double
Verbdoubles, doubling, doubled
Noun pluraldoubles
Formsdoubles, doubling, doubled
Pluraldoubles
- 1Equal to twice the usual amount, number, or quantity of something.
The new contract offered double pay for weekend shifts.
They booked a room at double the standard nightly rate.
UsageBefore a noun: double pay. Before the or a number, with no of: double the rate (not
incorrect: double of the rate).Oppositehalf
- 2Consisting of two matching or similar parts or layers joined together, or folded so as to form two layers.
A double helix is formed from two intertwined strands.
The cabinet had double doors that swung outward.
Similardual, twin, paired, twofold
Oppositesingle
Note
Here the two halves match and make one whole, as double doors do. The sense stretches easily to people: The Economist in 2013 gave Katharine Graham a double place, regal Georgetown hostess and scrappy newshound at once.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The Economist published the referenced description in 2013. en.wiktionary.org
- The article described Katharine Graham as holding a double place, combining a Georgetown hostess's role with that of a newshound. en.wiktionary.org
- 3To make something twice as large, numerous, or strong, or to become twice as large; to increase by one hundred percent.
Managers decided to double the budget for research this quarter.
She doubled her savings within two years of opening the account.
UsageWorks both ways: someone doubles a number, or the number doubles by itself.
Oppositehalve
- 4Made or sized for use by two people, cars, or similar.
We reserved a double room with a view of the sea.
The new property included a double garage for two cars.
UsageCommon in double room, double bed, double garage.
Oppositesingle
- 5To two times the amount or degree; twice over.
He paid double to get the tickets delivered overnight.
Tickets bought at the door cost double, so we ordered ours online a week early.
Oppositehalf
Note
Here the word measures by multiplication, and it can stand directly before a noun phrase. Jonathan Swift, writing to Alexander Pope in 1736, says "I was double their age."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Jonathan Swift wrote the quoted passage to Alexander Pope in 1736. en.wikisource.org
- The letter contains the words “I was double their age.” en.wikisource.org
- 6
- 7A hit in baseball that lets the batter reach second base safely on the same play.
The slugger lined a double off the outfield wall.
Back-to-back doubles tied the game in the seventh inning.
UsageA batter hits a double, or simply doubles.
Similartwo-bagger
Note
Baseball's two-base hit is scored as one only when the batter reaches second base without help from a fielding error or a fielder's choice.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- A double requires reaching second base without assistance from a fielding error or a fielder's choice. mlb.com
- 8A number or amount equal to twice another quantity.
Twenty is the double of ten.
He earned five hundred dollars last month and hopes to make double that in December.
Oppositehalf
- 9Having two aspects or interpretations; able to be understood in more than one way.
The poem's last line carries a double meaning, pointing both to the end of winter and to the end of a marriage.
Critics noted the play's double quality, comic on the surface and tragic underneath.
UsageMost often a double meaning: the title has a double meaning.
Similarambiguous, dual, equivocal, twofold, ambivalent
Oppositeunambiguous, single
- 10A person who closely resembles another, especially one who stands in for them, as in a film or for security.
The famous actor relied on a double for every stunt.
Rumors spread that the dictator used a double at public appearances.
UsageIn film, often body double or stunt double.
Similarlookalike, stand-in, doppelganger, twin, substitute
Note
A flesh-and-blood lookalike or stand-in, not a ghostly doppelgänger. Rumors that a ruler keeps several doubles are a familiar use. The stand-in is chosen for likeness first, and the purpose is usually protection or deception.
- 11In soccer, the achievement of winning both a league title and a major cup competition in a single season.
The squad clinched the double with a win in the cup final.
Only a handful of clubs have ever completed the double in the modern era.
UsageUsually the double: win, complete or clinch the double.
Note
The pairing is a nation's top league and its principal knockout cup in one season, long counted among the game's hardest feats. Other sports reuse the word for their own pairs, such as cricket's runs-and-wickets feat.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The conventional pairing is a country's top league and principal domestic cup in the same season. en.wikipedia.org
- The achievement has historically been regarded as exceptionally difficult. tottenhamhotspur.com
- Cricket uses double for a combined runs-and-wickets achievement. en.wikipedia.org
- 12In baseball, to make a hit on which the batter safely reaches second base.
The catcher doubled off the left-field wall, driving in the tying run.
Managers prize hitters who can double to the opposite field.
UsageOften with where the ball went: doubled to left, doubled off the wall.
Note
Scorers use the verb strictly: a batter doubles only when the hit itself carries them to second base, and one who reaches first on a hit and second on a fielder's error is credited with a single.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- A double requires reaching second base on the hit itself, without an intervening error or fielder's choice. mlb.com
- 13In darts, the thin ring that circles the board farthest from its center.
