“fours” is a form of
four
[fɔː] numeral, noun
Forms fours fower fouh
- numeral A numerical value equal to 4; the number following three and preceding five. “There are four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.”
- numeral Describing a set or group with four elements.
- noun (countable) The digit or figure 4; an occurrence thereof.
- noun (countable) Anything measuring four units, as length. “Do you have any more fours? I want to make this a little taller.”
- noun Four o'clock.
- noun A person who is four years old. “I'll take the threes, fours and fives and go to the playground.”
- noun (cricket, countable) 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.
- noun (basketball, countable) A power forward.
- noun The shell itself. “The team bought a new four last season.”
- noun The crew rowing in a four boat. “Our four won both races.”
Synonyms
4 IV tetrad quatern quaternion quaternary quaternity quartet quadruplet foursome Little Joe four-spot
Etymology
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).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective One more than three; twice two.
- noun The sum of four units; four units or objects.
- noun A symbol representing four units, as 4 or iv.
Etymology [OE. four, fower, feower, AS. feówer; akin to OS. fiwar, D. & G. vier, OHG. fior, Icel. fj, Sw. fyra, Dan. fire, Goth. fidw, Russ. chetuire, chetvero, W. pedwar, L. quatuor, Gr. catur. Farthing, Firkin, Forty, Cater four, Quater-cousin, Quatuor, Quire of paper, tetrarch.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “four”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details