracioun of Joachym..þe twelfþe moneþ þe seuene & twentiþe dai of þe moneþ.
1579 W. Fulke Heskins Parl. Repealed in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 302 The seuen and sixtieth Chapter.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 270 The seven and twentieth Booke of Plinies Naturall Historie.
1736 T. Lediard Life Marlborough III. iii. 89 For, on this Occasion, He might easily have perform'd the Obligation of the Seven and Thirtieth article of the Preliminaries.
1840 Citizen July 148 Gerald Griffin was born in the City of Limerick, in the year 1803, and had, we believe, not yet completed his seven-and-thirtieth year.
1969 K. M. Cameron Papp i. ii. 24 And she brought forth sons, which are the generations of mankind, even unto the seven- and-seventieth son of the seventh son of the seventh son! (He pauses dramatically.)
2003 Times 1 Aug. (T2 section) 2 For Tony is the Way, whether it be the third or the fourth or the seven-and-twentieth, and without him you shall be cast down from your seats and wander again in the wilderness.
C2. Forming adjectives with the sense ‘that has seven ——’, by combining with a noun + -ed, as in seven-cornered, seven-headed, seven-membered, seven-pointed, seven-sided, seven-stringed, etc. See also seven-hilled adj., seven-leagued adj.
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a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xix. cxxviii. 1370 The fyue-cornered figure conteyneþ fyue triangles, and..þe seuen-cornered figure seuene.
?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) ii. xxi. sig. Pj Let ABCDEFG represent an irregular Pollygonium, or seuen sided peece of ground, which I would diuide with streight lines.
1561 J. Daus tr. H. Bullinger Hundred Serm. vpon Apocalips xv. 103 He is said..to haue the seuen fourmed spirit [L. septiformem spiritum], whom he also powreth out vpon the faithful.
1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine iii. xii. 438 A knop, flower, bowle, or almond of the seven-branched candle-stick.
1753 D. Henry Hist. Descr. Tower of London 37 On one Side of this Figure is the Representation of..a Hydra, or Seven-headed Monster.
1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 682 The implement..is now very frequently used with five tines, in place of the original seven-tined implement.
1898 J. A. Mathews Action Nitrils upon Aromatic Acids ii. 22 Diphenimid is interesting in that it furnishes an example of a seven-membered ring containing nitrogen.
1926 T. H. Savory Brit. Spiders v. 45 The legs are seven-jointed, each consisting of a coxa, trochanter, femur, patella, tibia, metatarsus, and tarsus.
1965 J. A. Michener Source (1966) 251 He carried a small seven-stringed lyre made of fir wood trimmed with antique bronze and strung with twisted sheep's gut.
2020 Sunshine Coast Daily (Queensland, Austral.) (Nexis) 20 June 22 Because of an influx of counterfeit $50 notes in circulation, police are urging people to check security features on the notes including a seven-pointed star and the Australian coat of arms.
C3.
a. Combining with singular nouns to form adjectives with the sense ‘of, involving, or consisting of seven of the specified thing’. See also seven-league adj.
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1681 N. Grew Musæum Regalis Societatis iv. §ii. 366 A Seven-Shot Gun, or a Gun which carries Powder and Bullets, for seven Charges and Discharges.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. ix. 382/1 A Wax Box, with a seven Stone Ring set in it.
1780 H. Walpole in J. H. Jesse G. Selwyn & his Contemp. (1844) IV. 317 Last night I saw a proof-piece of seven-shilling pieces struck in 1776.
1869 T. Hood Rules Rhyme 38 The Seven-line Stanza.
1883 G. Grove Dict. Music III. 464/1 Several short pieces for female voices in seven-part harmony.
1939 A. Rodger in F. C. Bartlett et al. Study of Society ii. xi. 259 Causes of occupational failure..are..classifiable under seven headings. [Note] This seven-point plan, has, of course, other uses.
2006 Time Out N.Y. 20 Apr. 33 If the $70 seven-course prix fixe menu isn't enough to impress, ask about the 'wagon service', featuring rare ingredients.
b.
(a) Combining with units of length, weight, or capacity to form adjectives with the sense ‘weighing, measuring, or holding seven of the specified unit’. See also seven-inch adj.
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1706 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 25 2238 Mr St. Gray had prepared a Scene placed behind his seven foot Glass.
1782 J. H. St. J. de Crèvecoeur Lett. from Amer. Farmer vi. 169 The right whale, or seven feet bone, common on the coasts of this country, about sixty feet long.
1881 O. Wilde Poems 117 The seven-cubit spear.
1896 R. Kipling Seven Seas 97 We've shouted on seven-ounce nuggets.
1901 W. R. H. Trowbridge Lett. Mother to Elizabeth vi. 27 It would cost such a lot to stop the leaks in a seven-acre roof.
1967 Sunday Times 15 June 1000 Makers of 20th Cent. Suppl. at Charles Atlas, As a seven-stone weakling Angelo Siciliano was beaten up by a thug with an ember-filled stocking.
2019 Advertiser (Austral.) (Nexis) 4 Aug. 17 It comes standard with a seven-litre water tank and electric spray jet.
(b) Combining with units of length to form adjectives designating a (notional) marker set at seven times the specified unit from a particular place.
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1685 R. Brady Compl. Hist. Eng. 86 As they extended their Limits, the East-Angles threw up another Ditch, now called the Seven-mile Ditch.
1793 E. Randolph Let. 22 Oct. in G. Washington Papers (2008) Presidential Ser. XIV. 259 The best road..is from Darby to the black-horse at the seven mile stone, on the Lancaster road.
1881 N. Devon Jrnl. 17 June 1/5 Erecting a toll gate near the seven-mile-post, on the Instow road.
1950 Amer. Speech 25 237/2 Seven-foot line, a line of sight seven feet off the property line from one seven-foot point to another.
2006 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 24 Apr. d6 As she hit the seven-kilometre marker, she knew that she was getting close.
