| 释义 |
fourth, a. and n.|fɔəθ|
Forms: 1 féorða, féowerða, Northumb. féarða, (2 forðe), 2–3 feorðe, (3 feorthe, foerth, south. veorðe), 3–4 ferþe, south. verþ(e, fierþ(e, (4 firþe, 5 firthe), 3–5 fe(e)rthe, 3–6 ferth, (3–4 feirth, ferith, feurth, furth, firth), 4–5 furthe, (furþe, forthe, fourþe, -the), 3–6 ferd(e, (3–4 feird, south. veorde, 4 feyrd, fyrde, furde, 6 Sc. faird), 4–6 ford(e, 4–7 fourt(e, (4 fowrte, forte), 5–6 fowerth, (5 faw-, fowrith, fowrth(e), 3– fourth.
[OE. féorða, corresp. to OS. fiorðo (Du. vierde), OHG. fiordo (MHG. vierde, mod.G. vierte), ON. fiórðe (Sw., Da. fjerde):—OTeut. *fi(đ)(w)orþo-n- repr. Com. Aryan *qeturto- or *qetwrto-, whence Skr. caturtha, OSl. cetvrĭtŭ, Gr. τέταρτος, L. quartus.]
The ordinal numeral belonging to the cardinal four.
A. adj.
1. In concord with the n. expressed.
fourth estate: see estate n. 7 b.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xiv. 25 Ðiu feorða waccen næhtes. c1175Lamb. Hom. 13 Honora patrem tuum et matrem tuam þet wes þe feowerþe heste þet godalmihti het. c1250Gen. & Ex. 157 Forþ glod ðis ferðe dais niȝt, ðo cam ðe fifte dais liȝt. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 82 In his ferþe ȝere he went tille Aluerton. c1400Destr. Troy v. 2007 The furthe day fell all þe fuerse wyndes. 1486Bk. St. Albans E j b, The fowrith yere a Stagge call hym by any way. 1588A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. 109 Euerie fourt ferie (callid wenesday). 1637–50Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 127 The ferd Acte condemned the Presbiterie as ane judgement not allowed by the King's law. 1674Playford Skill Mus. ii. 112 For the Tuning of your Violin..the Bass or Fourth String is called G sol re ut.
2. a. With ellipsis of the n.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 39 Þat forðe is þat þu scalt wakien for þines drihtenes luue. a1300Ten Commandm. 33 in E.E.P. (1862) 16 Þe verþ, loue þi neiȝbore as þine owe bodi. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 294 Þe fierthe is a fortune þat florissheth þe soule Wyth sobrete fram all synne. 1435Nottingham Rec. II. 360 And ilk of thre payis, iiijs. viijd., and y⊇ forte, iijs. 1562W. Bullein Bk. Simples 52 b, It is hotte and drie, in the thirde degree, and in the beginnyng of the fowerth. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. 33 Three Right Lines being given, To find a fourth in proportion to them.
b. esp. with ellipsis of ‘day’. the Fourth (of July) U.S., the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; also attrib. Also quasi-n. in pl. Hence Fourth-of-Julyism.
[1777Jrnls. Cont. Congr. VIII. 625 There is due..a bill for material, workmanship, &c. furnished for the fire works on the 4 July, the sum of 102 69/90 dollars.] 1779New Haven Colony Hist. Soc. Coll. VI. 317 Toasts were drank, to wit:..the Fourth of July, '76: The memorable era of American Independence. 1807M. L. Weems Lett. (1929) II. 369 From these reflections..we may collect some good fourth-of-July ideas. 1827Longfellow in Life (1891) I. viii. 121 We did not celebrate the ‘glorious Fourth’ here. 1830S. Breck Recoll. (1877) 91 On the Fourth, being a national holiday, there was a great parade on the Common. 1834Southern Lit. Messenger I. 156, I do not know that the celebration of a Fourth of July in a country village has ever been thought worthy of appearing in print. 1853Ibid. XIX. 473/1 Fourth-of-Julyisms fled to the stump or the national anniversary barbecues. 1854W. G. Simms Southward Ho! xiii. 253 Ordinarily admirable, our dinner on the glorious Fourth was worthy of the occasion. 1872E. Eggleston End of World xi. 76 No more electin' presidents.., no more Fourths,..no more nothin. 1874B. F. Taylor World on Wheels ii. i. 183 A Fourth-of-Julyism has somehow become an object of contempt. 1888Lowell Pr. Wks. (1890) VI. 202 This is what may be called the Fourth of July period of our history. 1891C. T. C. James Rom. Rigmarole 74 As I write I picture, here in my lonely study, bright Fourths of June. 1894Westm. Gaz. 2 Jan. 6/1 The amounts passing through on the 4ths of the months for 1893. 1909‘O. Henry’ Roads of Destiny xiii. 206 It reminds me of a Fourth I helped to celebrate down in Salvador. 1967D. Francis Blood Sport viii. 94 I'm glad you could take me at such short notice, with the Fourth coming up this weekend.
