four-cycle

[fawr-sahy-kuhl, fohr-]

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.

four-cycle

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of four-cycle¹

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

Gas-engines, of the four-cycle type, such as are industrially employed, will here be principally considered.

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

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

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This treatise outlines fully the operation of two- and four-cycle power plants and all ignition, carburetion and lubrication systems in detail.

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Motors with charges igniting at constant volume with variable compression, such as the later two- and four-cycle motors with compression of the indrawn charge; limited in the two-cycle type and variable in the four-cycle type with the ratios of the clearance space in the cylinder.

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