C4. Special combinations.seven psalms, seven whistlers, seven (last) words, etc.: see the final element. seven sages: cf. sage n.2 a; seven virtues: cf. virtue n. 1b; seven wonders of the world: see wonder n. 1a.
seven-banded adj. marked with seven strips or bands of contrasting colour, texture, or composition; esp. in seven-banded armadillo, an armadillo with body armour that typically shows seven distinct bands across the middle, spec. Dasypus septemcinctus, a long-nosed armadillo of dry grassland habitats in central and eastern South America.
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1792 R. Kerr Linnæus's Animal Kingdom 110 (heading) Seven-banded Armadillo.
1988 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 22 May (Mag.) 1/2 None of the animals—the tiger, the clouded leopard or the seven-banded civet—was being killed for its fur.
2013 W. J. Loughry & C. M. McDonough Nine-banded Armadillo ii. 35 Seven-banded armadillos often seem to occur in areas of disturbed habitat, such as secondary growth following forest harvest.
2014 Countryman (W. Austral.) (Nexis) 6 Mar. 44 Crews who hit the shelf when the weather permitted last week were rewarded with hapuka, blue-eye trevalla and seven-banded cod.
sevenbark n. chiefly North American any of various shrubs or trees having bark that peels off in thin successive layers, spec.: †(a) a shrub of the genus Physocarpus; = ninebark n. at nine adj. and n. Compounds 6 (obsolete); (b) any of several hydrangeas native to the eastern United States, esp. the smooth hydrangea, Hydrangea arborescens.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > shrubs > non-British shrubs > [noun] > North-American > nine-bark
sevenbark1762
ninebark1789
1762 J. F. Gronovius & L. T. Gronovius Flora Virginica (new ed.) 77 Spiræa floribus albis, foliis opuli. Sevenbark.
1803 B. S. Barton Elements Bot. i. 7 In the Seven-bark or Nine-bark (Spiraea opulifolia), the epidermis is, likewise, found to consist of several layers.
1876 C. E. Hobbs Bot. Handbk. 105 (table) Seven-bark, Hydrangea, Hydrangea arborescens.
1954 Amer. Midland Naturalist 52 294 Seven-bark, oak-leaf hydrangea.—Rich woods of ravines, bluffs and river banks, mostly in the Red Hills and along the escarpment, common.
2012 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 20 Oct. (Gardening section) 8 ‘Hayes Starburst’ is a compact form of Hydrangea arborescens, an American native known as the smooth hydrangea, or by its common name of seven bark.
seven bishops n. (also with capital initials) Church History (with the) seven senior clergymen of the Church of England who in 1688 protested against the Declaration of Indulgence of James II (see indulgence n. 4), and were acquitted at trial of seditious libel.These clergymen were: Archbishop William Sancroft, Bishop Thomas Ken, Bishop John Lake, Bishop William Lloyd, Bishop Jonathan Trelawny, Bishop Francis Turner, and Bishop Thomas White.
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society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > clerical superior > bishop > kinds of bishop > [noun] > specific named bishops
seven bishops1688
1688 (title) An account of the proceedings at the Kings-Bench Bar at Westminster-Hall, against the seven bishops.
1847 H. McNeile Lect. Acquital Seven Bishops 7 We are guilty of gross misrepresentation when we put before the public the trial of the Seven Bishops as the turning point in the religious struggle between a Popish King and a Protestant nation.
2014 Jrnl. Mod. Hist. 86 894 He also provides a detailed examination of the Anglican clergy, especially the famous ‘seven bishops’, whose loyalty to the regime was sorely tested by the requirement that they publicly read James's 1688 toleration edict.
seven-bore adj. and n. (also 7-bore) (a) adj. (of a gun) having a bore (bore n.1 2b) of approx. 0.87 inches (22.2 mm), corresponding to the diameter of spherical lead bullets weighing one seventh of a pound; (b) n. a seven-bore gun.
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the world > food and drink > hunting > shooting > shooting equipment > [noun] > shot-gun or fowling-piece > type of
turnabout1801
twelve1804
stanchion-gun1815
Joe Manton1816
Joe Manton1816
ducking-gun1823
punt gun1824
Purdey1830
shore-gun1841
woodcock gun1858
seven-bore1859
twelve-bore1859
twelve-gauge1859
choke1875
choke-bore1875
cripple-stopper1881
over-and-under1889
ten-gauge1894
ducker1896
tschinke1910
under-and-over1911
over-under1913
side by side1947
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > small-arm > [noun] > shotgun
turnabout1801
shotgun1828
scattergun1836
seven-bore1859
twelve-bore1859
twelve-gauge1859
twelve1895
pump1928
1859 Bell's Life in London 27 Nov. 8/5 While he shoots with a seven bore single I will use one barrel of my ten bore double.
1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting ix. 375 I have shot for ten years constantly with a seven-bore of his make.
1910 Western Field Mar. 387/1 I remember once amongst the outstanders an old German, a splendid wing shot, who used a 7 bore gun and a load to correspond.
1946 J. Wentworth Day in R. Harman Countryside Char. 114 Crawling, heart in mouth, through the minefield at East Mersea for a shot from a mighty long-barrelled seven-bore muzzle-loader.
1975 R. Trevelyan Pendragon (U.S. ed.) ii. 31 The hammers snapped down on the two copper percussion caps simultaneously; the Joe Manton seven-bore lifted the boy clean from the ground and hurled him four yards backwards into a dry stream bed.
2016 Catal. Fine Art Sale 23 Nov. in www.peterwilson.co.uk (accessed 12 Aug. 2020) Seven Bore Sporting gun by James Burrows Preston, with scroll engraved lock, chequered figured walnut stock with horn cap, inlaid silver escutcheon. 132cm overall length.
Seven Brethren n. (also with lower-case initials) now rare (with the) the seven sons of St Felicitas, martyred along with their mother in Rome c.165, whose feast day is 10 July; also called Seven Holy Brothers.The Seven Brethren of this legend are often associated with the seven Maccabean brothers put to death with their mother c.168 b.c. by Antiochus IV of the Seleucid Empire (see 2 Maccabees 7).Quot. OE shows equivalent use of seven i-brotheren (cf. i-brotheren n.).
Quot. a1475 shows a variant with the numeral as postmodifier (compare sense A. 1a).
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society > faith > aspects of faith > holiness > saint > particular saints > [noun] > sons of Felicitas
Seven Brethrena1475
OE Old Eng. Martyrol. (Julius) 10 July (2013) 134 On ðone teogeþan dæg þæs monðes bið seofon gebroðra ðrowung.., Hi wæron ðære mæran wudewan suna sancta Felicitan.]
a1475 (?1445) J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1911) i. 370 I pray ȝou þen, Brethren seuyn, That I may be one of Benet ys heyre.
1625 in J. M. Thomson Registrum Magni Sigilli Scotorum (1894) VIII. 332/1 Sevin-brethrenis-day.
1806 Rom. Missal 622 Feasts of July... X. X. The Seven Brethren, MM. and SS. Rufina, and Secunda, VV. MM.
1969 Brit. Mus. Q. 34 14 Relics of the Seven Brethren were at Benevento.
† seven-champion n. Obsolete rare a person likened to one of the Seven Champions, as excelling in a particular field.Apparently an isolated use.
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1676 Poor Robins Intelligence 28 Mar. 1/1 He is a Seaven-Champion in Quackery, that delights in nothing but dangerous adventures.
Seven Champions n. (also with lower-case initials) (with the) Saints George, Andrew, David, Patrick, Denis, James the Great, and Anthony of Padua, as the patron saints of England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Spain, and Italy respectively, considered as heroic warriors and often depicted together in Christian literature, art, or folklore; more fully Seven Champions of Christendom.The legends of the Seven Champions were first grouped together by Richard Johnson (1573–1659): see quot. 1596.In later use, St Anthony is sometimes referred to in this context in his role as patron saint of Portugal, as he is no longer associated with the patronage of Italy.
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society > faith > aspects of faith > holiness > saint > particular saints > [noun] > national saints
Seven Champions1596
1596 R. Johnson (title) The most famous history of the seauen champions of Christendome.
1730 J. Miller Humours Oxf. ii. i. 27 I demolished more Enchanted Castles, slew more Giants, and fought more Combats, for the sake of the Ladies—than all the Seven Champions.
1885 Era 24 Jan. 9/4 It is..admirably played by the two hundred children who represent the various characters. The Seven Champions are now mounted, and look grand on horseback in their glittering armour and attended by their squires.
2005 D. A. L. Morgan in St George's Chapel, Windsor iv. 51 St George..is projected onto the wider canvas of the world at large, as captain of the Seven Champions of Christendom.
seven deadlies n. (also with capital initials) Christian Church colloquial the seven deadly sins; also in extended use with reference to other vices or misdemeanours.
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1830 Lady Morgan France 1829–30 I. 129 He was accustomed to say, that bad smells would be her punishment in the other world; and really I think they might suffice for any moderate iniquity, short of the ‘seven deadlies’.
1920 L. C. Douglas Wanted—Congregation v. 116 He has been taught, in the public school, that tardiness is one of the seven deadlies.
2014 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 8 Mar. f8 Although lust would probably have pride of place, none of the seven deadlies has been neglected.
seven deadly sins n. (also with capital initials) Christian Church (in the Western Church) a grouping of seven mortal sins considered to be the most fundamental of human vices; also in extended use with reference to other vices or misdemeanours; cf. deadly adj. 5a.Also called seven capital sins, seven cardinal sins.The seven deadly sins consist of pride, covetousness, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and sloth; the compilation of this list is commonly attributed to Pope Gregory I in a.d. 590, and develops from a list of eight principal temptations devised by Evagrios (d. a.d. 399) to help spiritual fathers give advice to those who turned to them. [After post-classical Latin septem peccata mortalia (from 13th cent. in British and continental sources). Cassian, who gives Evagrios' list of eight sins or temptations ( Institutiones 5. 1), uses the expression octo principalia vitia eight principal sins (5th cent.).]
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c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 127 Neomeð nu gode ȝeme hu alle þe seouene deadliche sunnen [?c1225 Cleo. C.vi seouen heaued sunnen] muhen beon afleiet þurh treowe bileaue.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 9 Lecherie..is on of þe zeuen dyadliche zennes.
a1475 in F. A. Patterson Middle Eng. Penitential Lyric (1911) 49 The seuen dedely synnes I can not excuse, For I am gylty, in many maner wyse.
1589 ‘Marphoreus’ Martins Months Minde Ep. Ded. sig. A3 The liues of such Saincts must needes be a singular peece of worke, and edifie much; especiallie against the seuen deadlie sinnes which they neuer transgresse.
1633 J. Day Ile of Gulls iv. sig. G2v I hate poetry worse then any of the seven deadly sins.
1730 S. Parker Bp. Parker's Hist. ii. 91 Not to mention all their Outrages against their Country; there were seven deadly sins (as they call them) which they committed almost at the same Time.
1858 R. A. Vaughan Ess. & Remains I. 55 In one of our old English Moralities, the seven cardinal virtues are represented as besieged by the seven deadly sins.
1953 M. Irwin Elizabeth & Prince of Spain xiii. 136 Inaction yawned again for him in all its grey temptation of ‘accidie’, that dull sloth and disbelief in life which is the worst and loneliest of the Seven Deadly Sins.
2001 Isis 92 268 For medieval theologians curiosity, while not classified amongst the seven deadly sins, remained a significant vice.
seven dwarfs n. (also with capital initials) a group of seven people, organizations, etc., esp. one in a supporting or subordinate position.With humorous reference to the German fairy tale of Snow White, recorded by the Brothers Grimm in the early 19th cent. and popularized by the Walt Disney film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937.
