number one

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English

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

number one (not comparable)

  1. (idiomatic) First; foremost; best, often used after its headword.
    Commuting to work is the number one reason to own a car.
    He is my enemy number one.
  2. (US, law enforcement) Black, African-American.

Translations

Noun

number one (plural number ones)

  1. The most important person, the one who is in charge.
  2. Someone who is top of a ranking, who is ranked first.
    • 1979, Robert Hazard (lyrics and music), “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”, in She's So Unusual‎, performed by Cyndi Lauper, published 1983:
      The phone rings, in the middle of the night / My father yells "what you gonna do with your life" / Oh, daddy, dear, you know you're still number one / But girls, they wanna have fun / Oh, girls just wanna have...
    • 2011 July 3, Piers Newbury, “Wimbledon 2011: Novak Djokovic beats Rafael Nadal in final”, in BBC Sport‎:
      Djokovic came through 6-4 6-1 1-6 6-3 to end Nadal's reign as Wimbledon champion, before overtaking the Spaniard as world number one on Monday.
  3. Oneself, being considered foremost, as by an egoist.
  4. (childish, euphemistic) Urine; urination.
    • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:
      He might have got up, without the bell's sounding, to do his number one, or number two, in his great big white chamber-pot.
  5. (music) The single that has sold the most in a given period.
  6. (soccer) The main goalkeeper of a team, so-called because they wear the number 1 on the back of their kit.
    • 2011 January 5, Jonathan Stevenson, “Arsenal 0 - 0 Man City”, in BBC‎:
      England number one Hart produced a magnificent moment to deny Van Persie once more just after the hour mark, leaping across his goal to fingertip the Dutchman's crashing 25-yard, top corner-bound drive away.
  7. (cricket) The batsman who opens the batting.
  8. A first lieutenant.
  9. (theater) A large town where theatrical performances may expect to achieve success.
  10. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see number,‎ one.

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

Translations

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