five-by-five

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English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

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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.
  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
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