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1938 Air Trails Oct. 16/2 Popularly known as the ‘Seven Dwarfs’, these asbestos-garbed men carry out a ‘rescue’ such as the one staged here in ten minutes.
1965 N.Y. Herald Tribune 3 Jan. iii. 1/1 The stocks of IBM and the ‘seven dwarfs’, as its competitors are known, are trading at or near their lows of the year.
2011 Sunday Star-Times (N.Z.) (Nexis) 11 Dec. 14 Of course he [sc. a returning politician] comes with his seven dwarfs in tow, and they have already started causing problems.
seven-eighths adj. amounting to seven eighths of the whole; one eighth less in magnitude or dimension than that which is complete or full; spec. (Fashion, of a coat or jacket, or its length) one eighth shorter than the length on the leg of the dress or skirt with which it is worn.
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1830 New-Hampsh. Statesman & Concord Reg. 10 Apr. If he can find one stout and compact enough, a seven-eighths, or a thorough-bred one, he will have a fair chance to rear a colt that will amply repay him as a hunter or a carriage-horse.
1926 Woman's Outlook 27 Mar. The seven-eighths length is the smartest.
1963 A. Bird & F. Hutton-Stott Veteran Motor Car Pocketbk. 186 A patent plate clutch, a new form of universal joint and seven-eighths-elliptic back springs of which the upper portions were cantilevered.
2000 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 18 Jan. c2 (caption) Velvet trim adds detail to black-and-white seven-eighths coat.
seven-figure adj. designating a number consisting of seven digits; (esp. of a sum of money, fee, payment, etc.) expressed as or represented by such a number; (also) consisting of such numbers; cf. figure n. 19a.
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1840 Dublin Rev. Nov. p. xxx We have no doubt whatever, that the seven-figure tables can, thus far, be more easily used than those of six figures.
1842 Penny Cycl. XXIII. 498/1 Seven-figure numbers to 100 thousand.
1933 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. 23 358 Seven-figure logarithms were used in all calculational work.
2007 Daily Tel. 6 Dec. 29/7 He played in fewer tournaments than most professionals, preferring high-stakes money games, often for seven-figure sums.
seven-footer n. a person, animal, or thing having a height or length of seven feet.
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1829 U.S. Tel. (Washington, D.C.) 7 Aug. This victory..was achieved without the loss of a man killed or wounded, with the exception of the mate, who being a downcast ‘seven footer’ was overthrown.
1894 Boy's Own Paper 30 Jan. 253/3 Almost as good speeds have been got out of the sixwheel 7-footers like the Jeanie Deans.
1937 Evening Tel. & Post (Dundee) 6 July 1/3 Locke holed a seven-footer for another birdie 3 at the tenth.
2000 N. Jans Tracks of Unseen 145 Another bear showed (this one a paltry seven-footer..a poodle by local standards) and the sumo bear gave halfhearted chase.
seven-gated adj. (originally and chiefly as an epithet of the ancient Greek city of Thebes) having seven gates. [After ancient Greek ἑπτάπυλος.]
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1581 A. Hall tr. Homer 10 Bks. Iliades iv. 71 The seauen gated [Gk. ἑπταπύλοιο] Thebes towne.
1729 G. Adams tr. Sophocles Antigone i. ii, in tr. Sophocles Trag. II. 14 Round the seven gated [Gk. ἑπτάπυλον] City.
1899 Whitstable Times 28 Jan. 6/5 In the under-world described by Dante, the great Pagan dead who were not good enough for heaven or bad enough for hell reposed In a seven-walled and seven-gated city.
2014 Mnemosyne 67 742 The seven-gated walled city of Thebes has been considered from many angles.
sevengill n. (also †sevengills) (more fully sevengill shark) either of two sharks of the family Hexanchidae having seven pairs of gills (rather than the usual five or six), the broad-nosed Notorynchus cepedianus, found in shallow coastal waters of the Pacific and south Atlantic Oceans, and the sharp-nosed Heptranchias perlo, found more widely in deeper waters.Cf. seven-gilled adj.
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1890 Cent. Dict. 5531/2 Sevengills, a shark of the genus Heptanchus or Notidamus; a cow-shark.
1951 Calif. Fish & Game July 38 325 In all of the four shark derbies held to date the largest sharks caught have been sevengills.
1987 Boys' Life July 58/2 I worked beside the sevengill sharks in particular for about six years.
2010 Guardian 3 Feb. 11/5 Lydia Ward, 14, was in waist-deep water with her brother at Oreti beach on New Zealand's South Island when the shark—believed to be a broad-nosed sevengill—grabbed her hip.
seven-gilled adj. having seven gills or gill openings (on each side).Cf. sevengill n.
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1846 R. Owen Lect. Compar. Anat. Vertebr. Animals x. 265 The six-gilled Shark (Hexanchus) and the seven-gilled Shark (Heptanchus) are among the few exceptions.
1935 N.Z. Jrnl. Sci. & Technol. 16 236 As its name implies, the seven-gilled shark is distinguished from all other species of shark in New Zealand waters by the fact that it has seven gill-slits.
2003 Copeia No. 2. 225 (title) A new species of giant seven-gilled hagfish (Myxinidae: Eptatretus) from New Zealand.
† seven-holes n. British regional Obsolete a lamprey.So called in allusion to its seven gill-openings. Cf. seven-eyes n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > superclass Agnatha > [noun] > suborder Petromyzontoidei or genus Petromyzon > member of (lamprey)
lamprey1297
seven-eyes1496
lamprel1526
weasel1601
stone-grig1666
lamper-eel1709
lamprey-eel1726
stone-sucker1753
nine-eyed eel1811
nine-eyes1818
nine holesa1825
spanker-eel1846
seven-holes1853
petromyzontoid1861
1853 S. Lee Anecd. Habits & Instincts Birds, Reptiles & Fishes 380 Lampreys are among the latter, and the water escapes through holes..; hence the name often given to them, of nine-holes, or seven holes, according to the number of these openings.
