Four a. and sb. World English Historical Dictionary

Four a. and sb. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1901, rev. 2022. Four a. and sb. Forms: 1–3 féower, féwer, (2 fure), 2–3 f(o)uwer, 3 feouwer, fowuer, fower, Orm. fowwerr, foo(u)r, fuȝer, fur, south. vor, 3–4 south. vour, 3–7 fowre, foure, (3 fawre, fowr, Orm. fowwre), 4 faur(e, 3– four. [Com.Teut. and Aryan: OE. féower = OFris. fiuwer, fior, OS. fiwar, fiuwar, fiori (Du. vier), OHG. fior, fier (MHG. mod.Ger. vier), ON. fiórer masc., -ar fem., fiogor neut. (Sw. fyra, Da. fire), Goth. fidwôr. In comb. OE. had a form fyðer-, fiðer-, Anglian feoðor-, -ur; cf. OSw. fiæþer-, Frankish fitter- (Lex Salica), Goth. fidur-. The phonological relation of the Teut. forms to those in other Aryan langs. presents anomalies of which the explanation is still disputed; the OAryan type is *qetwer-, -wōr-, qetur- (with other ablaut-variants of somewhat uncertain form), regularly represented by Skr. catvār-, catur-, Gr. τέσσαρες (Dor. τέτορες), L. quattuor, OIrish cethir, OWelsh petguar (mod. Welsh pedwar).] The cardinal number next after three, represented by the symbols 4 or IV.

1   A.  as adj.

2   1.  In concord with the sb. expressed.

3   The four corners, quarters, etc. (of the earth, heavens or world): the remotest parts; see CORNER sb.1 8. The four corners (of a document): the limits or scope of its contents; see CORNER sb.1 1 e. Within the four seas: within the boundaries of Great Britain, † Of all four sides: entirely, thoroughly.

4 a. 1000.  Crist, 879 (Gr.).            From feowerum foldan sceatum þam ytemestum eorðan rices englas albeorhte on efen blawað byman.

5 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 159. Þos fure kunnes teres boð þe fuwer wateres þa þe beoð ihaten us on to weschen.

6 c. 1205.  Lay., 5153.        Com þa tiðinde to þan feouwer kinggen þat Belin king wes icumen.

7 a. 1225.  Juliana, 9. Þa leaden him i cure up o fowr hweoles.

8 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 14240 (Cott.).        Wit mari and martha, it sais, þai had ben wepand þar four dais.

9 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 8807.        Þen þos maisters gert make, all with mayn crafte, ffovre lampis full light, ledis to beholde, Þat gay were & grete, all of gold fyne.

10 c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, vi. 151. Gyve hym your suster to his wyfe, so shall he be well maryed, for reynawde is well a noble gentylman of all foure sides.

11 1533.  Wriothesley, Chron. (1875), I. 19. A rich canapie of cloath of silver borne over her heade by the fower Lordes of the Portes.

12 1642.  Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., V. i. 359. Sometimes she ties her self in marriage to one, that she may the more freely stray to many: and cares not though her husband comes not within her bed, so be it he goeth not out beyond the Foure-seas.

13 1745.  P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 156. They fired four Guns as Signals of Distress, but the Wind blew too hard for us to hear any thing of them; neither, if we had, could we have been of the least Service to them.

14 1886.  Mrs. Lynn Linton, Paston Carew, I. iii. 46. He had learned the eleventh commandment to the echo, and was the safest confidant to be found within the four seas.

15 1893.  Law Times, XCV. 29/2. It may be necessary to look beyond the four corners of the agreement.

16   b.  Four corners, a game: see quots. Also, in Horsemanship (see quot. 1753).

17 1730–36.  Bailey (folio), Four-comers [with Horsemen].

18 1753.  Chambers, Cycl., Supp., Four-corners, in the manege, or to work upon the four corners, is to divide in imagination the volt or round into four quarters, so that upon each of these quarters, the horse makes a round or two at trot or gallop; and when he has done so upon each quarter, he has made the four corners.