3. fourth part, † deal: one of four equal parts into which a thing may be divided. See also farthingdeal.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Luke iii. 1 Feorþan dæles rica. c1350[see deal n.1 1 b]. 1375Barbour Bruce ix. 593 For gif thai fled, thai vist that thai Suld nocht weill ferd part get away. a1400Morte Arth. 946 The fourtedele a furlange be-twene þis he walkes. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxiii. 221 Yet saw I neuer the ferth part of the wynge fyght. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. v. 35 Two buts of wine of Chio, two fourth parts of muscadell. 1893Stevenson in Daily News 11 Apr. 6/3 Of the remaining three-fourth parts of my said father's estate, one-fourth part of the three-fourth parts I give and bequeath [etc.].
B. n.
1. The fraction indicated by a unit in the fourth place in the sexagesimal, decimal, or any other system of fractional notation having a constant modulus. Hence, in Scotland, a weight of account, = 1/338776 (i.e. 1 {div} 244) of a grain Scots.
1594Blundevil Exerc. i. xxvii. (ed. 7) 65 They divide every whole thing that had no usuall parts into 60 minutes, and every minute into 60 seconds, and every second into 60 thirds, and so forth into 60 fourths, fifths, sixths [etc.]. 1604Proclam. James I in Ruding Coinage Gt. Brit. (1840) I. 363 Pieces of Gold..v.s. 1 denier 23 grains 7 primes, 18 seconds, 8 thirds, 103/4 fourths. 1608R. Norton tr. Stevin's Disme C ij, 3(1) 7(2) 5(3) 9(4), that is to say, 3 Primes, 7 Seconds, 5 Thirds, 9 Fourths..of..valew. 1674S. Jeake Arith. (1696) 209 As to set down 3 Fourths, and 4 Fifths, thus, 0,00034.
2. = fourth part.
1741tr. D'Argens Chinese Lett. xxxi. 229 The idle Fables and gross Lyes, with which Three-fourths of the European Authors stuff their Works. 1892E. K. Blyth in Law Times XCIII. 489/1 The cases requiring pleadings are not more at the outside than a fourth of the contested cases.
3. Mus. A tone four diatonic degrees above or below any given tone; the interval between any tone and a tone four degrees distant from it; the harmonic combination of two such tones.
1597Morley Introd. Mus. 71 Phi. Which distances make discord or dissonant sounds? Ma. All such as doe not make concords: as a second, a fourth. 1674Playford Skill Mus. i. v. 20 This Rule serves for the rising of Fourths or Fifths, etc. 1788Cavallo in Phil. Trans. LXXVIII. 238 When those sounds are considered with respect to the first, they are called..the prime or key-note..fourth, fourth major, [etc.]. 1869Ouseley Counterp. ii. 6 The fourth, which in strict counterpoint is always treated as a discord. 1879Grove Dict. Mus. I. s.v., Fourth is an interval comprising two whole tones and a semitone. It is called a fourth because four notes are passed through in going from one extreme of the interval to the other.
4. pl. Articles of the fourth degree in quality.
1832G. R. Porter Porcelain & Gl. 186 Crown glass is sold, according to its quality, under four different denominations—firsts, seconds, thirds, and fourths. 1890Daily News 7 Jan. 2/7 Butter..classified as follows:—Firsts, 0; seconds, 9; thirds, 36; fourths, 9.
†5. by fourths: by fours. Obs.
c1430Art of Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.) 17 First thow most compt the figures by fourthes, that is to sey in the place of thousandes.