1921 Manch. Guardian 23 June 12/6 Clinging to the wet moss we found scores of young lampreys, easily recognisable by their gill slits, the number of which gives the lamprey the name we knew it by when we were boys—‘seven holes’.
Seven Islands n. a chain of about forty Greek islands in the Ionian Sea, situated off the western coast of mainland Greece (see Ionian islands n. at Ionian adj.1 and n.2 Compounds), having seven principal members, namely Corfu, Cephalonia, Ithaca, Zakinthos, Paxos, Lefkas, and Kythira; cf. Septinsular adj.Between 1815 and 1864 these islands constituted a British protectorate called the United States of the Ionian Islands, after which time they became part of the modern Greek state.
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the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Europe > Greece > [noun] > Ionian Islands
Seven Islands1803
1803 G. Rose Diary 20 Feb. (1860) II. 20 The republic of the Seven Islands.
1945 ‘C. S. Forester’ Commodore xviii. 198 He had drunk resinated wine in the Seven Islands.
2010 J. Potts Ionian Islands & Epirus Pref. p. vii. Kythira, although once considered part of the Seven Islands or Eptanisos, is no longer treated as one of the Ionian Islands administratively or geographically.
† seven jargons n. Obsolete rare (with the) the language of the Gitanos, or Romani people of Spain.
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1841 G. Borrow Zincali II. iii. 125 When wishing to praise the proficiency of any individual in their tongue, they [sc. the Gitanos] are in the habit of saying, ‘He understands the seven jargons.’
1896 Gentleman's Mag. July 129 It was very galling for one who had just been discussing the Seven Jargons with a past master to be now floored in a missing word competition.
1907 J. W. S. Gouley Dining & its Amenities xx. 309 Bataillard believed these ‘Egyptians’ to be the same people now known as Gypsies, and suggests that from these seven nations originated the seven jargons.
† seven-leaf n. Obsolete the plant tormentil, Potentilla erecta; = septfoil n. 1. [After post-classical Latin septefolium and ancient Greek ἑπτάϕυλλον (see septfoil n.). These names perhaps originally applied to a related European continental plant, such as Potentilla heptaphylla, typically having a larger number of leaflets.]
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular medicinal plants or parts > [noun] > tormentil plant or root
septfoilOE
seven-leafOE
nutheada1300
tormentila1400
tormentine14..
turmeric1538
seven-leaves1640
tormentil-root1712
bloodroot1811
ewe-daisy1853
flesh and blood1853
shepherd's knot1884
OE tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Vitell.) (1984) cxviii. 160 Ðeos wyrt þe man eptafilon & oðrum naman septifolium nemneð, & eac sume men seofenleafe hatað, byþ cenned on beganum stowum.
a1200 ( Laud Plant Gloss. 37 Eptafilon, i. seouan lef.
1887 Chemist & Druggist 25 June 778/2 Tormentil (seven-leaf).
seven-leaved adj. (of a plant, or part of a plant) having seven leaves or leaflets.Often with symbolic or mythological connotations.
ΚΠ
1591 R. Percyvall Bibliotheca Hispanica Dict. sig. X3v/1 Siete en rama, seauen leaued grasse.
1606 T. Dekker Newes from Hell sig. F3v Now as touching the seauen leaued tree, of the deadly sinnes..for that growes so rancke in euery mans garden.
1787 E. Darwin et al. tr. C. Linnaeus et al. Families of Plants II. 429 Perianth seven-leaved: the leaflets linear, pointed, erect.
1820 T. Green Univ. Herbal I. 443/2 Dentaria pinnata; Seven-leaved Toothwort.
1849 D. G. Rossetti Mary's Girlhood ii The seven-thorn'd briar and the palm seven-leaved.
1927 E. Sitwell Rustic Elegies 81 The seven-leaved man-plant.
2002 Guardian (Nexis) 27 Dec. 16 Other catalogues offered bat manure, considered as the best fertiliser for growing the seven-leaved plant [sc. cannabis].
† seven-leaves n. Obsolete the plant tormentil, Potentilla erecta; = septfoil n. 1. [See note at seven-leaf n.]
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular medicinal plants or parts > [noun] > tormentil plant or root
septfoilOE
seven-leafOE
nutheada1300
tormentila1400
tormentine14..
turmeric1538
seven-leaves1640
tormentil-root1712
bloodroot1811
ewe-daisy1853
flesh and blood1853
shepherd's knot1884
1640 J. Parkinson Theatrum Botanicum iii. xxiv. 394 It hath beene not set forth, by any of the antient Greeke or Latine Writers, yet it hath obtained a Greeke name from the forme..Heptaphyllum, or Septifolium, Setfoile, or Seven leaves.
1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden 76 Tormentil, Setfoil or Seven-leaves.
1886 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names 601 Ewe Daisy, Five-fingers, Flesh-and-Blood, Knapperty (Sheep's), Septfoil, Setfoil, Seven-leaves, Shepherd's Knot.
seven-months adj. (also seven-month) designating a child born at the seventh month of gestation, often with implication of weakliness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > sick person > [noun] > weak person
dwininga1400
molla1425
impotenta1513
gristlea1556
weakling1576
puler1579
puling1579
shadow1588
shotten herring1598
doddle1681
sickrel1699
seven-months1724
wandought1726
wallydraigle1736
wreck1795
werewolf1808
windlestraw1818
weed1825
shammock1828
sickling1834
forcible feeble1844
dwindle1847
weedling1849
crock1876
feebling1887
asthenic1893
dodderer1907
pencil-neck1956
burnt-out case1959
weakie1959
the world > people > person > baby or infant > [adjective] > premature baby
seven-months1724
prem1961
the world > life > source or principle of life > birth > confinement > [noun] > childbirth or delivery > complications of childbirth or pregnancy > premature child
seven-months1724
premature1900
preemie1927
prem1951
1724 J. Maubray Female Physician iii. xxxvii. 149 Hippocrates computes the Time of Birth by Decads of Weeks;..He makes out the Legitimacy of a Seven-Months Child; because that Term comprehends three Decads of weeks, or 210 Days.