19 1801.  Strutt, Sports & Past., III. vii. 241. Four-corners [is] so called from four large pins which are placed singly at each angle of a square frame.

20 1881.  in, Isle of Wight Gloss., 64. The game of Skittles is also altered from nine pins to four, and is called ‘Four Corners.’

21   c.  The history of the Four Kings (see quot.).

22 1760.  Foote, Minor, I. Wks. 1799, I. 241. Come, shall we have a dip in the history of the Four Kings this morning?

23 1877.  Brewer, Dict. Phrase & Fable, s.v. The History of the Four Kings (Livre des Quatre Rois). A pack of cards.

24   2.  With ellipsis of sb., which may usually be supplied from context. † Four for four: in fours.

25 c. 1205.  Lay., 4046.        Feowere here weren riche þe haueden ferden muchele.

26 13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 937.        Þe aungeleȝ hasted þise oþer & aȝly hem þratten, & enforsed alle fawre forth at þe ȝateȝ.

27 1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 201.        Syne four for four togidder than tha fuir, And sone all aucht.

28 1611.  Bible, 2 Sam. xxi. 22. These foure were borne to the Gyant in Gath, and fell by the hand of Dauid, and by the hand of his seruants.

29 a. 1699.  Lady Halkett, Autobiog. (1875), 53. They were all fowre were in the place apointed and there doubletts off.

30   b.  with omission of hours, as four o’clock.

31 1575.  Laneham, Lett. (1871), 32. (Az vnhappy it waz for the bryde) that cam thyther too soon, (& yet waz it a four a clok).

32 1727.  Swift, To Earl of Oxford, Wks. 1755, III. II. 44.        Well, I shall think of that no more, If you’ll be sure to come at four.

33 1875.  Jevons, Money (1878), 266. The bustle and turmoil of the work grow to a climax at four o’clock, the runners rushing in with the last parcels of drafts, up to the moment when the door is finally closed.

34   c.  with omission of horses.

35 1815.  L. Simond, Tour Gt. Brit., I. 3. An elegant post-chaise and four stopped at the door.

36 1858.  Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., II. 363. It is as pleasant as a barouche and four, the top of an omnibus; but the conductors don’t like the trouble of helping one up.

37   † d.  In phrases On (upon, of) all four (sc. feet or limbs); also on or upon four. Obs.; now on ALL-FOURS.

38 13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 1683. He fares forth on alle faure.

39 1430–40.  Lydg., Bochas, I. ix. 37.        The serpent asked: what thyng may that be … Goth fyrst on foure, or els gothe he nought?

40 1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, II. xviii. Thenne balan yede on al four feet and handes and put of the helme of his broder.

41 1611.  Bible, Lev. xi. 20. All foules that creepe, going vpon all foure, shalbe an abomination vnto you.

42 1641.  Marmion, Antiquary, I. in Hazl., Dodsley, XIII. 431.        You’ll hardly find Woman or beast that trots sound of all four: There will be some defect.

43 1662.  J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass. (1669), 157. [Babies] will crawl stark naked of all four about the House and into the Fields.

44 1699.  Bentley, Phal., 128. What a sorry cripled Argument’s here, even lame upon all four?

45 1712.  Arbuthnot, John Bull, II. iv. I would crawl upon all four to serve you.

46 [1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, 111. Going into this low Place, I was oblig’d to creep upon all Fours.]

47 1722.  Lett. from Mist’s Jrnl., I. 294. I would have the old Man to have in his Chariot an old black Horse, that can scarce crawl upon Four.

48   3.  Coupled with a higher cardinal or ordinal numeral following, so as to form a compound (cardinal or ordinal) numeral.

49 c. 1205.  Lay., 2091.        [Brutus] hæfde þis lond fower and twenti winter on his hond.

50 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XII. xi. (1495), 421. Amonge foules oonly the rauen hath fowre and syxty chaungynges of voyce.

51 1579.  Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 416. The foure and thirtieth Chapter sheweth the vse of the Masse vsed and practised by the Apostles.

