fifteen, fiftene, vyftene

& s. [A. S. fiftyne, fiftene, from fif =five, and tyn =ten; O. Fris. fiftine, fiftene; Dut. vijftien; Goth. fimftaihun; Icel. fimtan; Sw. femton; Dan. femten; Ger. fünf zehn.] A. As adj .: Amounting in number to five and ten; one more than fourteen. B. A3 substantive : I. Ordinary Language : 1. The number made up of five and ten. 2. A symbol representing the number made up of five and ten; as, 15 or XV. *3. The Court of Se ion in Scotland, as being composed of fifteen judges. II. Old Law : A tax of a fifteenth. [FIFTEENTH, B. II. 2.] "It is to be observed furthermore that this payment which we commonly at this day doe call the Fifteen , is truly and was anciently named the Tenth and Fifteenth." -Lambarde: Perambulation of Kent (ed. 1656), p. 55. fifteen-spined stickleback, s. Ichthy.: Gasterosteus spinach i a , a marine species of Stickleback, five to seven inches in length, which makes its nest of seaweed and guards the eggs like the fresh-water species. Color variable, sometimes reddish-brown, sometimes dark-green. It is met with on all the northern coasts of Europe. It feeds on the eggs and fry of fishes, worms, and other ma. rine animals. It is also called the Sea-adder (q. v.). fif-teenth', *fife-tende, *fif-tende, *fif-ten the, five-teenth, a. & 8. [A. S. fifteódha ; O. Fris. fiftinda , fiftendesta ; Dut. fijthende ; O. Sax. fim tandi ; Sw. & Dan. femtende ; Ger. fünfzehnte.J A. As adjective : 1. Next in order after the fourteenth; the ordinal of fifteen; the fifth after the tenth. "In his long prayer or his fiveteenth point." Corbet: Iter Boreale. 2. Being one of fifteen equal parts into which a whole is divided. B. As substantive: I. Ord. Lang.: A fifteenth part. II. Technically: 1. Music: (1) The interval of a double octave; bis-diapason. (2) An organ-stop of two feet in length on the manuals and four feet on the pedals, consisting of open metal pipes. It is tuned one octave above the principal, and two octaves above the open diapa son. *2. Old Law : (See extract.) "Fifteenth ( decima quinta ) is a tribute or imposition of money laid upon any city, borough, or other town through the realm, not by the poll, or upon this or that man, but in general upon the whole city or town; and is so called, because it amounts to a fifteenth part of that which the city hath been valued at of old, or to a fifteenth part of every man's personal estate, according to a reasonable valuation." -Blount: Law Dict.