Hundred

Hundred, hun′dred, n. the number of ten times ten: a division of a county in England, orig. supposed to contain a hundred families.—adjs. Hun′dredfold, folded a hundred times, multiplied by a hundred; Hun′dredth, coming last or forming one of a hundred.—n. one of a hundred.—n. Hun′dredweight, a weight the twentieth part of a ton, or 112 lb. avoirdupois; orig. a hundred lb., abbreviated cwt. (c. standing for L. centum, wt. for weight).—Hundred days, the period between Napoleon's return from Elba and his final downfall after Waterloo (the reign lasted exactly 95 days, March 20-June 22, 1815); Hundred years' war, the struggle between England and France, from 1337 down to 1453; Chiltern Hundreds, a district of Bucks, whose stewardship is a nominal office under the Crown, the temporary acceptance of which by a member of parliament enables him technically to vacate his seat; Great, or Long, hundred, six score; Not a hundred miles off, an indirect phrase for 'here,' 'in this very place;' Old Hundred, or Hundredth, a well-known long-metre setting of the hundredth psalm, 'All people that on earth do dwell.' [A.S. hundred—old form hund, a hundred, with the superfluous addition of réd or rǽd (Eng. rate), a reckoning.]