52 1818.  Scott, Hrt. Midl., viii. My breath is growing as scant as a broken-winded piper’s, when he has played for four-and-twenty hours at a penny wedding.

53   B.  as sb.

54   1.  The abstract number four.

55 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 21747.        O four and thre qua tels euen, He sal þe numbre mak o seuen.

56 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. cxviii. (1495), 921. One doo to thre makyth foure.

57 1837.  Whewell, Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857), I. 47. The number Four, to which they gave the name of Tetractys, was held to be the most perfect number, and was conceived to correspond to the human soul.

58   2.  A set of four persons or things: esp. a. A card, domino, or the side of a die marked with four pips or spots; a throw of the die by which the ‘four’ comes uppermost. b. Card-playing (Poker). A set of four cards of the same value. c. A four-oared boat or a crew of four oarsmen. Fours, races for four-oared boats. d. Cricket, etc. A hit for which four runs are scored. e. pl. (See quot. 1888.) Also in fours (formerly † in fours and fours), arranged in groups of four; spec. in Bibliography used to indicate the number of leaves in a sheet or gathering.

59   a.  1599.  Minsheu, Pleasant and Delightfull Dialogues in Spanish and English (1623), iii. 26. R. I did lift an Ace.—L. I a foure.

60 1674.  Cotton, Gamester, vi. 80. Before you begin the Game at Picket, you must throw out of the Pack the Deuces, Treys, Fours, and Fives, and play with the rest of the Cards, which are in number thirty and six.

61 1728.  Swift, Jrnl. Mod. Lady, Wks. 1755, III. II. 196.        When lady Tricksey play’d a four, You took it with a mattadore.

62 1870.  Hardy & Ware, Mod. Hoyle, 81. Suppose your hand consists of a four, five, and six of spades, and a five of diamonds is turned up.

63   b.  1883.  R. A. Proctor, Poker Principles and Chance Laws, in Longm. Mag., II. Sept., 499. The points which give a hand value are the presence of cards of the same denomination (as a pair, or two of the same denomination; triplets, or three of a kind; and fours, or four of a kind).

64 1894.  Maskelyne, Sharps & Flats, 84. If he had been so fortunate as to possess another ace among the cards which fell to his hand on the deal, he would have a ‘four.’

65   c.  1861.  Dickens, Gt. Expect., liv. A Four and two sitters don’t go hanging and hovering, up with one tide and down with another.

66 1891.  Outdoor Games & Recreat., 137. He must graduate through his college fours, and Torpid races. Ibid., 144. These ‘Fours’ [the ‘Coxswainless Fours’ and the ‘Trial Eights’] … are inter-collegiate races—that is to say, the colleges compete with one another.

67   d.  1836.  in ‘Bat,’ Cricketer’s Man. (1850), 100. Threes, fours, and fives appear as easy for him to get, as ’tis for us to write about them.

68 1894.  A. Lang, Ban & Arrière Ban, 67.        Alas! to us no solace shows   For sorrows we endure—at Lord’s, When Oxford’s bowling always goes   For ‘fours,’ for ever to the cords.

69   e.  1488.  in Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl., I. 84. Item, a frete of the Quenis oure set with grete perle sett in fouris and fouris.

70 1888.  Jacobi, Printer’s Vocab., Fours.—A familiar term used by compositors for ‘quarto.’

71 1890.  H. O. Sommer, Malory’s Arthur, II. Introd. 9. The first part has signatures A to Z … in fours.

72   3.  Short for, a. four-shilling beer (see quot.); b. four-pennyworth (of spirits); c. (pl.) four-percents.

73   a.  1633.  W. R., Match at Midn., II. in Hazl., Dodsley, XIII. 43. Tim. What is ’t, brother? Four or six? Capt. Four or six! ’tis rich Canary…. Tim. … Now I think on ’t, a cup of this is better than our four-shilling beer at home.

74   b.  1869.  E. Yates, Wrecked in Port, xxii. 241. ‘Fours’ of rum and ‘sixes’ of brandy.

