Foe vs Four - What's the difference?
foe | four |
(obsolete) Hostile.
*, vol.1, ch.23:
An enemy.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (cardinal) A numerical value equal to ; the number after three and before five; two plus two. This many dots (••••)
*
Describing a set or group with four components.
(countable) The digit or figure 4; an occurrence thereof.
(countable) Anything measuring four units, as length.
A person who is four years old.
(cricket, countable) 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.
(rowing) Quadruple sculls.
(obsolete) A four-pennyworth of spirits.
* 1887 , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet , IV:
In obsolete terms the difference between foe and four
is that foe is hostile while four is a four-pennyworth of spirits.As an adjective foe
is hostile.As an initialism FoE
is friends of the Earth.As a numeral four is
a numerical value equal to 4; the number after three and before five; two plus two. This many dots (••••.foe
English
Etymology 1
(etyl) fo 'foe; hostile', from earlier ifo 'foe', from (etyl) 'to hate, be hostile' (compare Middle Irish oech 'enemy, fiend', Latin piget 'he is annoying', Lithuanian piktas ‘evil’, Albanian pis ‘dirty, scoundrel’).Adjective
(en adjective)- he, I say, could passe into Affrike onely with two simple ships or small barkes, to commit himselfe in a strange and foe countrie, to engage his person, under the power of a barbarous King.
Noun
(en noun)Travels and travails, passage=Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foe s’ glee.}}
Synonyms
* (enemy) adversary, enemy, opponentAntonyms
* (enemy) ally, friendEtymology 2
An acronym of "fifty-one ergs", coined by Gerald Brown of Stony Brook University in his work with Hans Bethe.Anagrams
*four
English
(wikipedia four)Numeral
(head)- There are four seasons: winter, spring, summer and autumn.
- Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four —on up to sixteen.
Derived terms
* on all fours * back four * four-bagger * four-ball * four-by-four/ * four-color/four-colour * four-dimensional * four-eyes * four-flush * fourfold * fourfooted/four-footed * four-handed * four horsemen * four hundred * four-in-hand * four-leaf clover * four-letter word * fourling * four-o'clock * four of a kind * four-on-the-floor * fourpence * fourpenny * fourplex * four-post bed * four-poster * four-pounder * fourscore * foursquare * four square * foursome * four-star * four-wheel drive * four-wheeler * two-by-fourDescendants
See also
*See also
* Last: three, 3 * Next: five, 5Noun
- Do you have any more fours ? I want to make this a little taller.
- I'll take the threes, fours and fives and go to the playground.
- I was a-strollin' down, thinkin' between ourselves how uncommon handy a four of gin hot would be, when suddenly the glint of a light caught my eye in the window of that same house.