1859 Ld. Tennyson Merlin & Vivien 561 in Idylls of King A seven-months' babe had been a truer gift.
1898 J. Hutchinson in Archives Surg. 9 364 In December of the same year his wife was delivered of a seven months' child.
2010 K. Robards Shattered xx. 228 You were premature, a seven-months baby. I was so—worried about you.
† seven mountain-seated adj. Obsolete (as an epithet of the city of Rome) seated on seven mountains or hills; cf. seven-hilled adj.Apparently an isolated use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > hill > [adjective] > situated or dwelling
seven-hilly1561
seven-hilled?1580
seven mountain-seated1624
hilly1632
overhill1763
hill-set1906
1624 Trag. Nero ii. C3v Empyre crown'd, seauen Mountaine-seated Rome.
seven-nerved adj. (of a leaf) having seven nerves or veins.
ΚΠ
1770 R. Weston Universal Botanist I. 235 American climbing cordate seven-nerved-leaved Rajania.]
1783 tr. C. Linnaeus Syst. Veg. (1785) I. 70 Leaves egg'd mostly seven-nerved smooth, petioles simplest.
1821 W. P. C. Barton Flora N. Amer. (new ed.) I. 14 Leaves..seven-nerved.
1900 H. L. Keeler Our Native Trees 108 They are five to seven-nerved, that is, instead of the midrib being the principal line of the woody structure of the leaf, there come out at the base five or six ribs almost as large as the central or midrib.
2016 Jrnl. Genetic Engin. & Biotechnol. 14 78/1 Kuntze is an erect herb. Its leaves are long, five to seven nerved at the base.
† seven-ported adj. Obsolete (as an epithet of the ancient Greek city of Thebes) having seven gates; cf. seven-gated adj.
ΚΠ
1603 J. Murray in W. Alexander Trag. of Darius In praise Author sig. A4 Seauen-ported Thebes walles.
1640 W. Lithgow Gushing Teares of Godly Sorrow sig. M2 Seven ported Thebes, rich in silks and Furre, And Carthage, Africks glory, now declind.
seven sacrament adj. Church Architecture designating an object, esp. a font, carved or decorated with images representing the seven sacraments (see sacrament n. 1a).
ΚΠ
1889 Guardian 4 Sept. 1329/3 The church has the usual Norfolk seven-sacrament font, much decayed.
1935 Burlington Mag. Feb. 81/1 In this latter category we may include the series of Seven Sacrament windows..of which there survive some dozen fragmentary examples in remote country churches of the west and north-west of England.
2016 Eastern Daily Press (Norwich) (Nexis) 15 Dec. Its many outstanding features include an early-16th century rood screen, a rare seven sacrament font, dated about 1467,..and carved angels in the roof beams.
seven seals n. the seven seals securing the divine scroll or book whose opening precipitates the apocalyptic events that precede the Second Coming of Christ; also in extended use (cf. seventh seal n. at seventh adj., adv., and n. Compounds). [After post-classical Latin sigilla septem (Vulgate); compare Hellenistic Greek σφραγῖδες ἑπτά (New Testament).] With reference to Revelation 5–8.Quot. OE shows equivalent use of seven inseils (cf. inseil n.).
ΚΠ
OE Wærferð tr. Gregory Dialogues (Corpus Cambr.) (1900) iv. xliv. 332 Se sæde, þæt he gesawe boc mid seofon inseglum geinseglode [L. signatum librum septem sigillis], & þæt nænig man wære gemeted wyrðe..þe þa boc moste untynan.]
a1382 Prefatory Epist. St. Jerome in Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) v. l. 22 The boke in þe apocalips is schewid seeld with vii seeleȝ [L. sigillis septem].
1599 R. Pont Newe Treat. Right Reckoning of Yeares 17 Now, the opening of the seaven seales of the Booke, signifyeth (as all godly writers expone it) the revelation and declaration of the hid counsels of God.
1871 Telegr. & Messenger (Macon, Georgia) 31 Dec. The rueful internecine struggle with communism followed, and opened the seven seals of wrath and ruin to Paris.
1943 J. C. Wrights in J. P. Cannon Struggle for Proletarian Party Introd. p. xii The great progressive role of Bolshevism still remains to a great many a secret sealed with seven seals.
2014 M. James Brief Hist. Seven Killings 215 The world now feeling like the seven seals breaking one after the other.
seven seas n. (chiefly with the) any of various groupings of seven large bodies of water; (in later use chiefly) spec. the major oceans of the world, now considered as the Arctic, Antarctic, North and South Pacific, North and South Atlantic, and Indian Oceans.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > specific seas > [noun] > seven seas
seven seas?1556
?1556 N. Smyth in tr. Herodian Hist. (Table annot.) sig. E. iii And because that euerye Ryuer is large, and great, they call the same seuen Seas.
1634 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World (new ed.) I. iii. xvi. 67 All those riuers and trenches aforesaid, the Tuscanes began to make first out of Sagis, carrying the forceable streame of the riuer acrosse into the Atrian meeres, which are called the seuen seas.
1788 Abstr. Astron., Geogr., Nat. Philos., Mythol., & Hist. 28 (heading) Seven Seas... Encompass it, viz. the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the Baltic, the White Sea, the Black Sea, and Grecian Sea or Archipielago.
1872 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 1 408 The change of seasons is produced by a winged dragon. During the whole of winter it is in repose, lying upon the seven seas.
1918 H. H. Powers Amer. among Nations xv. 236 A naval and maritime state must have its stations scattered through the seven seas.
