five-by-five

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word five-by-five. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word five-by-five, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say five-by-five in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word five-by-five you have here. The definition of the word five-by-five will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition offive-by-five, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • Audio (US):(file)

Etymology 1

From radio communications phrase dating from the 1950s. The first five referred to a rating of signal clarity, the other to reception strength. See Signal strength and readability report on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Adjective

five-by-five (not comparable)

  1. Loud and clear.
    • 2019 December 13, Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary‎, archived from the original on 13 February 2025:
      "Hon, are you getting good data from us?" "Five-by-five." "Any sign of hostiles?" "Nope." "Can I get a few more syllables from you?"
    • 2024 September 28, Harry Blank, “Not Ready for Prime Time”, in Deadlined, →ISBN, page 602:
      McInnis nodded, and Carter keyed the mic. "CAONCI-Site-43 calling Overwatch Command," he intoned in his best radio voice. Veiksaar smirked. "CAONCI-Site-43, Overwatch Command. Do you read?"
      The response came immediately, to the visible relief of all nine of them. Even Wettle. "Five by five, CAONCI-Site-43. Five by five."
  2. Fine; OK.
Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

five-by-five (plural five-by-fives)

  1. (basketball) A performance in which a player accumulates five points in each of five statistical categories (points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks) in a single game.
  2. (slang) Someone whose body is roughly shaped like a square; a short and fat person.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fat person
    • 1953, Warren Eyster, Ear From the Customary Skies, New York, N.Y.: Random House, page 335:
      "Yeah? No stuff? You, a date? Wad yuh know. What is she, a five-by-five?"
    • 1998, Jeremiah Healy, The Only Good Lawyer: A John Francis Cuddy Mystery, New York, N.Y. : Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 71:
      "The muscle was Oscar Huong, a real Mr. five-by-five. Father supposedly a black Marine boxing champion. The brains was Nguyen Trinh—or 'Nugey,' for short. He had no idea who his daddy was."
Translations

References

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia