What is "four"

Four \Four\, n.

1. The sum of four units; four units or objects.

2. A symbol representing four units, as 4 or iv.

3. Four things of the same kind, esp. four horses; as, a chariot and four.

   All fours. See All fours, in the Vocabulary.

Four \Four\ (f[=o]r), a. [OE. four, fower, feower, AS. fe['o]wer; akin to OS. fiwar, D. & G. vier, OHG. fior, Icel. fj[=o]rir, Sw. fyra, Dan. fire, Goth. fidw[=o]r, Russ. chetuire, chetvero, W. pedwar, L. quatuor, Gr. te`ttares, te`ssares, pi`syres, Skr. catur. [root]302. Cf. Farthing, Firkin, Forty, Cater four, Quater-cousin, Quatuor, Quire of paper, tetrarch.] One more than three; twice two.

Old English feower "four; four times," from Proto-Germanic *fedwor- (cognates: Old Saxon fiuwar, Old Frisian fiower, fiuwer, Frankish *fitter-, Dutch vier, Old High German fior, German vier, Old Norse fjorir, Danish fire, Swedish fyra, Gothic fidwor "four"), from PIE *kwetwer- "four" (cognates: Sanskrit catvarah, Avestan čathwaro, Persian čatvar, Greek tessares, Latin quattuor, Oscan petora, Old Church Slavonic četyre, Lithuanian keturi, Old Irish cethir, Welsh pedwar). The phonetic evolution of the Germanic forms has not been fully explained; Watkins explains the -f- as being from the following number (Modern English five).\n

\nTo be on all fours is from 1719; earlier on all four (14c.). Four-letter word as a euphemism for one of the short words generally regarded as offensive or objectionable is attested from 1923; four-letter man is recorded from 1920 (apparently as a euphemism for a shit). Compare Latin homo trium litterarum, literally "three-letter man," a euphemism for fur "a thief." A four-in-hand (1793) was a carriage drawn by four horses driven by one person; in the sense of "loosely tied necktie" it is attested from 1892. To study The History of the Four Kings (1760, compare French Livres des Quatre Rois) contains an old euphemistic slang phrase for "a pack of cards," from the time when card-playing was considered a wicked pastime for students. Slang 4-1-1 "essential information" (by 1993) is from the telephone number called to get customer information. The four-color problem so called from 1879. The four-minute mile was attained 1954.

n. 1 (context countable English) The digit or figure 4; an occurrence thereof. 2 (context countable English) Anything measuring four units, as length. 3 A person who is four years old. 4 (context cricket countable English) An event whereby a batsman hits a ball which bounces on the ground before passing over a boundary in the air, 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. 5 (context rowing English) Quadruple sculls. 6 (context obsolete English) A four-pennyworth of spirits. num. 1 (context cardinal English) 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 components.

adj. being one more than three [syn: 4, iv]

n. the cardinal number that is the sum of three and one [syn: 4, IV, tetrad, quatern, quaternion, quaternary, quaternity, quartet, quadruplet, foursome, Little Joe]

Four (styled as four) is the breakthrough album by American jam band Blues Traveler, released on September 13, 1994.

Four peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and is most known for its hits "Run-Around" and "Hook", which charted at Nos. 8 and 23, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100. Both songs also charted in the top 20 on the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts. According to the RIAA, the album is certified as 6× Platinum (6 million copies sold in the U.S.). "Run-Around" won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a duo or group.

Four is the fourth studio album released by the hard rock band Fair Warning.

Four is an Indian soap opera on SAB TV channel that aired every Monday to Friday at 8.30 p.m in India.

Four is the first album by jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson released on the Verve label. It was recorded on April 21, 1968 and features a live performance by Henderson with Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow states that "Henderson really pushes the rhythm section (which, although they had not played with the tenor previously, had been together for a decade) and he is certainly inspired by their presence. This is a frequently exciting performance by some of the modern bop greats of the era". Further selections from this concert were released as Straight, No Chaser.

Four (stylised as FOUR) was the second New Zealand television channel owned and operated by MediaWorks New Zealand, broadcast via the state-owned Kordia transmission network. The channel launched on 29 June 1997 as TV4 and was replaced by C4 on 3 October 2003. It was relaunched on 6 February 2011 as a separate channel from C4.

On 2 July 2016 Mediaworks closed FOUR and replaced it with Bravo as part of a deal with NBC Universal.

