See Also: fourth(dictionary)
Fourth ventricle(health)
Fourth (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
Fourth market(money)
Fourth Republic(encyclopedia)
fourth dimension(dictionary)
May Fourth Movement(encyclopedia)
fourth 2, pronoun(dictionary)
fourth 1, adjective(dictionary)
fourth estate(dictionary)

fourth (iou)



fourth adjective, noun, & adverb (ordinal numeral).
[Old English feo(we)rTa = Old Saxon fiortho (Dutch vierde), Old High German fiordo (German vierte), Old Norse fjorei, from Germanic from Indo-European, whence also Latin quartus, German tetartos, Sanskrit caturtha.]
A. adjective. Next in order after the third, that is number four in a series, (represented by 4th). OE.
fourth day Wednesday. fourth dimension a property of bodies that would make them be to solids as solids are to surfaces; Physics time viewed as a quality resembling a length. fourth estate: see ESTATE noun. fourth finger the finger fourth from the thumb, the little finger. fourth gear the fourth in a sequence of forward gears in a motor vehicle, bicycle, etc. fourth-generation adjective (of a computer) distinguished by large-scale integrated-circuit technology and very large rapid-access memory and belonging essentially to the post-1970 period. fourth part arch. = sense B.3 below. fourth position Ballet the position, esp. when starting or finishing a step, in which the feet are placed turned outwards one in front of the other, separated by the distance of one step; the corresponding position of the arms. fourth wall Theatrical a proscenium opening through which a stage is seen. Fourth World those countries considered to be the poorest and most underdeveloped of the Third World.
b. noun.
The fourth person or thing of a category, series, etc., identified contextually, as day of the month, (following a proper name) person, esp. monarch or pope, of the specified name, etc. ME.
Fourth of July, Glorious Fourth: the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States (1776). J. Gardner Selecting the Mahler Fourth.
S. Sturmy Three Right Lines being given, To find a fourth in proportion to them. J. O'Hara He..had three quick drinks and was on his fourth.
b. A person making up a foursome for a game, social event, etc. E19.
T. S. Eliot Wanting a fourth at bridge.
c. (A person having) a place in the fourth class in an examination list. E20.
C. L. Wrenn The consciousness in the minds of the Oxford authorities that Sweet had obtained a 'fourth' in greats.
d. = fourth gear above. E20.
Music. An interval embracing four consecutive notes in the diatonic scale; a note a fourth above another given note; a chord of two notes a fourth apart, or based around the fourth of a note. L16.
Each of four equal parts into which something is or may be divided, a fraction which when multiplied by four gives one, a quarter, (= fourth part above). L16.
third-and-fourth, thirds-and-fourths: see THIRD noun 2.
Scientific American Mortality during pregnancy and delivery may account for a fourth of the deaths.
Comb.: Forming compound ordinal numerals with multiples of ten, as fifty-fourth (54th), five-thousand-and-fourth (5004th), etc.
C. adverb. Fourthly. L15.
fourthly adverb in the fourth place E16.