75 1876.  Besant & Rice, Gold. Butterfly, I. i. 49. The girl, as if anticipating his wants, set before him a ‘four’ of brandy and the cold water.

76   c.  1887.  Daily News, 15 Nov., 5/6. Fully-paid-up stock … in exchange for the converted Fours and Four-and-a-Halfs.

77   C.  attrib. and Comb.

78   1.  a. Combined with sbs. forming adjs., as four-acre, -button, -gallon, -gun, -line, -story, -year-old.

79 1868.  Gladstone, Juv. Mundi (1869), xi. 420. Odysseus, in disguise, challenges Eurumachos the Suitor to try which of them would soonest mow a meadow, and which drive the straightest furrow down a *four-acre field.

80 1896.  Daily News, 2 July, 8/7. White kids sewn with black … as well as lavender, chiefly in *four-button length.

81 1879.  Miss Bird, Rocky Mount., I. 264. I told him to fill up the *four-gallon kettle, and an hour afterwards found it red-hot on the stove.

82 1862.  Ansted & Latham, Channel Isl., III. xvii. (ed. 2), 400. A fourteen-gun schooner, a *four-gun cutter, some boats, and forty men constituted the authority by which the new custom-house or registry regulations were enforced.

83 1827.  Gentl. Mag., XCVII. II. Dec., 501/2. Underneath this a stave or *four-line verse,—always relative to marriage, and seemingly of the fortune-telling school of poetry.

84 1888.  A. K. Green, Behind Closed Doors, vi. Mr. Gryce went up the steps of a *four-story brick building to which was attached a doctor’s sign.

85 1832.  Lytton, Eugene A., I. v. The *four-year-old mutton modestly disclaiming its own excellent merits, by affecting the shape and assuming the adjuncts of venison.

86 1855.  Tennyson, Brook, 136.        He pointed out a pasturing colt, and said: ‘That was the four-year old I sold the Squire.’

87   b.  In parasynthetic adjs. with suffix -ED2, as four-barrelled, -chambered, -columned, -decked, -faced, -fingered, -headed, -legged, -lettered, -lined, -roomed, -sided, -snouted, -spined, -stranded, -stringed, -tined, -toed.

88 1881.  Times, 15 Jan., 5/6. A high power of firing for a *four-barrelled gun.

89 1870.  Gillmore, Reptiles & Birds, Introd. 2. The heart is *four-chambered, transmitting venous blood to the lungs, and pure arterial blood to the body.

90 1768–74.  Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1852), I. 386. We may despatch as much business in a minute as we can now in an hour, and perhaps be able to read through Guicciardine in the time we are now poring over all the nothings in a *four-columned newspaper.

91 1833.  Marryat, P. Simple, xxxv. Nothing would suit Nelson but this *four-decked ship.

92 1878.  Gurney, Crystallogr., 86. The resulting form may be described as a cube with a low four-sided pyramid on each face. Hence the form … is sometimes called a *four-faced cube, or more technically a tetrakishexahedron.

93 1802.  Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1813), I. 89. The *four-fingered monkey.

94 1864.  Pusey, Lect. Daniel, ii. 75. The human head was, in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, a symbol of human intelligence. Probably these heads, like the *four-headed creatures in Ezekiel’s vision, looked all ways, E. W. N. S.

95 1663.  Butler, Hud., I. i. 402.        To guard the magazine i’ th’ hose From two-legg’d and from *four-legg’d foes.

96 1778.  Hutton, in Phil. Trans., LXVIII. 57. The whole being supported by a four-legged stand of very strong timber.

97 1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, xi. Louise … calling her little four-legged companion, had eagerly followed in the path.

98 1652.  H. C., Looking-Glasse for Ladies, 4. That *four-letter’d name, rare and Divine.

99 1831.  Southey, Lett. (1856), IV. 214–5. The poem, which is in *four-lined stanzas, would extend (reckoning six stanzas to the page) to nine sheets.

