Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A team of four horses controlled by one driver.
- n. A vehicle drawn by four horses.
- n. A necktie tied in a slipknot with long ends left hanging one in front of the other.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A vehicle drawn by four horses driven by one person.
- n. A team of four horses attached to a single vehicle, or matched for the purpose of being driven in this way.
- Drawn by four horses driven by one person: as, a four-in-hand coach.
- Having to do with a four-in-hand: as, a good four-in-hand driver.
- n. A long scarf or necktie. One of the ends (which are broader than the center which surrounds the neck) is wound over the other, passed up between the neck and the tie, and then brought down in front through the loop thus formed.
Wiktionary
- n. A carriage drawn by four horses controlled by one driver; a coach-and-four.
- n. A slipknot with one end hanging in front of the other; a simple necktie.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A long necktie that is tied in a slipknot with one end hanging in front of the other.
- n. a coach pulled by four horses with one driver.
- adj. Consisting of four horses controlled by one person; ; drawn by four horses driven by one person.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a long necktie that is tied in a slipknot with one end hanging in front of the other
- n. a carriage pulled by four horses with one driver
Examples
“And as long as I rely on pebbles, I cannot truthfully speak of myself as "tooling a four-in-hand.”
““That's for sure,” said Duane Wade as he put the finishing touches on a four-in-hand knot in a British rep tie.”
“The four-in-hand matched his wife's red dress -- a sheath, of course.”
The Washington Post: Fashion: Robin Givhan on candidates' and their families' election-night apparel
“Nonetheless, the bride and groom took leave of their families and guests, and were conducted (in England) in a four-in-hand to their destination, and in the United States, to the train station.”
“COLUMBUS, OHIO -- "The truth is that I can't tie a four-in-hand.”
The Washington Post: Justice Stevens casts a long shadow over Supreme Court
“I even performed as part of the Purdue University Musical Organizations Handbell choir, and got pretty good at the four-in-hand technique.”
“Though waistcoats for women with distinctly masculine connotations appeared in 1846, the tailor-made of the 1880s and 1890s, coupled with a four-in-hand tie, a shirtwaist, and a boater or another masculine hat style, was a strong statement for independence.”
“She was an accomplished horsewoman, drove a four-in-hand, was proud of her life-saving certificates and amused at the memory of her skill at walking up and down stairs on stilts.”
“-- The way he hasn't learned to tie a four-in-hand necktie like the men do.”
“Years after studies first found that dangerous bacteria routinely hitch rides on the neckties of doctors, U.K. health officials have banished the old four-in-hand, along with jewelry and long sleeves, from their hospitals.”
What Is Your Necktie Hiding? - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘four-in-hand’.
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Handy Words
List of words and phrases referring to the hand, hands, fist, or derivatives of the Latin manus, beginning with left-handed.
left-handed, double-fisted, fisticuffs, handy, right-handed, two-handed, manual, manumission, manuscript, manually, manustupration, manudiction and 164 more...
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Hyphen Nation
Terms with multiple hyphens, such as rent-a-crowd. Not intended to be a see-how-many-words-one-can-string-together-with-hyphens-used-adjectively sort of list.
much-talked-of, vis-à-vis, tête-à-tête, rope-a-dope, will-o'-the-wisp, dick-a-tuesday, will-in-the-wisp, jack-o'-lantern, jack-with-a-lantern, ear-to-ear, whack-a-mole, no-man's-land and 205 more...
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horses
everything horses
horse, bay, bloodhorse, bloodstock, bolter, broncho, bronco, brumby, bucker, buckjumper, cob, cocktail and 200 more...
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AGRI - horse breeding
place bet, Przewalski's horse, piaffe, genus Claviceps, stadium jumping, draft animal, snaffle bit, noseband, equestrian sport, endurance riding, curb bit, dressage and 678 more...
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Knots!
O time, thou must untangle this, not I.
It is too hard a knot for me to untie.
-- Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 2, scene 2figure eight, cat's paw, fisherman's knot, miller's knot, tiller's hitch, chain hitch, surgeon's knot, bowline on bight, sailor's knot, stevedore's knot, timber hitch, clove hitch and 148 more...
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The Aubrey/Maturin List I'm Gonna Mak...
I'm wading through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels one by one, and someday, I'll wade through them again and list all the words I learned while reading them.
Edit: I started ma...studdingsail, carronade, mumchance, grumlin-futtocks, crosscat-harpings, holystone, sennit, orlop, orchitis, negus, kevel, altumal and 1112 more...
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Carlos' Words
monstropolous, absquatulate
triffid, calque, pinguid, refulgent, monstropolous, Seanchaí, clinquant, Chryselephantine ..., peavey, milium, swage, Burtillon, Burtil... and 263 more...
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The Barouche List: Need a Ride?
Bilby says I should have one. Even though most of these are on my other lists (the ones that weren't, I didn't really want to list).
barouche, buggy, carriage, cabriolet, randem, berlin, victoria, surrey, herdic, hansom, rockaway, cariole and 74 more...
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Fit to Be Tied
Ties and other neckwear.
tie, necktie, cravat, ascot, dickey, scarf, bowtie, bolo tie, string tie, steenkirk, keffiyeh, stock and 36 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for four-in-hand.
dontcry *Can't help wondering about four-in-hand vs bird-in-hand and the whole number of bushes thing...* Oct 22, 2008
reesetee A carriage drawn by a team of four horses having the reins rigged so that it can be driven by a single driver. The stagecoach and the tally-ho are usually four-in-hand coaches. Oct 22, 2008
chained_bear "...her driving the new green four-in-hand with only one servant up behind."
--O'Brian, The Truelove, 69 Mar 10, 2008