6. A player who comes in to complete a party of four in a game or at a social event.
1803Lett. Miss Riversdale I. 155 He..insisted upon Marlow's leaving with him to come and make up a rubber for his sister, knowing he could depend upon me for a fourth. 1841Dickens Let. 10 Feb. (1969) II. 209 Browne..dines with me... The gay and festive Thompson also joins us. Will you make a fourth? 1865― Mut. Fr. I. ii. iv. 196 [He] implores to be asked to..make a fourth at the play. 1902E. Glyn Refl. Ambrosine 159 The men played Bridge. Augustus made one of the fourths. 1959T. S. Eliot Elder Statesman ii. 43 I'll feel more confidence after a fortnight..of people not staring..or wanting a fourth at bridge.
7. The fourth forward gear of a motor vehicle.
1900J. S. V. Bickford Faults & how to find Them §1173 Changing down. By this we mean changing from a high speed to a lower (fourth to third, third to second etc.). 1968Autocar 12 Sept. 30/1 By 4,500 rpm (73 mph in fourth, almost 80 mph in fifth) this resonance has practically died away.
8. A place in the fourth class in an examination list.
[1911Encycl. Brit. X. 42/1 In the 15th century the candidates for the mastership of arts were divided into three classes..while a fourth, which was not published, contained the names of those who failed.] 1914C. Mackenzie Sinister St. II. iii. xi. 714, I shall never get my Blue. I shall get a fourth in Greats. Ibid. xii. 746 If he stays up ten years he'll never get a Fourth. 1945E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited i. i. 24 You want either a first or a fourth. There is no value in anything between. 1946C. L. Wrenn Word & Symbol (1967) 163 The consciousness in the minds of the Oxford authorities that Sweet had obtained a ‘fourth’ in Greats.
C. Comb.:
a. fourth arm (see arm n.2 9); fourth-born a., that is born fourth; Fourth-day, the name given by members of the Society of Friends to Wednesday; fourth dimension, a supposed or assumed dimension, additional to length, breadth, and thickness (see dimension 3 note); hence fourth-dimensional a., of or relating to the fourth dimension, fig. superhuman, extraordinary; hence fourth-dimensionalism; fourth estate (see estate n. 7 b); fourth-hand a., that has passed through the hands of four persons; fourth leader, from 1922 to 1966, the fourth leading article in The Times, usually of a light or humorous nature; fourth (cranial) nerve Anat., either of the trochlear nerves (see trochlear a. 1), together also called the fourth pair of nerves; fourth party Eng. Hist., a group of politicians (1880–85) led by Lord Randolph Churchill, forming a party independent of the three existing political parties; fourth position Dancing (see quot. 1957); fourth ventricle Anat., a rhomboidal cavity situated between the medulla oblongata and the pons Varolii in front and the cerebellum behind; fourth wall Theatr., the proscenium opening through which the audience sees the performance; fourth wheel (see quot.).
1559Mirr. Mag., Dk. Clarence viii, The *fowerth borne. 1592Warner Alb. Eng. viii. xi. 196 Gylford Dudly fourth⁓borne Sonne vnto Northumberland Had married her.
1697S. Sewall Diary 14 Sept. (1878) I. 459 *Fourth-day was a storm, else might have husbanded it so as to have come to Rehoboth that night. 1820J. H. Wiffen in A. A. Watts Life A. Watts (1884) I. 102 She..must necessarily lay the matter before the monthly meeting next fourth day.
1875G. H. Lewes Problems II. 279 We have no experiences out of which a *fourth dimension could be constructed. 1895W. D. Howells My Lit. Passions 202 The fourth dimension of the poem which is not yet made palpable or visible. 1904B. Russell in Mind XIII. 574 The merit of speculations on the fourth dimension..is chiefly that they stimulate the imagination, and free the intellect from the shackles of the actual. 1934Discovery Aug. 239/1 The Fourth and higher Dimensions. 1964C. Chaplin Autobiogr. xvii. 303 Wells said that as a struggling young writer he had written one of the first scientific articles touching on the fourth dimension.
1902E. Carpenter Civilisation ii. 70 An immaterial mediation or a *fourth-dimensional mediation..would simply remove the problem out of the regions of scientific analysis. 1908Westm. Gaz. 28 July 2/1 A forcible proof of superhuman or fourth-dimensional power. 1921Quest Oct. 55 These few crude remarks on fourth-dimensionalism and the time-enigma are ventured solely as the tentative opinions of a layman.
1599Marston Sco. Villanie i. ii. 176 Tail'd, and retail'd, till to the pedlers packe, The *fourth-hand ward-ware comes.