Needing the double to win the leg, she placed her last dart just inside the wire.
Under the bar's dim lights, the double was only a thin stripe of color at the very edge of the board.
Note
The ring takes its name from its scoring: a dart that lands in it counts twice the number of its segment. In the standard game a player has to finish on a double or the bull, so the last dart of a winning turn usually aims here. Each segment is itself called a double and named by its number, as in double twenty; a dart that lands in one is said to hit that double.
- 14In dominoes, a tile whose two halves carry the same number of pips.
Whoever holds the highest double sets it down first to open the game.
Late in the round she was still holding two doubles, and no open end on the table matched either one.
Note
Each is named by the number it repeats: the double six, the double three, or the double blank, which has no pips on either half. In play a double is usually laid crosswise, across the line of tiles rather than along it. Because both halves show one number, under ordinary matching rules a double fits only where that number is open, which is why a hand of them late in a round is awkward.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Doubles are named for their repeated value; the double blank has no pips on either half. en.wikipedia.org
- Doubles are usually played crosswise. images.thdstatic.com
- This requires qualification: it holds under ordinary matching rules, but in All Sevens the double blank is wild and may be played at any time. images.thdstatic.com
- Under ordinary matching rules, doubles offer fewer opportunities for play, making retained doubles awkward. mobilityware.helpshift.com
- 15Especially in swimming and track, the achievement of winning two separate events at one meet or competition.
She completed a rare double at the national championships, taking both the 400 and 800 freestyle.
Few sprinters attempt the 200-400 double, because the heats leave little time to recover.
UsageAthletes complete or pull off a double, often named by the events: the 200-400 double.
Note
Swimmers and track athletes use the word most, often with the two events attached: the 200-400 double, the shape of Michael Johnson's wins in the 200 and 400 meters in 1996. A team that takes its league and a cup in the same season has won a different double, one spread over months.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Michael Johnson won both the 200 meters and the 400 meters at the 1996 Olympics. worldathletics.org
- 16In the form doubles, a match, especially in tennis or badminton, in which each side is made up of two players.
The twins reached the final of the men's doubles at the national championships.
In badminton doubles, partners usually switch between front and back court as the rally changes.
Oppositesingles
Note
The plural form is the name of the game, and it usually takes a singular verb: doubles is faster at the net than singles. The -s stays when the word stands before another noun, as in a doubles partner or the doubles final. Events are named by who plays them: men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles, where each pair is a man and a woman.
Less common meanings
- 17An alcoholic drink served with two measures of liquor.
The bartender poured him a double and slid it across the counter.
After the long meeting, she ordered a double on the rocks.
UsageOrder a double, or say make it a double.
Oppositesingle
- 18To act as a substitute for another performer in a particular role.
Because the lead actress could not ride a horse, a trained rider doubled for her in the long shots.
During filming, a stunt performer who looked like the star would double for him in every fall and fight scene.
UsageUsually double for someone: a stunt rider doubled for the star.
Similarsubstitute, deputize, understudy, cover
Note
A theater word with a French accent. Francis William Blagdon, writing from Paris in 1801, still flags it: Laforêt "doubles Lainez," "as the French express it." Its object can be a performer or a part, as when Elizabeth Hervey's The Mourtray Family (1800) has a character double the part of her mother.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- Blagdon explicitly identifies the theatrical expression as French. gutenberg.org
- Francis William Blagdon wrote the cited passage. en.wiktionary.org
- The passage belongs to a letter dated from Paris in 1801, rather than a book first published that year. gutenberg.org
- The quoted wording accurately reproduces Blagdon's description of Laforêt substituting for Lainez. gutenberg.org
- Elizabeth Hervey wrote The Mourtray Family, originally published in 1800. catalog.hathitrust.org
- The novel describes a character attempting to double her mother's part. en.wiktionary.org
- 19
- 20
- 21To turn sharply and follow a winding or backtracking course.
Realizing she had left her phone at the café, she doubled back through the crowded market.
The trail doubles back on itself several times as it climbs the steep hill.
UsageUsually double back; a trail can double back on itself.
- 22False, deceitful, or hypocritical in speech or behavior.
After the spy's double game came to light, neither side would ever trust him again.
The mayor in the novel plays a double game, praising the workers in public while secretly helping the factory owners.
UsageMostly in play a double game and lead a double life.