100 1890.  Boldrewood, Colonial Reform. (1891), 234. A new *four-roomed cottage, of horizontal timbers, arose on the bank of the lagoon.

101 1669.  Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. 26. Of *Four-sided Figures, A Quadrat or Square is that whose Sides are equal, and his Angles right.

102 1647.  R. Stapylton, Juvenal, v. 55.        Thou drain’st a foul *four-snouted glass, that’s call’d The Beneventine Cobler, old and gall’d.

103 1836.  Yarrell, Brit. Fishes, I. 83. The *four-spined Stickleback.

104 1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), U 11 iij. The middle strand of a *four-stranded rope.

105 1742.  Berkeley, Lett. to Gervais, in Fraser, Life, viii. (1871), 284. The instrument she desired to be provided was a large *four-stringed bass violin.

106 1765.  Univ. Mag., XXXVII. July, 33/1. He found the best method of drawing the carrots to be with a *four-tined fork.

107 1872.  Baker, Nile Tribut., ii. 27. For the first time I saw the peculiar *four-toed print of the hippopotamus’s foot.

108   c.  In parasynthetic sbs. with suffix -ER1, as four-boater, -decker, -master, -year-older.

109 1889.  Century Dict., *Four-boater, a whaling-ship carrying four boats on the cranes.

110 1833.  Marryat, P. Simple, xxxv. She was a *four-decker, called the Santissima Trinidad.

111 1826.  Disraeli, Viv. Grey, I. vii. They would have retired to a corner of the room, and conversationized with any stray *four-year-older not yet sent to bed.

112   d.  In advb. sense (= in four parts) with pa. pples., as four-cleft, -parted adjs.

113 1793.  Martyn, Lang. Bot., *Four-cleft leaf. Folium quadrifidum.

114 1846.  Dana, Zooph. (1848), 139. Mouth prominent, four-cleft within.

115 a. 1619.  Fotherby, Atheom., II. vii. § 3 (1622), 264. Paintes them out, vnto our eyes, in two liuely emblemes: the one, of the *foure-parted Image; the other, of the foure fearefull Beasts.

116 1793.  Martyn, Lang. Bot., Four-parted leaf. Folium quadripartitum.

117   2.  Special comb.: four-ale, ale sold at fourpence a quart; four-cant (see quot.; cf. four-strand); four-centred arch (Arch.), one described from four centres; † four-corner a. = next; four-cornered a., having four corners, square; four cornered cap, a college cap or ‘square.’ Hence four-cornerwise adv., so as to form four corners; four-coupled a., having four coupled wheels; four-course (Agric.), a four years’ course or series of crops in rotation (in quote, attrib.; see COURSE sb. 23); four-crossway(s, the place where two roads cross or four roads meet; four-dimensional a. (Math.), of or belonging to a fourth dimension; four-dimensioned a., having four dimensions; † four-double = FOURFOLD a. 1; † four-eared a. fig., twofold; four-eyes, (a) see quot. 1755; (b) the name of a fish (see quot. 1879); (c) slang (see quot. 1874); † four-fallow v., to fallow fourfold; four-field course (Agric.), a series of crops grown in four fields in rotation; four figures, i.e., an amount of one thousand pounds or over (whence four figured adj., that sells for four figures); four-foil (Arch.), a quatrefoil; four-foot (way), the space (really 4 ft. 81/2 in.) between the rails on which the train runs; four-half (slang), half ale, half porter, at fourpence a quart; four-horse, four-horsed adjs., that is drawn by four horses; four-hours Sc., a light refreshment taken about four o’clock; also † four hours penny (see quot. 1651); four-inch a., that measures four inches, also ellipt. = four inch rope; † four-inched a., four inches wide; four-lane-end(s dial., = four-crossways; † four-millioneer, one who is worth four millions of money; four-nooked a., four-cornered (obs. exc. dial.); four-oar, a boat rowed with four oars; four-oared a., propelled by four oars or oarsmen; also absol. (= four-oared boat); four-part a. (Music), composed for four parts or voices; four-post, -posted adjs., (of a bedstead) having four posts (to support a canopy and curtains); four-poster, a four-posted bedstead; four-pounder, (a) a gun to carry a four-pound shot; (b) a loaf four pounds in weight; four-rowed, (of barley) having four rows of awns; four-shilling a., that costs four shillings (in quot., † of beer, 4s. the barrel); four-strand, (of a rope) having four strands; four-tailed bandage (see quot.); four thieves’ vinegar (see quot.); four-tooth (see quot.); four-way(e = four-crossways; four-way a. (in four-way cock or valve), having communication with four pipes; four-winged a., having four wings or wing-like appendages; four-wings (see quot.).

