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Number vs Show - What's the difference?

number | show |

As nouns the difference between number and show

is that number is (countable) an abstract entity used to describe quantity while show is show, spectacle.

As a verb number

is to label (items) with numbers; to assign numbers to (items).

As an adjective number

is (numb).

number

English

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete)

Etymology 1

(etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • (countable) An abstract entity used to describe quantity.
  • (countable) A numeral: a symbol for a non-negative integer
  • (countable, mathematics) A member of one of several classes: natural numbers, integers, rational numbers, real numbers, complex numbers, quaternions.
  • Indicating the position of something in a list or sequence. Abbreviations: No'' or '' (in each case, sometimes written with a superscript "o", like Nº or №). The symbol "#" is also used in this manner.
  • Quantity.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=52, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The new masters and commanders , passage=From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Number itself importeth not much in armies where the people are of weak courage.
  • A sequence of digits and letters used to register people, automobiles, and various other items.
  • (countable, informal) A telephone number.
  • * 2001 , E. Forrest Hein, The Ruach Project, Xulon Press, page 86:
  • “[...] I wonder if you could get hold of him and have him call me here at Interior. I’m in my office, do you have my number ?”
  • * 2007 , Lindsey Nicole Isham, No Sex in the City: One Virgin's Confessions on Love, Lust, Dating, and Waiting, Kregel Publications, page 111:
  • When I agreed to go surfing with him he said, “Great, can I have your number'?” Well, I don’t give my ' number to guys I don’t know.
  • (grammar) Of a word or phrase, the state of being singular, dual or plural, shown by inflection.
  • (now, rare, in the plural) Poetic metres; verses, rhymes.
  • * 1635 , (John Donne), The Triple Foole :
  • Griefe brought to numbers cannot be so fierce, / For, he tames it, that fetters it in verse.
  • (countable) A performance; especially, a single song or song and dance routine within a larger show.
  • (countable, informal) A person
  • * 1968 , Janet Burroway, The dancer from the dance: a novel, Little, Brown, page 40:
  • I laughed. "Don't doubt that. She's a saucy little number ."
  • * 1988 , Erica Jong, Serenissima, Dell, page 214:
  • "Signorina Jessica," says the maid, a saucy little number , "your father has gone to his prayers and demands that you come to the synagogue at once [...]"
  • * 2005 , Denise A. Agnew, Kate Hill & Arianna Hart, By Honor Bound, Ellora's Cave Publishing, page 207:
  • He had to focus on the mission, staying alive and getting out, not on the sexy number rubbing up against him.
  • (countable, informal) An item of clothing, particularly a stylish one
  • * 2007 , Cesca Martin, Agony Angel: So You Think You've Got Problems..., Troubador Publishing Ltd, page 134:
  • The trouble was I was wearing my backless glittering number from the night before underneath, so unless I could persuade the office it was National Fancy Dress Day I was doomed to sweat profusely in bottle blue.
  • * 2007 , Lorelei James, Running with the Devil, Samhain Publishing, Ltd, page 46:
  • "I doubt the sexy number you wore earlier tonight fell from the sky."
  • (slang, chiefly, US) A marijuana cigarette, or joint; also, a quantity of marijuana bought form a dealer.
  • * 2009 , (Thomas Pynchon), Inherent Vice , Vintage 2010, page 12:
  • Back at his place again, Doc rolled a number , put on a late movie, found an old T-shirt, and sat tearing it up into short strips
  • (dated) An issue of a periodical publication.
  • the latest number of a magazine
    Synonyms
    * (mathematical number) scalar
    Hyponyms
    * See also
    Derived terms
    * abundant number * algebraic number * binary number * cardinal number * complex number * decimal number * deficient number * do a number on * have someone's number * hexadecimal number * house number * hyperreal number * hypercomplex number * imaginary number * irrational number * meandric number * natural number * nice round number * number-cruncher * number-crunching * number field * number line * number one * number two * number theory * numberless * ordinal number * opposite number * perfect number * phone number * prime number * rational number * real number * round number * serial number * surreal number * take a number * telephone number * transcendental number * transfinite number * whole number * without number * (number)
    See also
    * (grammatical numbers) singular,? dual,? trial,? quadral,? paucal,? plural

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To label (items) with numbers; to assign numbers to (items).
  • Number the baskets so that we can find them easily.
  • To total or count; to amount to.
  • I don’t know how many books are in the library, but they must number in the thousands.
    Derived terms
    * number among

    See also

    *

    Etymology 2

    From numb + .

    Adjective

    (head)
  • (numb)
  • show

    English

    Alternative forms

    * shew (archaic)

    Verb

  • To display, to have somebody see (something).
  • * , chapter=22
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.}}
  • To bestow; to confer.
  • to show''' mercy; to '''show favour
  • To indicate (a fact) to be true; to demonstrate.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
  • , author=John T. Jost, volume=100, issue=2, page=162, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)? , passage=He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record. With this biological framework in place, Corning endeavors to show that the capitalist system as currently practiced in the United States and elsewhere is manifestly unfair.}}
  • To guide or escort.
  • To be visible, to be seen.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • Just such she shows before a rising storm.
  • * (1809-1892)
  • All round a hedge upshoots, and shows / At distance like a little wood.
  • *
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage='Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed .}}
  • (informal) To put in an appearance; show up.
  • (informal) To have an enlarged belly and thus be recognizable as pregnant.
  • (racing) To finish third, especially of horses or dogs.
  • (obsolete) To have a certain appearance, such as well or ill, fit or unfit; to become or suit; to appear.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • My lord of York, it better showed with you.

    Usage notes

    In the past, shew'' was used as a past tense form and ''shewed as a past participle of this verb; both forms are now archaic.

    Synonyms

    * (display) display, indicate, point out, reveal, exhibit * (indicate a fact to be true) demonstrate, prove * (put in an appearance) arrive, show up

    Antonyms

    * (display) conceal, cover up, hide * (indicate a fact to be true) disprove, refute

    Derived terms

    * show a clean pair of heels * show ankle * * show off * show one's true colors * show one's true stripes * show somebody the door * show up

    See also

    * showcase * showdown

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (countable) A play, dance, or other entertainment.
  • * , chapter=4
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show . He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.}}
  • (countable) An exhibition of items.
  • (countable) A demonstration.
  • (countable) A broadcast program/programme.
  • (countable) A movie.
  • (uncountable) Mere display or pomp with no substance.
  • * Young
  • I envy none their pageantry and show .
  • A project or presentation.
  • Let's get on with the show'''.   Let's get this '''show''' on the road.   They went on an international road '''show''' to sell the shares to investors.   It was Apple's usual dog and pony ' show .
  • The major leagues.
  • (mining, obsolete) A pale blue flame at the top of a candle flame, indicating the presence of firedamp.
  • (Raymond)
  • (obsolete) Semblance; likeness; appearance.
  • * Bible, Luke xx. 46. 47
  • Beware of the scribes,which devour widows' houses, and for a shew make long prayers.
  • * (John Milton)
  • He through the midst unmarked, / In show plebeian angel militant / Of lowest order, passed.
  • (medicine) A discharge, from the vagina, of mucus streaked with blood, occurring a short time before labor.
  • Synonyms

    * (exhibition) exhibition, exposition * (demonstration) demonstration, illustration, proof * program(me) * (mere display with no substance) , front, superficiality * (baseball) big leagues

    Derived terms

    * showbusiness, showbiz * show business * showlike * showy * talk show

    See also

    * showman * showpiece * show-stopper * show-stopping

    Statistics

    *