Definition of "number" [num•ber]

• Mathematics A member of the set of positive integers; one of a series of symbols of unique meaning in a fixed order that can be derived by counting. (noun)
• Mathematics A member of any of the further sets of mathematical objects, such as negative integers and real numbers. (noun)
• Arithmetic. (noun)
• A symbol or word used to represent a number. (noun)
• A numeral or a series of numerals used for reference or identification: his telephone number; the apartment number. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "And the interaction with the customer rep. led me through several instances of Things I Don't Care About: type of my account, account number (I know my _member number_, but not my account numbers), my phone banking password (I call them once a year, roughly, and they still want me to remember a token for them...) et.c..."
• "This is because the predicate ˜@ (number of planets)™ is true, at a world w, of whatever the predicate ˜number of planets™ is true of at the actual world."
• "_Adjectives_ express the _qualities_ which distinguish one person or thing from another; in one form they express quality _without comparison_; in another, they express comparison _between two_, or between _one_ and a number taken collectively, -- and in a third they express comparison between _one_ and a _number_ of others taken separately."