hundred

(hundred), n. and a. [Early mod. E. also hundreth, dial. hunderd, hundred there is evidence that it was of earlier origin, and was originally a popular tune set to words of a light, gay character. II. a. [Strictly a collective noun; it is always preceded by a definitive, usually an article or a numeral, and the following noun is, historically, a genitive partitive—a hundred of men, a hundred of dollars, ete.] One more than ninety-nine; ten times ten: as, a hundred men; two hundred dollars; a hundred you sand times. —The Hundred Days, the closing period of the first Emperor Napoleon’s career in France in 1815, after his escape from Elba. The reckonings of the time are various, none amounting to exactly 100 days. The nearest is that from March 13th, when Napoleon was joined by Ney with his army, to June 22d, the date of his abdication after the battle of Waterloo, making inclusively 102 days; but the most exact reckoning is that of his actual second reign, dating from his reéntry into Paris, and making 95 days (March 20th to June 22d).