2011 Daily Examiner (Grafton, New S. Wales) (Nexis) 22 Aug. 22 (headline) Sail the seven seas with these great cruising deals.
seven senses n. the combined faculties of sensation and perception; consciousness. Often in out of one's seven senses out of one's right mind; = out of one's senses at sense n. Phrases 2a(a); also in one's seven senses: in one's right mind.The seven senses are usually considered to comprise the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, plus an additional two faculties interpreted variously by different cultures at different times.In modern scientific use, the additional two senses are often considered as those of balance and body position; those of proprioception (considered to include balance) and nociception (the sensation of pain); or those of coenaesthesia and splanchnaesthesia (perception of the general state of the body and of its internal organs, respectively). [The ancient Greek medical writer Hippocrates describes seven senses using the expression δι᾽ ἑπτὰ σχημάτων καὶ αἱ αἰσθήσεις ανθρώπων ‘human perception through seven forms’. The 4th-cent. Latin author Ambrosius ( Cain et Abel 2. 9. 34) expands the traditional list of five senses to seven, though the expression septem sensus ‘seven senses’, is not found before a 16th-cent. author reporting Ambrosius.]
ΚΠ
a1637 B. Jonson Tale of Tub ii. ii. 72 in Wks. (1640) III What doe you doe? Hare the poore fellow out on his five wits, And seven senses?
1729 T. Odell Smugglers ii. 37 Who the plague in his seven Senses wou'd e'er be married?
1869 G. Wood Gates Wide Open ix. 213 If our wise men of modern times will not believe their seven senses, there is then no hope for them.
1917 Boys' Life Mar. 56/2 I came to the surface half full of water and hollering for help—nearly scared Rusty out of his seven senses.
1977 Atlantic Monthly July 72/2 Miss Atkins is druv out of her seven senses buyin bananas and yaggart for that brazen bitch.
2015 Jrnl. Archaeol. Method & Theory 22 716 Motor conducts are mediated through the seven senses (the five usual ones, as well as proprioception and the vestibular sense of spatial orientation).
seven-shooter n. now chiefly historical a gun, esp. a revolver, capable of firing seven shots without reloading; cf. six-shooter n.
ΚΠ
1843 Cleveland (Ohio) Daily Herald 25 Aug. It [sc. a repeating rifle] is designed for the demolition of Tigers, and carries but sixteen balls to the pound. It is a ‘seven shooter,’ and a beautiful piece of workmanship.
1872 ‘M. Twain’ Roughing It ii. 23 I was armed to the teeth with a pitiful little Smith & Wesson's seven-shooter.
2009 J. F. Baker Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation xii. 204 The thief..started to reach for his seven-shooter.
seven-spot adj. having seven spots or markings; esp. in seven-spot ladybird (or seven-spot ladybug), a common and widespread ladybird (beetle), Coccinella septempunctata, having red elytra marked with seven black spots.Cf. seven-spotted adj.
ΚΠ
1766 M. Harris Aurelian 75 Seven Spot Ermine... I received this Moth with many others, from a friend in Yorkshire.
1830 J. Rennie Insect Transformations ii. 35 The garden white butterfly (Pontia Brassicæ) lays a group of yellow ones [sc. eggs] on a green cabbage or colewort leaf, but not of so bright a yellow as those of the seven-spot ladybird (Coccinella Septempunctata).
1999 B. Indge Dict. Biol. 167 The seven-spot ladybug..tends to be found on a much wider range of plants where it eats slightly larger aphids.
2016 K.-L. Du & M. N. S. Swamy Search & Optimization by Metaheuristics xv. 252 Seven-spot ladybirds are effective predators of aphids and other homopteran pests.
seven-spotted adj. having seven spots or blotches; esp. in seven-spotted ladybird (or seven-spotted ladybug), the seven-spot ladybird, Coccinella septempunctata.Cf. seven-spot adj.
ΚΠ
1778 in M. Harris Aurelian (new ed.) Index p. i Ermine [moth], seven spotted.
1803 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. IV. i. 55 The common or seven-spotted Lady-Bird.
1946 E. Parker Countryman's Week-end Bk. 195 Last, but for mere absence of colour, we may place the Ermines, White, Buff, and Seven-spotted or Muslin.
2008 S. Slade Ladybugs 8 The seven-spotted ladybug has seven black spots on its red shell.
† seven starns n. Obsolete (with the) a cluster or distinctive grouping of seven stars, spec.: (a) the Pleiades (= seven stars n. 1); (b) the Plough in Ursa Major, or the similar grouping in Ursa Minor (= seven stars n. 2).The sense in quot. c1450 is uncertain: see note at seven stars n. 3.
ΚΠ
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 1961 Ane of þe souerayne sires vndir þe vij sternes [a1500 Trin. Dublin seuen sternes].
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 111 Þe Sevyn sternes, plias, septentrio, septentrionalis.
1513 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid viii. Prol. 151 The pleuch, and the polys, the planettis begane, The son, the sevin sternis, and the Charll wane.
seven-water grog adj. Nautical slang (now historical) a drink consisting of seven parts of water to one of spirit, typically rum; (more loosely) a drink of an extremely diluted spirit.Cf. grog n. 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > types or qualities of intoxicating liquor > [adjective] > weak or diluted
smallc1420
thinc1440
single1483
watered1540
smally1577
distempered1743
shilpit1814
seven-water grog1834
three-water1840
two-water1905
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > distilled drink > rum > [noun] > rum and water
rum and water?1750
seven-water grog1834
sou'-wester1848
mainsheet1873
bubbly1902
1834 F. Marryat in Metrop. Mag. Feb. 140 Do put a little drop of stuff in mine—it's seven water grog; and I'm not on the black list.
