A silly vanity but...what the heck are "elevens"??

A frustrated puzzlement | Sept 13, 2003 | yankeedame

[yankeedame]

I know, I know, this isn't "news" nor is it "frontpage", but it sure as heck would be frontpage news to me if someone could tell me what one earth is meant by "elevens" (British term).

Here are two quotes I recently came across:

"...He looks out from the photo with the face of a small boy, humorous and cheeky but determined to get into the eleven. There was a ..."

and

"...and just as, at Eton, a boy cannot feel comfortable, and is, indeed, liable to sanctions, until he knows the names of the cricket eleven; who may or may not carry an umbrella..."

What the heck are they talking about??

[The_Reader_David]

Obviously an 11 man cricket team, as should have been clear from the second quotation.

[foolscap]

It does appear to be a cricket term. I have also heard the term "Elevens" used in British Victorian novels which I think means some sort of mid-morning meal. It must be like an American brunch. I don't know if that term is in current usage or not.We would need a Brit to answer that question. I doubt in this case this is what is being referred to but it's an interesting little history note none the less.

[tjwmason]

A term derived from English public schools (N.B. in England public school is what an American would call a prep school), an eleven is a cricket team, a fifteen is a rugby team (due to the respective numbers on the teams); sometimes an eleven means a football [soccer] team. Used especially as the 1st XI (the best cricket team in a school), or 1st XV (the best rugby team).