[1946Times 28 June 5/6 Those of your readers who are under a perpetual obligation to the charm of the fourth leading article may like to be reminded of Dr. Johnson's praise of the Scottish breakfast.] 1949‘M. Innes’ Journeying Boy vi. 64 He picked up The Times... He was mildly diverted by the *fourth leader. 1964E. S. Turner How to measure a Woman 165 The Times..has allowed its Fourth Leader writer, more than once, to drool over the temptation the alarm provides. 1966Times 6 Oct. 9/6 ‘If it was not so tragic it would make a fine fourth leader for The Times,’ said a seasoned observer of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conferences that meet round the world annually.
1681S. Pordage tr. Remaining Med. Works of T. Willis 140 The *fourth conjugation of nerves (which we call rightly the fourth by order and succession, although it is accounted the eighth and last by Fallopius) hath a diverse origine from all the rest. 1685S. Collins Syst. Anat. II. Tab. xlviii, The Pathetic, or Fourth pair of Nerves. 1858Gray Anat. 478 The Fourth, or trochlear nerve, is the smallest of the cranial nerves. 1963Brock & Krieger Basis Clin. Neurol. (ed. 4) xii. 189 The superior oblique muscle [of the eye] is innervated by the fourth nerve.
1880H. Wolff Let. 29 Sept. in W. S. Churchill Ld. R. Churchill (1906) I. 166 My dear Randolph,—After you left yesterday I received two very handsome tributes to the *Fourth Party. 1897J. McCarthy Hist. Own Times from 1880 to Jubilee 27 Now came Lord Randolph with his new group, having its distinct individual purpose, and it claimed to be recognised as the Fourth party. 1966R. S. Churchill Winston Churchill I. iii. 44 This led to the formation of the Fourth Party—Lord Randolph Churchill, Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, Mr John Gorst, with Mr Arthur Balfour, Lord Salisbury's nephew, in loose attendance.
1884D. Anderson Compl. Ball-Room Guide 10 *Fourth position, put out right foot in a straight line with left toe, right heel about four inches from left toe. 1957G. B. L. Wilson Dict. Ballet 124 In the fourth position..one foot is placed before the other in an extension of the first position with the weight evenly distributed, both feet being fully turned out and separated by a distance of about one foot.
1578J. Banister Hist. Man f. 100v The *fourth ventricle is not much capable, and is comprehended of the thinne membran. 1685S. Collins Syst. Anat. II. Tab. l, The Scobs which makes the fourth ventricle. 1848Quain's Elem. Anat. (ed. 5) II. 723 The fourth ventricle, or ventricle of the cerebellum. 1962Gray's Ant. (ed. 33) 956 The cavity of the rhombencephalon is expanded to form the fourth ventricle.
1807L. Hunt Crit. Ess. 60 The stage appears to be his room, of which the audience compose the *fourth wall. 1910E. F. Spence Our Stage v. 111 That fourth wall, the existence of which Mr. Jerome K. Jerome rather quaintly..suggested by the fender and fireirons laid in front of the foot⁓lights. 1959Listener 4 June 997/2 His music-hall experience made him aware of the artificiality of the ‘fourth wall’ which in the legitimate theatre separates the stage from the auditorium: the music-hall comedian speaks directly to the audience. 1967Times 19 Apr. 6/4 In the last act, Andrey..breaks the fourth wall and delivers his assault..straight out to the audience.
1884Britten Watch and Clockm., *Fourth Wheel, the wheel in a watch that drives the escape pinion, and to the arbor of which the seconds hand is attached.
b. Prefixed to certain ns., as class, form, rate, etc. forming a comb. which is used attrib. and passes occas. into an adj., and through the absolute use into a n. fourth-class matter (U.S. Postal system), matter containing merchandise.
1689Lond. Gaz. No. 2453/2 Their Majesties Ship the Nonsuch, a small fourth Rate of 36 Guns. 1694Ibid. No. 3021/3 This day were Launched..two new fourth Rate Ships. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. vi. The fourth form are uncertain in their belief. Ibid. i. vii. [A] fourth-form boy. 1889Advance (Chicago) 7 Mar. 190 More sham than school, taught by fourth-rate teachers, because they are cheap.
Hence ˈfourthly adv., in the fourth place, † for the fourth time.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 8 b, Fourthly they must trust onely in the grace & mercy of god. 1613Sylvester (title), Du Bartas his Deuine Weekes and Workes..Now fourthly corr: and augm. 1772Ann. Reg. 247/2 Fourthly, Because [etc.]. |