Similardeceitful, duplicitous, two-faced, hypocritical, false
Oppositehonest, sincere, straightforward, candid
Note
The moral sense is an old one. John Skelton, writing around 1515, found a "fals double tunge" fiercer than Cerberus in his kennel of hell. In each the doubleness is a hidden second face, which is why the word accuses where the "ambiguous" sense merely observes.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The deceitful sense is historically attested in Skelton's writing. gutenberg.org
- John Skelton composed the cited poem around 1515; this is a composition date, not its publication year. otago.ac.nz
- Skelton uses the exact phrase 'fals double tunge' and compares it to Cerberus crouching in hell's kennel. gutenberg.org
- 23Stooping, with the upper body bent forward and over.
The pickers worked bent double along the rows of strawberries all afternoon.
Stomach cramps left her bent double on the bathroom floor.
UsageUsually bent double, from pain, laughter or hard work.
- 24Into two halves or parts, as by folding or bending.
Fold the sheet double and lay it across the bed.
The strong wind bent the young tree nearly double.
UsageUsually after bent or folded: folded double, bent double.
Note
It measures how far the bending goes, until one half nearly meets the other. The same picture of a body folded over lies behind the adjective for a stooping posture.
- 25In twos; as a pair, or two at once.
There was only one horse left, so the two sisters rode double across the field to the farmhouse.
The scouts paddled double in each canoe.
UsageMostly in ride double, see double and sleep double.
Oppositesingly
- 26To join or couple two things together.
In spinning, two single yarns are often doubled together to make a stronger, smoother thread.
For a chunkier scarf, double two strands of yarn together and knit them as one.
UsageUsually with a particle: double two yarns together, or double them up.
- 27With more petals than are usual for a flower of its kind.
Breeders developed a double camellia prized for its dense, layered petals.
The double peonies opened into full, ruffled blossoms.
Oppositesingle
- 28
- 29To be twice as large, numerous, or valuable as something else.
Thus re-inforc’d, againſt the adverſe Fleet / Still doubling ours, brave Rupert leads the way.
1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders - 30To reproduce something exactly; to make a faithful copy of it.
- 31An abrupt change of direction, typically one that doubles back over the path just taken.
- 32In programming, a floating-point number stored with double precision, allowing greater accuracy than a standard float.
- 33Of a relative, connected through both the mother's and the father's family, as when two siblings marry two siblings and their children are double cousins.
- 34Of a musical instrument, pitched one octave below the standard member of its family, as in double bass.
- 35Of a musical tempo, moving at two times the speed.
- 36A phantom copy of someone who is still alive, as in the folklore of the doppelgänger.
- 37In bridge, a call raising the scores at stake if the most recent bid ends up as the contract.
- 38In billiards and pool, a shot that sends the object ball off a cushion and across into a pocket on the far side.
- 39A wager on horses in two separate races, where any money won on the first is staked on the second.
- 40In darts, a throw that lands in the narrow outer ring and scores twice the number.
- 41A rowing boat for two people, each pulling a pair of sculls.
- 42In sports, the act of scoring on two occasions in the same match, such as two goals.
- 43In cricket, the feat of making a thousand runs and taking a hundred wickets in one season.
- 44A small coin once used in France, valued at a sixth of a sou.
- 45Guernsey's smallest copper money in former times, with eight to the penny.
As for doubles, they are not worth anything now; and I have still got an egg-cupful my mother used to keep handy to give the baker change from a farthing.
1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page - 46The practice of a player switching between two instruments to perform one musical part.
- 47In the former Roman Catholic calendar, a feast day ranked above simple and semidouble feasts.
- 48A rapid military marching pace, the same as double-quick.
- 49An extra instrument that a musician can also play well besides the main one.
- 50An act of betrayal, cheating someone who trusts you.
His fellows had chaffed him much upon the way that astute adventurer had bamboozled him, or, in their vernacular, "put the double on him," and vowed that all his energies should be devoted to a return match.
1880, Hawley Smart, False Cards - 51To act two separate roles, such as two characters in the same play.
- 52To go by ship round a cape or promontory and continue along the far side.
- 53To have a second voice or instrument play the same musical part, in unison or an octave higher or lower.
- 54To be able to play a second instrument as well as one's main one.
- 55In bridge, to call so that particular points are worth twice as much should the opponents' latest bid be the final contract.
- 56In blackjack, to double one's stake and take exactly one more card.
- 57In billiards and pool, to bank the object ball off a cushion so that it drops into a pocket.
- 58To march or move at double time, the jogging pace of military drill, or more loosely to go somewhere at a run.
- 59To merge ranks or files of soldiers in pairs so that every two make one.
- 60To broadcast on the same frequency as another station at the same moment, by accident or on purpose, so the signals clash.
- 61To work as a spy for two opposing sides while pretending to serve only one.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
Latin duplus ("twofold") passed into Old French as doble or double, and Middle English borrowed double from it. Doppio and duple are doublets.