four
a cardinal number, three plus one.
a symbol of this number, 4 or IV or IIII.
a set of this many persons or things.
a playing card, die face, or half of a domino face with four pips.
fours, Jazz. alternate four-bar passages, as played in sequence by different soloists: with guitar and piano trading fours.
Automotive.
an automobile powered by a four-cylinder engine.
the engine itself.
amounting to four in number.
Idioms about four
on all fours. all fours (def. 3).
Origin of four
1Words that may be confused with four
Words Nearby four
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use four in a sentence
There are four photos there of representative presidential candidates.
Today’s GOP: Still Cool With Racist Pandering? | Michael Tomasky | January 7, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTfour weeks after the injections, all 20 of the participants had developed the antibodies needed to stave off the infection.
After four or five months of casual interaction, they realized they both had lost a young parent to cancer.
Everyone at This Dinner Party Has Lost Someone | Samantha Levine | January 6, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThe injunction, she argued, only applies to these four plaintiffs—not to anyone else.
The Back Alley, Low Blow-Ridden Fight to Stop Gay Marriage in Florida Is Finally Over | Jay Michaelson | January 5, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTEach CAP, also known as an “orbit,” consists on four aircraft.
Exclusive: U.S. Drone Fleet at ‘Breaking Point,’ Air Force Says | Dave Majumdar | January 5, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
A little boy of four was moved to passionate grief at the sight of a dead dog taken from a pond.
Children's Ways | James SullyIn cross-section the burrows varied from round (three inches in diameter) to oval (three inches high and four inches wide).
Summer Birds From the Yucatan Peninsula | Erwin E. KlaasBefore the spinet a bench was placed about four feet below the keys, and I was put upon the bench.
Gulliver's Travels | Jonathan SwiftWe had six field-pieces, but we only took four, harnessed wit twice the usual number of horses.
The Seven-score and four on the six middle Bells, the treble leading, and the tenor lying behind every change, makes good Musick.
Tintinnalogia, or, the Art of Ringing | Richard Duckworth and Fabian Stedman
British Dictionary definitions for four
/ (fɔː) /
the cardinal number that is the sum of three and one
a numeral, 4, IV, etc, representing this number
something representing, represented by, or consisting of four units, such as a playing card with four symbols on it
Also called: four o'clock four hours after noon or midnight
cricket
a shot that crosses the boundary after hitting the ground
the four runs scored for such a shot
rowing
a racing shell propelled by four oarsmen pulling one oar each, with or without a cox
the crew of such a shell
amounting to four: four thousand eggs; four times
(as pronoun): four are ready
Origin of four
1Other words from four
- Related prefixes: quadri-, tetra-
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with four
In addition to the idioms beginning with four
- four corners of the earth, the
also see:
- between you and me and (the four walls)
- on all fours
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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