118 1883.  Daily News, 8 Sept., 3/1. Nearly every man seemed to order nothing more mischievous than ‘half-a-pint of *four ale.’

119 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Four-cant, a rope composed of four strands.

120 1812–6.  J. Smith, The Panorama of Science and Art, I. 154. Its arch is very often *four-centred, which at once decides its date.

121 1640–1.  Ld. J. Digby, Sp., in Ho. Com., 9 Feb., 9. The Lawne sleeves, the *foure corner Cap, the Cope.

122 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 175/2. *Fowre corneryd, quadrangulus.

123 15[?].  in Strype, Parker, App. (1711), No. 40. Every Hedde of College … to weare when they goo abrode, longe Gownes or Hodes, or Typetts, and square or four cornered Capps.

124 1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, II. xv. It [the idol] had … a mouth extended four-cornered, like that of a lion, with horrible teeth, hooked like a parrot’s under bill.

125 1823.  Scott, Lett. to Ld. Montagu, 18 June, in Lockhart. Think of a vile four-cornered house, with plantations laid out after the fashion of scollops.

126 1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 509. The common kind of this moustrap is made of wood, long, and *foure cornerwise.

127 1889.  Daily News, 21 June, 6/3. A *four coupled engine drew an excursion train of 13 vehicles.

128 1846.  J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), II. 245. By what is termed the *four-course shift, having equal proportions of fallow, barley, clover, peas or beans, and wheat in each year.

129 1891.  S. C. Scrivener, Our Fields & Cities, 28. This ‘Four-Course’ system, as it is called, produces five entirely different plants, namely, turnips, barley, beans, clover, and wheat.

130 [a. 1490.  Botoner, Itin. (1778), 176. At the crosse yn Baldwyne strete been *IIII crosse wayes metyng.]

131 1647.  W. Browne, trans. Polexander, I. 48. He came to a foure crosse way and saw by the light of that fire which came out of the Mountaine a woman chained by the feet and the hands.

132 1842.  P. Parly’s Ann., III. 288. Do you mean … that your husband was buried in a four-crossways? He must then have killed himself.

133 1886.  Gurney and Myers, Phantasms of the Living, II. 314. Psychical energy … operates in … *four-dimensional space (if that exists).

134 1880.  Daily News, 20 Oct., 5/1. The unfamiliarity of a début in this world to a spirit more at home in *four-dimensioned space.

135 1527.  Andrew, Brunswyke’s Distyll. Waters, A ij. With a *foure dowble clowte, or with hempen towe steped in the same … do as ye dyde before twyse or thryse a daye.

136 1599.  A. M., trans. Gabelhouer’s Bk. Physicke, 249/2. Wet therin a fourdubble cloth, & applye him theron as longe as it is not broken out.

137 1704.  Lond. Gaz., No. 3990/4. A small Gold Chain 4 double fastened to the Watch.

138 1600.  E. Blount, Hosp. Incurable Fooles, 62–3. Santiccio of Ritonda, is a ridiculous and *foure[printed fower]-eared foole, for all the summer he doth nothing else but take frogs and flea them.

139 1614.  Breton, I would & I would not, lxxxii. Wks. (Grosart), I. 10.        I would I were the gallanst Courtizan,   That euer put a foure-Ear’de Asse to schoole: That I might cleane put downe Maide Marian,   And neuer be without my dainty foole.

