whole number
    n 1: any of the natural numbers (positive or negative) or zero;
         "an integer is a number that is not a fraction" [syn:
         integer, whole number]

Whole \Whole\, a. [OE. hole, hol, hal, hool, AS. h[=a]l well,
   sound, healthy; akin to OFries. & OS. h?l, D. heel, G. heil,
   Icel. heill, Sw. hel whole, Dan. heel, Goth. hails well,
   sound, OIr. c?l augury. Cf. Hale, Hail to greet, Heal
   to cure, Health, Holy.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. Containing the total amount, number, etc.; comprising all
      the parts; free from deficiency; all; total; entire; as,
      the whole earth; the whole solar system; the whole army;
      the whole nation. "On their whole host I flew unarmed."
      --Milton.
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            The whole race of mankind.            --Shak.
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   2. Complete; entire; not defective or imperfect; not broken
      or fractured; unimpaired; uninjured; integral; as, a whole
      orange; the egg is whole; the vessel is whole.
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            My life is yet whole in me.           --2 Sam. i. 9.
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   3. Possessing, or being in a state of, heath and soundness;
      healthy; sound; well.
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            [She] findeth there her friends hole and sound.
                                                  --Chaucer.
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            They that be whole need not a physician. --Matt. ix.
                                                  12.
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            When Sir Lancelot's deadly hurt was whole.
                                                  --Tennyson.
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   Whole blood. (Law of Descent) See under Blood, n., 2.

   Whole note (Mus.), the note which represents a note of
      longest duration in common use; a semibreve.

   Whole number (Math.), a number which is not a fraction or
      mixed number; an integer.

   Whole snipe (Zool.), the common snipe, as distinguished
      from the smaller jacksnipe. [Prov. Eng.]
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   Syn: All; total; complete; entire; integral; undivided;
        uninjured; unimpaired; unbroken; healthy.

   Usage: Whole, Total, Entire, Complete. When we use
          the word whole, we refer to a thing as made up of
          parts, none of which are wanting; as, a whole week; a
          whole year; the whole creation. When we use the word
          total, we have reference to all as taken together, and
          forming a single totality; as, the total amount; the
          total income. When we speak of a thing as entire, we
          have no reference to parts at all, but regard the
          thing as an integer, i. e., continuous or unbroken;
          as, an entire year; entire prosperity. When we speak
          of a thing as complete, there is reference to some
          progress which results in a filling out to some end or
          object, or a perfected state with no deficiency; as,
          complete success; a complete victory.
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                All the whole army stood agazed on him. --Shak.
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                One entire and perfect chrysolite. --Shak.
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                Lest total darkness should by night regain
                Her old possession, and extinguish life.
                                                  --Milton.
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                So absolute she seems,
                And in herself complete.          --Milton.
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integer
whole number

    (Or "whole number") One of the numbers in the set

   	..., -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, ...

   There are an infinite number of integers, though each one is
   finite.

   An inductive definition of an integer is a number that is either
   zero or an integer plus or minus one.  An integer has no
   fractional part.  If written as a real number, e.g. 42.0, the
   part after the decimal point will be zero.

   A natural number is a non-negative integer.

   Computers usually store integers in binary.  Natural numbers can
   be stored as unsigned integers and integers that may be negative
   require a sign bit and typically use twos complement
   representation.  Other representations have been used, such as
   binary-coded decimal.

   (2002-04-07)