four

[fawr, fohr]

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noun

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.

adjective

amounting to four in number.

Idioms

on all fours. all fours(def 3).

Origin of four

before 1000; Middle English four, fower, Old English fēower; cognate with Old High German fior (German vier), Gothic fidwor; akin to Latin quattuor, Greek tésseres (Attic téttares)

Can be confusedfor fore four

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for four

quadruplicate, quadruple, tetrad, quaternary, tetralogy, quaternity, quadrivium, quadruplet, quaternion, quadrumvirate, quartet, quadrigeminal, quadripartite, quadrivial, quaternate

Examples from the Web for four

Contemporary Examples of four

There are four photos there of representative presidential candidates.
Today’s GOP: Still Cool With Racist Pandering?
Michael Tomasky
January 7, 2015
Four weeks after the injections, all 20 of the participants had developed the antibodies needed to stave off the infection.
The Race for the Ebola Vaccine
Abby Haglage
January 7, 2015
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 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
Each 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

Historical Examples of four

Mina, (plural Minæ)—Four pounds, three shillings, four pence.
Philothea
Lydia Maria Child
Besides, he had four quarts left, for which he expected to find a ready sale.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
Of course you'll do it, and you could do it better if you had three or four times the stake you got.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
A boat was got ready, and the captain got in, with four sailors to row.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
Steered east for four miles, when we struck Mr. Gosse's cart-track.
Explorations in Australia
John Forrest

British Dictionary definitions for four

four

noun

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

determiner

amounting to fourfour thousand eggs; four times
(as pronoun)four are ready

Related formsRelated prefixes: quadri-, tetra-

Word Origin for four

Old English fēower; related to Old Frisian fiūwer, Old Norse fjōrir, Old High German fior, Latin quattuor, Greek tessares, Sanskrit catur

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

Word Origin and History for four

Old English feower, from Proto-Germanic *petwor- (cf. Old Saxon fiwar, Old Frisian fiuwer, Frankish *fitter-, Dutch and German vier, Old Norse fjorir, Danish fire, Swedish fyra, Gothic fidwor "four"), from PIE *kwetwer- "four" (cf. Sanskrit catvarah, Avestan čathwaro, Persian čatvar, Greek tessares, Latin quattuor, Oscan petora, Old Church Slavonic četyre, Lithuanian keturi, Old Irish cethir, Welsh pedwar). The phonetic evolution of the Germanic forms has not been fully explained.

Slang four-eyes "person who wears glasses" first recorded 1874. Four-letter word first attested 1934; four-letter man, however, is recorded from 1923 (as a euphemism for a shit). A four-in-hand (1793) was a carriage with four horses driven by one person; in the sense of "loosely tied necktie" it is attested from 1892. To study The History of the Four Kings (1760, cf. French Livres des Quatre Rois) contains euphemistic slang phrase for "a pack of cards" from the time when card-playing was considered a wicked pastime for students. Slang 4-1-1 "essential information" (by 1993) is from the telephone number called to get customer information.

Idioms and Phrases with four

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