1897 Boys of Eng. 12 Nov. 413/2 I drink seven-water grog now, because I can't stand it the way I could then.
2018 K. Milford Bluecrowne vii. 101 A dinner basket with homemade-somewhere cakes and seven-water grog it is, then.
seven-year-old adj. and n. (a) adj. that is seven years of age; (b) n. a child, animal, or thing that is seven years of age.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > person of specific age > [adjective]
one-year-old?1609
seven-year-old1713
seventeen-year-old1821
nine-year-old1828
centenarian1854
twentyish1928
thirty-something1981
the world > life > source or principle of life > age > [adjective] > specific age
seven?1440
yearing1451
year-old1556
yeared1583
seventy1590
two-year1596
quinquagenarian1603
septuagenary1605
twelvea1616
thirty1618
three-yearling1621
one-eared1645
quadragenarious1656
trimenstruous1656
septennian1662
sexagenarian1663
sexagenary1663
octogenarya1696
seven-year-old1713
quinquagenary1715
yearling1729
septuagesimal1781
septuagenarian1793
octogenarian1818
fortyish1821
seventeen-year-old1821
three-year-old1825
week-old1826
centenarian1828
day-old1831
70-year-old1832
quadragenarian1834
century-old1836
nonagenarian1877
teenaged1913
thirtyish1925
the world > people > person > person of specific age > [noun]
one-year-old?1609
cinquanter1611
sexagenariana1646
septuagene1657
quintagenarian1687
threescore1721
septuagenarian1744
centenarian1747
seven-year-old1762
septuagenary1792
centenary1800
nonagenarian1804
sexagenary1814
octogenarian1815
nine-year-old1828
octogenary1828
semi-centenarian1828
quinquagenarian1830
quadragenarian1839
seventeen-year-old1858
70-year-old1870
twenty-firster1912
the world > life > source or principle of life > age > [noun] > specific age
yearOE
scorea1400
seventeena1568
threescorea1616
jubileea1640
military age1656
legal age1658
tecnogoniaa1676
sixty1717
forty1732
fifty1738
seven-year-old1762
teen1789
septuagenarianism1824
sexagenarianism1824
day-old1831
seventeen-year-old1858
centenarianism1863
roaring forties1867
twenties1874
leaving age1875
school-leaving age1881
octogenarianism1883
reading age1906
three1909
teenage1912
eleven-plus1937
1713 Evening Post 4–7 July (advt.) A Plate of about 30 l. Value, will be run for..by 7 Year old Horses.
1762 St. James's Chron. 12–14 Aug. Seven year-olds or older, to carry 12st. and to allow all others 10lb. for each Year under Seven.
1892 Lincoln Evening News 7 Mar. 2/2 A new seven-year-old ‘prodigy’ pianist has appeared in Vienna with extraordinary success.
1973 J. S. Bruner Beyond Information Given xviii. 321 The experiment was carried out with six- and seven-year-olds.
2018 Calgary (Alberta) Sun (Nexis) 20 May a4 The seven-year-old..twin boys..had the important task of holding the train on the bridal veil.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2021; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

sevenv.

Brit. /ˈsɛvn/, U.S. /ˈsɛvən/
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: seven n.
Etymology: < seven n. With sense 2 compare earlier seven-out n.In sense 1 after Hebrew nišḇaʿ to swear an oath, to confirm (an agreement or vow, etc.), apparently < the same Semitic root as šeḇaʿ seven (see Shavuot n.), the literal sense of the verb being ‘to bind oneself by seven things or seven oaths’. Compare e.g. Genesis 21:27–30 (King James Version): ‘And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves? And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well. Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them.’ Parallels for swearing an oath by seven things are also found in Arabic Bedouin usage.
1. transitive. In Biblical use: to confirm, ratify, or validate (an agreement, vow, etc.), originally by means of seven sacrifices, or by the testimony of seven witnesses. Also reflexive: to swear an oath.Chiefly referring to Hebrew: see the etymology.
ΚΠ
1844 M. Habershon Hist. Expos. Prophecies Revelation St. John (ed. 2) II. xxii. 323 In the Hebrew language, even the verb which expresses the taking of an oath, appears borrowed from the symbolical perfection and sacrednesss of the seven; thus, he sware is, literally, he was sevened, or he sevened himself.
1922 Moody Bible Inst. Monthly May 1024/3 There is sevened by blood the ever-lasting covenant.
2002 B. Gaunt Apocalypse & Magnificent Sevens vi. 80 No, the evil of man's governments will never again be rebuilt. He swore it with an oath—he sevened himself.
2005 F. S. Fowler End Time Secrets of Daniel 8–12 xvii. 52 If something was ‘sevened’ it was declared of truth.
2. intransitive. Dice slang (originally and chiefly U.S.). Chiefly with out. In the game of craps: to throw a seven after the point number has been established, thus ending one's turn. Also in extended use. Cf. to crap out at crap v.3Occasionally with the dice as subject.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > dice-playing > play at dice [verb (intransitive)] > play craps > throw a seven and so lose bet
seven1892
1892 Logansport (Indiana) Times 9 Sept. 8/2 It is pleasing to contemplate..when one has ‘sevened’, to use the vernacular, that games of chance by means of the die..were one of the most popular pastimes of the ancient Egyptians.
1905 Salt Lake Tribune 24 Dec. 16/5 [With reference to the use of loaded dice.] Should the player get a point he quickly sevens out with an ace and six.
1934 Sun (Baltimore) 29 Jan. 14/3 The rattle of dice across the floor accompanied by deep-throated entreaties of ‘come on, Little Joe’..‘Seven out, dice.’
1975 S. Bellow Humboldt's Gift (1976) 70 ‘Why do you push it, Charlie?’ he said. ‘At our age one short game is plenty... One of these days you could seven out.’
2006 D. G. Schwartz Roll Bones xviii. 429 Steve Lawrence..officially placed the first legal bet in Atlantic City, when he ceremoniously put $10 on pass. After rolling a five, he sevened out.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.eOEv.1844
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