fifties

• (of the decade) 'fifties

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɪftiz/

fifties

1. plural of fifty

fifties pl (plural only)

1. The decade of the 1850s, 1950s, etc.
   • 1954 June, R. Marchant, “Early Excursion Trains”, in Railway Magazine, page 427:

     The fifties were the heyday of the excursion train, with the 1851 Exhibition naturally giving a great boost to such traffic.

2. The decade of one's life from age 50 through age 59.
   • 2002, Laurance L. Priddy, Critical Evidence, page 96:

     […] doing variations on Old Devil Moon on trumpet, backed by an aging hippy on drums, a stringbeany, college student type on upright bass, and a balding man in his fifties playing an effectively understated piano.

3. (temperature, rates, plural only) The range between 50 and 59 Fahrenheit.

   It can't snow tonight; it's forecast to be in the fifties!

• 1950s, '50s, 50s

• furious fifties

• quinquagenarian

fifties (not comparable)

1. From or evoking the 51st through 60th years of a century (chiefly the 1950s).

   Don't bring ambrosia, this isn't a fifties potluck.

   • 2008, Gabriella Gahlia Modan, Turf Wars: Discourse, Diversity, and the Politics of Place, Wiley, →ISBN, page 4:

     As they inspect the message, "Happy B-day Netta," the bakery clerk places four plastic figures around the edges of the cake. The figures have fifties hairstyles and clothing, and they are in rock 'n roll dancing poses.

• Tiffies, iffiest, stiffie