"hundreds and thousands" meaning in English

See hundreds and thousands in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˌhʌndɹəds n̩ ˈθaʊz(ə)ndz/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌhʌndɹəds n̩ ˈθaʊz(ə)n(d)z/ [General-American] Audio: En-au-hundreds and thousands.oga
Etymology: PIE word *ḱm̥tóm From hundreds + and + thousands. Sense 2 (“tiny balls or strands of multicoloured sugar”) is from the fact that the confectionery is made up of numerous sugar pieces. Etymology templates: {{PIE word|en|ḱm̥tóm}} PIE word *ḱm̥tóm, {{root|en|ine-pro|*tewh₂-}}, {{compound|en|hundreds|and|thousands|notext=1|type=exocentric}} hundreds + and + thousands Head templates: {{en-noun|p|head=hundreds and thousands}} hundreds and thousands pl (plural only)
  1. An indefinite but emphatically large number. Tags: plural, plural-only Translations (indefinite but emphatically large number): آلافٌ مُؤَلَّفَة (ʔālāfun muʔallafa) [masculine, plural] (Arabic), centinaia di migliaia [feminine, plural] (Italian)
    Sense id: en-hundreds_and_thousands-en-noun-gxy0dLsY Disambiguation of 'indefinite but emphatically large number': 99 1
  2. (UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Tiny balls or strands of multicoloured sugar, sprinkled over ice cream, desserts or party foods. Tags: Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, plural, plural-only Categories (topical): Hundred, Sweets, Thousand Synonyms: nonpareil [US], nonpareils, sprinkles [US], sprinkles, 100s and 1000s, 100s & 1000s Related terms: dollarette, fairy bread, freckle
    Sense id: en-hundreds_and_thousands-en-noun-UckWKlNF Disambiguation of Hundred: 35 65 Disambiguation of Sweets: 3 97 Disambiguation of Thousand: 35 65 Categories (other): British English, Commonwealth English, Irish English, English coordinated pairs, English entries with incorrect language header, English exocentric compounds, English pluralia tantum, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Arabic translations, Terms with Italian translations Disambiguation of English coordinated pairs: 14 86 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 6 94 Disambiguation of English exocentric compounds: 28 72 Disambiguation of English pluralia tantum: 12 88 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 6 94 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 9 91 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 4 96 Disambiguation of Terms with Arabic translations: 8 92 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 7 93

Alternative forms

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          "text": "1949, A.S. Altekar, State and Government in Ancient India, reprinted 2001, page 148,\nIt is clear that the sentence rather refers to numerous favours conferred upon the city and country population, the monetary value of which amounted to hundreds and thousands of rupees or contemporary coins."
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          "_dis": "3 97",
          "kind": "topical",
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          "name": "Sweets",
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          "ref": "2003, Neil Wills, “Surfers′ Paradise”, in Third Way, page 12:",
          "text": "So there you have them - Onoda, Gund, Eclipse - all squidged together on the same spoon, their flavours intermingling under a bleeding crust of hundreds-and-thousands.",
          "type": "quote"
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          "ref": "2007, Pippa Cuthbert, Lindsay Cameron Wilson, Cookies!, New Holland Publishers (UK), archived from the original on 2016-09-17, page 96:",
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          "sprinkle#Verb"
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      ],
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          "_dis1": "6 94",
          "word": "dollarette"
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          "_dis1": "6 94",
          "word": "fairy bread"
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          "_dis1": "6 94",
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        }
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          "word": "nonpareil"
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          "word": "sprinkles"
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          "word": "sprinkles"
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  "word": "hundreds and thousands"
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  "etymology_text": "PIE word\n *ḱm̥tóm\nFrom hundreds + and + thousands. Sense 2 (“tiny balls or strands of multicoloured sugar”) is from the fact that the confectionery is made up of numerous sugar pieces.",
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        "Tiny balls or strands of multicoloured sugar, sprinkled over ice cream, desserts or party foods."
      ],
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          "multicoloured"
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        "(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Tiny balls or strands of multicoloured sugar, sprinkled over ice cream, desserts or party foods."
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          ],
          "word": "nonpareil"
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        {
          "word": "nonpareils"
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          "word": "sprinkles"
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      "code": "ar",
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      "roman": "ʔālāfun muʔallafa",
      "sense": "indefinite but emphatically large number",
      "tags": [
        "masculine",
        "plural"
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      "word": "آلافٌ مُؤَلَّفَة"
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      "sense": "indefinite but emphatically large number",
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      "word": "centinaia di migliaia"
    }
  ],
  "word": "hundreds and thousands"
}

Download raw JSONL data for hundreds and thousands meaning in English (5.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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