Alexander Dyce, A General Glossary to Shakespeare's Works

forty used as “the familiar number on many occasions, where no very exact reckoning was necessary” (STEEVENS) ; “Anciently adopted to express a great many” (STAUNTON) : “forty shillings,” THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, i. 1. 179 ; ‘ “the humour of forty fancies,’” THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, iii. 2. 64 (see humour, etc.); “forty pound,” TWELFTH NIGHT, v. 1. 171 ; “these forty years,” RICHARD II., i. 3. 159 ; “forty moys,” HENRY V., iv. 4. 13 ; “forty year,” 1 HENRY VI., i. 3. 90 ; “these forty hours,” HENRY VIII., iii. 2. 253 ; “some forty truncheoners,” HENRY VIII., v. 4. 49 ; “forty of them,” CORIOLANUS, iii. 1. 243 ; “forty paces,” ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, ii. 2. 233.