countdown

Multiple Entries:
  countdown    count  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
countdown/ˈkaʊntdaʊn/

▶noun

• 1 an act of counting down to zero, especially before the launching of a rocket.

• 2 the final moments before a significant event.

• 3 a digital display that counts down.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
count1

▶verb

• 1 determine the total number of.

• 2 recite numbers in ascending order.

  ■ (count down) recite or display numbers backwards to zero to indicate remaining time, especially before the launch of a rocket.

  ■ (count something out) take out items one by one, keeping a note of how many one takes.

  ■ (count someone out) complete a count of ten seconds over a fallen boxer to indicate defeat.

  ■ (count something out) Brit. procure the adjournment of the House of Commons when fewer than forty members are present.

• 3 take into account; include.

  ■ (count someone in or out) include (or not include) someone in a planned activity.

• 4 regard or be regarded as possessing a quality or fulfilling a role: people she had counted as her friends.

• 5 matter; be significant: it was the critics that counted.

• 6 (count on/upon) rely on.

▶noun

• 1 an act of counting.

  ■ the total determined by counting.

  ■ a referee's count of up to ten seconds when a boxer is knocked down.

• 2 a point for discussion or consideration.

  ■ Law a separate charge in an indictment.

• 3 the measure of the fineness of a yarn or woven fabric.

– phrases
count one's blessings be grateful for what one has.
count the cost calculate the consequences of a careless or foolish action.
count the days (or hours) be impatient for time to pass.
keep (or lose) count take note of (or forget) the number or amount when counting.
out (or N. Amer. also down) for the count Boxing defeated by being knocked to the ground and unable to rise within ten seconds.

– derivatives
countable adjective,
countably adverb.

– origin ME (as n.): from OFr. counte (n.), counter (v.), from L. computare (see compute).

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
count2

▶noun a foreign nobleman whose rank corresponds to that of an earl.

– derivatives
countship noun.

– origin ME: from OFr. conte, from L. comes, comit- ‘companion, overseer, attendant’.