hundred
/ˈhʌndrəd
/- By the way, ninety to a hundred years ago, this was the first stop for a variety of immigrants.
- On the day a hundred consumers accessed the server and downloaded the product, a hundred units had been distributed.
Synonyms
- Eric estimates his audience to number in the low hundreds.
- Current playable songs number only in the hundreds.
- The coalition says the gunmen number in the hundreds.
- A brass band played salsa tunes as hundreds of protesters of myriad nationalities danced, sang and chanted in colourful, unthreatening resistance.
- If the figures are multiplied nationally hundreds of potentially serious errors are taking place annually.
- Cost is an important factor for patients on multiple medications often costing hundreds of dollars per month.
- So, for a wolverine, living to ninety or a hundred or more would not be a big deal.
- Yet, ever since became a Test opener, he has scored a hundred in every series except in New Zealand, a feat not achieved by any of his illustrious colleagues.
- Personally, I would like nothing more than scoring a hundred at Lord's.
- As soon as he completed his run, he lifted his bat and waved it at the crowds, the way a batsman does when he scores a 50 or a hundred.
Phrases
a (or one) hundred per cent
Derivatives
hundredfold
/ adjective & adverb ...- As compared to 18 months ago when I first arrived, the traffic has increased a hundredfold.
- ‘Since I started off in management, the pressure on managers has magnified a hundredfold,’ he laments.
- The first thing I noticed upon entering the room, of course, was that the smell of decaying flowers had increased almost a hundredfold even from last night.
Origin
Late Old English, from hund 'hundred' (from an Indo-European root shared with Latin centum and Greek hekaton) + a second element meaning 'number'; of Germanic origin and related to Dutch honderd and German hundert. The noun sense 'subdivision of a county' is of uncertain origin: it may originally have been equivalent to a hundred hides of land (see hide3).
Old English had two words for this number. One was hund, which came from an ancient root shared by Latin centum—as in cent (L18 for the money), centigrade (early 19th century), century, and many other cent- words—and Greek hekaton (the source of hectare (early 19th century)). The other was hundred, which was formed from the same element plus another meaning ‘number’. Hundred was also then used to refer to a division of a county or shire that had its own court. This unit may originally have been equivalent to a hundred hides of land—a hide is an ancient measure typically equal to between 60 and 100 acres, which varied from area to area because it was a measure of the area of land which would feed a family and its dependants.