four-cycle

American  

[fawr-sahy-kuhl, fohr-] / ˈfɔrˌsaɪ kəl, ˈfoʊr- /

adjective

1. noting or pertaining to an internal-combustion engine in which a complete cycle in each cylinder requires four strokes, one to draw in air or an air-fuel mixture, one to compress it, one to ignite it and do work, and one to scavenge the cylinder.

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four-cycle British  

adjective

1. Equivalent term (in Britain and certain other countries): four-stroke.  relating to or designating an internal-combustion engine in which the piston makes four strokes for every explosion Compare two-stroke

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Etymology

Origin of four-cycle

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

It shows clearly all parts of a typical four-cylinder gasoline engine of the four-cycle type.

From Aviation Engines Design?Construction?Operation and Repair by Pag?, Victor Wilfred

The Otto Cycle.—The term "four-cycle" motor, or Otto engine, has its origin in the manner in which the engine operates.

From Gas-Engines and Producer-Gas Plants A Practice Treatise Setting Forth the Principles of Gas-Engines and Producer Design, the Selection and Installation of an Engine, Conditions of Perfect Operation, Producer-Gas Engines and Their Possibilities, the Care of Gas-Engines and Producer-Gas Plants, with a Chapter on Volatile Hydrocarbon and Oil Engines by Mathot, R. E.

A one-cylinder engine of the ordinary four-cycle type has one power stroke for every two revolutions of the fly wheel.

From Electricity for the farm Light, heat and power by inexpensive methods from the water wheel or farm engine by Anderson, Frederick Irving

Between making the first four-cycle engine of the Otto type and the start on a double cylinder I had made a great many experimental engines out of tubing.

From My Life and Work by Ford, Henry

The greater number of engines used in automobiles to-day are of the kind known as the Otto cycle, or four-cycle, engine.

From The Story of Great Inventions by Burns, Elmer Ellsworth