140 1755.  T. Amory, Mem. (1769), I. 199. Some people have named this bird [the golden eye] the four-eyes, because at the angles of its black beak are two round spots, which resemble the eye.

141 1874.  Slang Dict., Four-eyes, a man or woman who habitually wears spectacles.

142 1879.  Boddam-Whetham, Roraima, xii. 130. Another common and very hideous creature is the little fish known as ‘Four Eyes’ [note, Anablaps tetraophthalmus], which takes amusement in shooting along the water and stranding itself at every opportunity.

143 1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 22 b. You must not only twyfallow & threefallow your ground, but also *fourefallow it.

144 1842.  Tennyson, Audley Court, 33.                We … discuss’d the farm, The four-field system, and the price of grain.

145 1844.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., V. I. 162. It is usually cropped on the four-field, or Norfolk course:—        1st.  Wheat. 2nd.  Vetches and turnips. 3rd.  Barley. 4th.  Clover.

146 1893.  Pall Mall G., 12 Jan., 3/2. The two best yearlings sold for *four figures.

147 1895.  Daily News, 7 Jan., 3/4. The total amount of capital invested in these *‘four-figured’ … animals.

148 1860.  Ruskin, Mod. Paint., V. VI. iv. § 29. The normal of *four-foils is therefore [etc.].

149 1896.  Daily News, March, 5/5. The body of the lady, who was lying in the *four-foot.

150 1884.  Punch, LXXXVI. 29 Nov., 257/1. Reads novels, sings comic songs, drinks anything stronger or dearer than *‘four-half.’

151 1765.  A. Dickson, Treat. Agric., II. (ed. 2), 254. In a *four-horse plough yoked in pairs, the two forces are equal.

152 1842.  Dickens, Amer. Notes (1850), 91/1. The mail takes the lead in a four-horse wagon.

153 1382.  Wyclif, Isa. lxvi. 15. The Lord in fyr shal come, and as a whirlewynd his *foure horsid carres.

154 1887.  Bowen, Virg. Æneid, VI. 587.        Borne on his four-horsed chariot, and waving torches that glowed, Over the Danaan land, through the city of Elis, he rode.

155 1637.  Rutherford, Lett., xciv. (1863), I. 243. We think all is but a little earnest, a *four-hours, a small tasting, that we have, or that is to be had, in this life.

156 a. 1651.  Calderwood, Hist. Kirk (1843), II. 125 When the craftsmen were required to assemble, and to free the proveist frome the fume of the multitude, they went to their foure houres pennie. Note, The name of the afternoon refreshment of ale, wine, or usquebauch, which was taken at four o’clock, and most commonly in some tavery or alehouse.

157 1870.  Ramsay, Remin., v. (ed. 18), 188. The kitchen is just coming in, and I feel a smell of tea, so when I get my four hours, that will refresh me and set me up again.

158 1858.  Glenny, Gard. Every-day Bk., 254/1. Seedlings of all kinds must be pricked off into *four-inch pots, round the sides of them, four, or six, or more in a pot.

159 1840.  Marryat, Poor Jack, xii. Here’s a good long piece of *four-inch, which I picked up, and it ’s well worth a schilling.

160 1605.  Shaks., Lear, III. iv. 57. To ride on a bay trotting horse ouer *foure incht Bridges.

161 1787.  Pegge, in Archæol., VIII. 203. He being also anathematized was interred at a *four-lane end without the city.

162 1666–7.  J. Denham, Directions to a Painter, II. ix. 14.        See that the Men have Pay, and Beef, and Beer, Find out the Cheats of the *four Millioneer.

163 c. 1205.  Lay., 21999.        *Feower noked he is and þer inne is feower kunnes fisc.

164 1536.  Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), I. 286. The mone beand in opposition, quhen it is maist round, apperit suddanly as it war foure nukit.

165 1876.  Whitby Gloss., Four-neuk’d, square or four-cornered.

166 1844.  Ld. Malmesbury, Mem. (1884), I. 154–5. We then returned home in the *four-oar.

