four

alternative Northumbria fower · alternative pronunciation spelling fouh

1. A numerical value equal to 4; the number following three and preceding five.

   There are four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.

   2 more examples

   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 to skip them”, in CNN, archived from the original on 13 Jun 2025

2. Describing a set or group with four elements.

plural fours · alternative Northumbria fower · alternative pronunciation spelling fouh

1. countableThe digit or figure 4; an occurrence thereof.
2. countableAnything measuring four units, as length.

   Do you have any more fours? I want to make this a little taller.

3. countableuncountableFour o'clock.

   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: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC

   2 more examples

   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, Bankers, Professional Gentleman … in the Counties of Cheshire, Cumberland …, London; Manchester: J. Pigot & Co., page 767

   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 Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner, volume 2, U.S. Marine Corps, →OL, page 657

4. countableuncountableA person who is four years old.

   I'll take the threes, fours and fives and go to the playground.

5. countableball gamesAn 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. countableball gamesA power forward.
7. Four-man sweep racing shell, with or without a coxswain.
   1. countableuncountablehobbiesThe shell itself.

      The team bought a new four last season.

   2. countableuncountablehobbiesThe crew rowing in a four boat.

      Our four won both races.

   3. colloquialcountableuncountablehobbiesA regatta event for four boats.

      We got third place in the varsity four.

8. countableobsoleteuncountableA 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 Study in Scarlet, section IV