English Explanatory Dictionary

four

English dictionary entry

Meanings

num
  1. A numerical value equal to 4; the number after three and before five; two plus two. This many dots (••••)
  2. Describing a set or group with four elements.
noun
  1. The digit or figure 4; an occurrence thereof.
  2. Anything measuring four units, as length.
  3. Four o'clock.
  4. A person who is four years old.
  5. An event in which the batsmen run four times between the wickets or, more often, a batsman hits a ball which bounces on the ground before passing over a boundary, resulting in an award of 4 runs for the batting team. If the ball does not bounce before passing over the boundary, a six is awarded instead.
  6. A power forward.
  7. Four-man sweep racing shell, with or without a coxswain.
  8. The shell itself.
  9. The crew rowing in a four boat.
  10. A regatta event for four boats.
  11. A four-pennyworth of spirits.

Pronunciation

/foɹ/ en-us-four.ogg [foːɾ] en-us-ne-four.ogg [fɔː] [foː] en-au-four.ogg [foə] [foʊ]

Word forms

four fower fours

Etymology

PIE word *kʷetwóres Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwṓr Proto-Germanic *fedwōr Proto-West Germanic *feuwar Old English fēower Middle English four English four From Middle English four, from Old English fēower, from Proto-West Germanic *feuwar, from Proto-Germanic *fedwōr, from previous pre-Grimm *petwṓr, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwṓr, the neuter form of *kʷetwóres. Doublet of cuatro and quatre. Cognates include Scots fower, Saterland Frisian fjauer, West Frisian fjouwer, Dutch vier, German Low German veer, German vier, Norwegian Bokmål and Danish fire, Swedish fyra, Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌳𐍅𐍉𐍂 (fidwōr) and, more distantly, Latin quattuor (whence Spanish cuatro, French quatre), Ancient Greek τέσσαρες (téssares), Irish ceathair, Welsh pedwar, Armenian չորս (čʻors), Lithuanian keturi, Albanian katër, Sanskrit चतुर् (catur).

Related words

fourth farthing Table of cardinal numbers 0 to 9 in various languages three 3 five 5 4 肆 四 Δ΄ IV IIII

Derived words

all-fours all fours all-run four back four be lost to the four winds between you and me and these four walls boundary four chaise and four clue-by-four clue by four coach and four coxless four cul-de-four figure four finger-four flat back four four-acceleration Fouracre four ale four-ale four-ale bar four-and-nine four and twenty four-and-twenty Four Ashes four-bagger four-ball fourball four-belt four-by-four 4X4 four by two four-by-two four color four-color four-colour four color problem four color theorem four corners Four Crosses four-current four-cycle four-day weekend four-dimensional four-dimensional chess four-dimensionalism four-dimensionality four-dimensionally four-door four door house four-eyed four-eyed fish four-eye principle four eyes four-eyes four-fifths four figures four fingers four flat Four Floors of Whores

Translations

Bulgarian: четворка Finnish: nelikko German: Doppelvierer
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