four

Noun

1. The digit or figure 4; an occurrence thereof.
2. Anything measuring four units, as length.
   • Do you have any more fours? I want to make this a little taller.
3. Four o'clock.
   • Letters to Sheffield are despatched every morning at six, and arrive every afternoon at ten minutes past four. - 1828, Pigot and Co.'s National Commercial Directory for 1828-9, Comprising a Directory of the Merchants,...
   • Frederick, I presume, at this late hour of four, may be snatching a morsel of dinner; […] - 1865, Thomas Carlyle, chapter IX, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume VI, London:...
   • The larger ships picked up the low lying atoll on their radar about four in the morning at distances from 16 to 26 miles. - 1972, George Carroll Dyer, chapter XVII, in The Amphibians Came to Conquer: The Story of...
4. A person who is four years old.
   • I'll take the threes, fours and fives and go to the playground.
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.
   • The team bought a new four last season.

   1. The shell itself.

   2. The crew rowing in a four boat.

      • Our four won both races.

   3. (colloquial) A regatta event for four boats.

      • We got third place in the varsity four.
8. A four-pennyworth of spirits.
   • I was a-strollin' down, thinkin' between ourselves how uncommon handy a four of gin hot would be, when suddenly the glint of a light caught my eye in the window of that same house. - 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A...

Numeral

1. A numerical value equal to 4; the number after three and before five; two plus two. This many dots (••••)
   • There are four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.
   • Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four—on up to sixteen. - 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
   • Redding’s study asked four psychologists with expertise in anxiety and depressive disorders to rate each self-help book on five criteria: […] - 2019 May 2, Nina Avramova, “When you should use self-help programs and when...
2. Describing a set or group with four elements.

Wikipedia

Four