167 1685.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2023/4. A six Oared Barge … and a *four Oared Boat.

168 1861.  Dickens, Gt. Expect., liv. Asked me if we had seen a four-oared galley going up with the tide?

169 1870.  Dasent, Annals Eventful Life (ed. 4), I. xii. 141. I got a ‘stick-licking,’ a very nasty thing let me tell you, that made you black and blue all over, for leaving the boat-hook of a four-oared, which I steered, hanging on Putney Bridge, when we started against four other four-oars to race to Westminster.

170 1664.  Pepys, Diary (1879), III. 79. We sung, with my boy, Ravenscroft’s *4-part psalms, most admirable musique.

171 1890.  E. Prout, Counterpoint, 143, chap. title. Four-Part Counterpoint.

172 1818.  M. G. Lewis, Jrnl. W. Ind. (1834), 110. I saw none without a *four-post bedstead and plenty of bed-clothes.

173 1823.  Byron, Juan, VI. xxv.        These are beneath the canopy of heaven,   Also beneath the canopy of beds, *Four-posted, and silk-curtain’d, which are given   For rich men and their brides to lay their heads.

174 1856.  Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., II. 285. I expect to sleep in my great comfortable four-posted bed now that the first exciting night is over.

175 1836–9.  Dickens, Sk. Boz (1850), 265/2. His small French bedstead was converted into a regular matrimonial *four-poster.

176 1684.  J. Peter, Siege Vienna, 109. *Four Pounders  10.

177 1855.  Mrs. Gaskell, North & S., xvii. I ha’ gone and bought a four-pounder out o’ another baker’s shop to common on such days.

178 1876.  Bancroft, Hist. U. S., IV. xxv. 573. At daybreak it was boarded by the provincials, who carried off four four-pounders and twelve swivels, and then set it on fire.

179 1882.  J. Hardy, in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, IX. No. 3. 444. It might have been once used for husking big, or *four-rowed barley.

180 1633.  [see B. 3 a] *Four-shilling beer.

181 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., s.v. Ropes.… *Four-strand is similarly laid with four strands, and a core scarcely twisted.

182 1844.  Hoblyn, Dict. Med. Terms (ed. 2), *Four-tailed bandage. A bandage for the forehead, face, and jaws.

183 1868.  Paxton’s Bot. Dict., *Four thieves’ vinegar, a preparation from Rosmarinus officinalis.

184 1793–1813.  Agric. Surv. Dorset, 8 (E.D.S.), *Four-tooth, a two-year-old sheep.

185 1598.  Florio, Quadriuio, a *fower-way, a way that hath fewer turnings, a place where fower waies meete.

186 1891.  H. Haliburton, Ochil Idylls, Our Country Quarters, 72.        O then all the village wives peep from their doorways,   And nod to the Lomond with mutches as clean, While peasants flock in from the fields to the four-ways,   And say to each other, ‘The frost will be keen!’

187 1824.  R. Stuart, Hist. Steam Engine, 161. A considerable improvement on the *fourway-cock, which had been used in low-pressure engines, by making it revolve continuously instead of the usual alternate revolution.

188 1841.  Brees, Gloss. Civ. Engin., Four-way Cock (in steam-engines), a description of valve much used for passing the steam to the cylinder; it was invented by Leopold in about the year 1720.

189 a. 1711.  Ken, Urania, Poet. Wks. 1721, IV. 457.        She’ll strive to soar as high As *four wing’d Seraphs fly.

190 c. 1755.  Garden, in Phil. Trans., LI. 931. They are followed by pretty large four-winged fruit, which likewise hang in bunches, each containing four kernels, that are very agreeable to the taste.

191 1878.  Bell, Gegenbaur’s Comp. Anat., 248. In the other four-winged orders they have undergone considerable differentiations.

192 1889.  Century Dict., *Four-wings, a name of the goatsuckers or night-jars of the genera Macrodipteryx and Cosmetornis, in which some of the flight-feathers are so much elongated that the birds seem to have four wings.

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