See Also:

four (iou)



four adjective & noun (cardinal numeral).
[Old English feower = Old Frisian fiuwer, fior, Old Saxon fiwar, fiuwar, fiori, Old High German fior, fier (Dutch, German vier), Old Norse fjorir, Gothic fidwor, from Germanic from Indo-European, whence Sanskrit catvara, catur-, Greek tessares, Latin quattuor.]
A. adjective. One more than three (a cardinal numeral represented by 4 in arabic numerals, iv, IV, rarely iiii, IIII, in roman). OE.
four figures: see FIGURE noun. four freedoms: see FREEDOM noun. four walls the walls of a room or a house, in extended usage the symbol of confinement within a restricted space. to the four winds: see WIND noun1. within the four corners: see CORNER noun 3.
P. Thomas They fired four Guns as Signals of Distress. E. L. Linton He..was the safest confidant to be found within the four seas. M. Webb The meeting lasted four hours. Day Lewis Four tall windows on the ground floor.
b. noun.
Four people or things identified contextually, as parts or divisions, years of age, points, runs, etc., in a game, chances (in giving odds), minutes, inches, shillings (now Hist.), pence, horses in hand, etc. ME.
Bible (AV): 2 Samuel 21:22 These foure..fell by the hand of Dauid. L. Simond An elegant post-chaise and four stopped at the door.
One more than three as an abstract number; the symbol(s) or figure(s) representing this (4 in arabic numerals, iv, IV, rarely (exc. on clock-faces) iiii, IIII, in roman). ME.
W. Whewell Four..was held to be the most perfect number.
The time of day four hours after midnight or midday (on a clock, watch, etc., indicated by the numeral four displayed or pointed to). Also four o'clock. LME.
Swift If you'll be sure to come at four.
A set of four; a thing having a set of four as an essential or distinguishing feature; spec. (a) a playing-card, domino, or side of a die marked with four pips or spots; (b) a crew of four in a rowing boat; in pl., boat races between such crews; (c) in pl., four leaves to the sheet in a printed book; (d) an engine or motor vehicle with four cylinders; (e) Cricket a hit to the boundary for which four runs are scored (cf. SIX noun 4(e)); (f) four playing-cards of the same rank as a scoring combination (also in pl.). L15.
C. Mackenzie Cosway was called away to make up a four at Bridge. J. Archer A four for Harvey..and a six for the dealer.
The fourth of a set or series with numbered members, the one designated four (usu. number four, or with specification, as book four, chapter four, etc.); a size etc. denoted by four, a shoe, glove, garment, etc., of such a size, (also size four). E16.
Radio Four: see RADIO noun 3.
E. Wallace He had..rowed 'four' in his boat.
Each of a set of four; spec. (a) a large plant-pot of which four are formed from a cast of clay; (b) a candle of which four constitute a pound in weight. E19.
Comb.: Forming compound cardinal numerals with multiples of ten from twenty to ninety, as thirty-four, (arch.) four-and-thirty, etc., and (arch.) their corresponding ordinals, as four-and-thirtieth etc., and with multiples of a hundred, as 204 (read two hundred and four, US also two hundred four), 5004 (read five thousand and four, US also five thousand four), etc. With nouns + -ER1 forming nouns with the sense 'something (identified contextually) being of or having four s', as four-seater, four-wheeler, etc. Special combs., as four-ale Hist. ale sold at fourpence a quart; a bar selling such ale; four-ball a golf match between two pairs with each player using a separate ball, the best ball on each side counting at each hole; four-by-four (a) slang a vehicle having four-speed transmission and four-speed auxiliary transmission; (b) N. Amer. a post or batten measuring four inches by four in cross-section; four-by-two (a) Military slang the cloth attached to a pull-through; (b) slang, derog. a Jew; (c) N. Amer. & Austral. a post or batten measuring four inches by two in cross-section; also called two-by-four; four-channel adjective & noun (designating) any of various systems for recording and playing back sound signals whereby, through the placing of four loudspeakers, the original front-to-back sound distribution may be reproduced as well as the side-to-side one of stereophony; four-colour adjective having or pertaining to four colours; four-colour problem, a problem to prove that any plane map can be coloured with only four colours so that no two same-coloured regions have a common boundary; four-cycle adjective = four-stroke below; four-dimensional adjective having a fourth dimension in addition to length, breadth, and depth; four-eyes slang, derog. (a nickname for) a bespectacled person; four-figure: see FIGURE noun; four-flush noun & verb (a) noun an almost worthless poker hand having four (not five) cards of the same suit; (b) verb intrans. (US) bluff, brag; four-flusher US a bluffer, a humbug; four-foot adjective (obsolete exc. poet.) four-footed; four-footed adjective having or using four feet (esp. opp. to biped); quadruped; four-four adjective & noun (Music) (designating) time or rhythm consisting of four crotchets in a bar; Four-H club N. Amer. a club for the instruction of young people in citizenry and agriculture (from supposedly improving head, heart, hands, and health); four-handed adjective (a) (of a mammal) quadrumanous; (b) having or using four hands; (of a card-game etc.) for four players; (of a piece of keyboard music) for two players; four hundred US the highest social group in a locality; four-in-hand (a) a vehicle with four horses driven by one person on the box; (b) US a necktie (to be) worn tied in a loose knot with two hanging ends; four last things: see LAST adjective; four-leaf clover: see CLOVER noun; four-letter adjective consisting of four letters; esp. designating any of several coarse English monosyllabic words referring to sexual or excretory functions; four-letter man, an obnoxious person; four o'clock (a) (more fully four o'clock flower) = marvel of Peru s.v. MARVEL noun1; (b) the Australian friar-bird; (c) a light meal taken at about four o'clock; four-on-the-floor N. Amer. slang a manual gear lever; four-part adjective (Music) composed for four parts or voices; fourpence four pence, esp. of the old British currency before decimalization; fourpenny adjective (a) worth or costing fourpence; fourpenny nail, a nail 1 1 / 2 inches long of which a thousand add up to four pounds in weight; (b) fourpenny one (colloq.), a hard blow, esp. to the face; four-post adjective (of a bed) having four posts to support a canopy overhead; four-poster (bed) a four-post bed; four pounder a gun that throws a shot that weighs four pounds; four-rowed adjective having four rows; four-rowed barley, a form of six-rowed barley, Hordeum vulgare, having four longitudinal rows of fertile spikelets; fourscore arch. eighty; four-square adjective, adverb, & noun (a) adjective square-shaped, solidly based; resolute; (b) in a square form or position, resolutely; (c) noun (arch.) a figure having four equal sides; four-star adjective & noun (a) adjective given four stars in a grading in which this denotes the highest standard or the next standard to the highest, excellent; having or designating a military rank distinguished by four stars on the shoulder-piece of the uniform; (b) noun something given a four-star grading, esp. petrol; four-stroke adjective (of an internal-combustion engine) having a cycle of four strokes (intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust); four-vector [German Vierervektor] Math. a vector defined by four scalar components; esp. a space-time vector in relativity theory; four-went(-ways) (obsolete exc. dial.) a point where four ways meet, a crossroads; four wheel noun & adjective (a) noun a four-wheeled vehicle; (b) adjective having four wheels; acting on all four wheels of a vehicle; four wheeler a four-wheeled vehicle, spec. (Hist.) a four-wheeled hackney carriage.
fourfold adjective, adverb, & noun (a) adjective four times as great or as numerous; having four parts, divisions, elements, or units; (b) adverb to four times the number or quantity; (c) noun (rare) a fourfold amount: OE.
fourscorth adjective eightieth L16-E18.