In general, the channel's target audience was 18- to 49-year-olds and could be broader in its appeal, with programming which attracted a wider, and more mature audience. During early mornings and late afternoons the channel screened a range of children's programming such as Sesame Street and in the evenings screened shows aimed at the mainstream audience. Overnight and late mornings – early afternoons the channel screened Infomercials and Auto TV (Car Commercials). Four broadcast mostly American programming, with the exemption of Sticky TV and Smash which were in-house produced Auckland hosted youth shows and the Pukana youth show which is produced from a Maori language government fund. Pukana also airs on one of the two government funded Maori language channels.

"Four" is a 1954 jazz standard composed by the American jazz saxophonist Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson and mistakenly attributed to jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. It was first recorded in 1954 by Miles Davis and released in 1956 on his album Blue Haze.

Four is a 2012 American independent feature film written and directed by Joshua Sanchez. It is based on the play of the same name by Christopher Shinn. The film stars Wendell Pierce, Emory Cohen, Aja Naomi King and E.J. Bonilla. The film premiered at the 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival where its ensemble cast won the top acting award. E.J. Bonilla received an Imagen Award nomination for his performance and Wendell Pierce received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his performance.

Four is a British independent film directed by John Langridge and released in 2011.

FOUR is the fourth extended play by Welsh recording artist Charlotte Church. It is the fourth in a series of five EPs released by Church. Her fourth alternative rock material, it was released on 10 March 2014 and was preceded by the lead single "Little Movements".

Four is the fourth studio album by British indie rock band Bloc Party. It was recorded in late 2011 and early 2012 at Stratosphere Sound, New York City, with producer Alex Newport. Newport also produced Wreckonomics—the EP of bassist Gordon Moakes' side project, Young Legionnaire. It was released on 20 August 2012 on independent label Frenchkiss Records, and was made available to stream the week preceding its release. The album peaked at number 3 in the UK Albums Chart, and at number 36 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. It is the last album featuring the original line-up with Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong.

Despite four years of hiatus making this the largest gap between album releases, the band recorded the album using a more guitar-oriented sound, reminiscent of their debut album, Silent Alarm.

Four (Acts of Love) is the sixth studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Mick Harvey - and his second since leaving Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. It was released in June 2013 under Mute Records. The 14 tracks make up a song cycle, bookended by "Praise the Earth (Wheels of Amber and Gold)" and "Praise the Earth (An Ephemeral Play)". The album includes eclectic covers including The Saints' punk "The Story of Love", P. J. Harvey's "Glorious" - she also duets with Harvey on the track - and Van Morrison's " The Way Young Lovers Do" off the classic Astral Weeks.

Four is the 4th studio album by Bleu. The album was part of a crowd funing campaign at kickstarter.com. The campaign funded about 40.000 $, which was far more than Bleu expected.

Bleu said: "It's changed my whole world, I have a completely new outlook on my career and my life. It sounds dramatic, but it's really true."

As a result of fans' contributions, he's been able to launch his own record label and put Four out himself in North America. UK indie label Lojinx acquired the rights to release the "Four" in Europe. Bleu was stunned by the enthusiasm of his loyal fan base, "I was playing a show a couple of weeks ago and told everybody about the whole thing," he recalls. "I started crying onstage."

Bleu recalls that the title for "Dead in the Mornin'" preceded the actual song by a fairly long stretch. "I was thinking about my mortality when I came up with the title, but I didn't want to write this melancholy dirge," he points out. "Then I thought, 'What if it's a big gospel rave-up?' When I think about my death, my funeral – which we all do – my great desire is that it'll be a celebration, a party. Everybody wants that New Orleans-style funeral. It IS the best way to send somebody off. It's personal, but tongue-in-cheek."

The story-song "Singin' in Tongues" also contains what Bleu admits is a religious subtext: "It's not really about me," he relates, "but it does address the way music has saved me from total destruction. There's a lot of God in it."

He acknowledges putting what he calls "a lot of weirdly morbid, upbeat stuff" on Four, noting various references to death (albeit mostly in high-energy rock settings) throughout. "Needless to say," he adds, "my mom's not too happy about it."

"Like everyone else, I'm always grappling with these issues of death, God, the afterlife, my legacy – all the real things," Bleu adds of the album's themes. "That's reflected on this record; it's not just a bunch of love songs." Of course, the love songs it does include are choice, notably the exquisitely tender "In Love with My Lover" and the Lennon-esque, orchestral torch number "How Blue." As always, he insists, "I'm trying to find new angles on classic subjects."

Official release of Four was on September 5, 2010 on the label "The Major Label".

Four is the second studio album by the Canadian Hard rock band Bleeker Ridge. The album was released on June 4, 2013.