Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Measuring two units by four units, especially inches.
- adj. Slang Small in size; boxed in or cramped: a two-by-four apartment.
- n. A length of lumber that is 2 inches thick and 4 inches wide, or that is trimmed to slightly smaller dimensions.
Wiktionary
- adj. measuring two inches by four inches
- adj. by extension small or cramped
- n. A length of timber having this cross section. (Note: often this is dimensional lumber that was this size BEFORE being planed to finished form, which removes a quarter inch from each side.)
WordNet 3.0
- n. a timber measuring (slightly under) 2 inches by 4 inches in cross section
Examples
“It's harder to dramatize a long drawn-out recessional than a sudden whack upside the head with a celestial two-by-four.”
“This is why, when people say that breast-feeding is “free,” I want to hit them with a two-by-four.”
“You can slide a two-by-four in the concrete to create this feature.”
“Regarding the stepfather, Sotomayor offered no "nearly so" caveat: "Pinholster's stepfather beat him several times a week, including at least once with a two-by-four board," she wrote.”
“Kit slapped his face the way Fancy wanted to, only Fancy wanted to use a two-by-four.”
“When you end up in some foster home, sleeping in a two-by-four bedroom and going to some inferior public school, think of me.”
“Don Nelson, another passenger who was seated one row from the rupture, said the noise "was a blast," and the hole looked to be about the size of a two-by-four.”
“Remedial decrees may be a necessary two-by-four to make major gains, but ultimately it's going to require a scalpel to succeed.”
“You would have compressed me into a two-by-four pigeonhole of life, where all life's values are unreal, and false, and vulgar.”
“It lay flat across the entire road, made out of a two-by-four studded with long nails.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘two-by-four’.
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Construction Zone
Help me build a list of things you'd find in a construction zone or at a construction site.
rebar, lumber, cement, plywood, hard hat, hammer, nails, nail gun, insulation, electrical wiring, wood, crane and 62 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, T
torquate, thalassocracy, toothsome, travois, tempestuous, tone, tincture, tripwire, tether, trill, tenacious, travesty and 355 more...
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One for the money, two for the show...
Words with numbers...
eight ball, oner, two bits, threefold, four-in-hand knot, four-leaf-clover, five-spot, six-pack, six-shooter, two-by-four, two-door, three-ring circus and 45 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for two-by-four.
reesetee "This crisis doesn't wear you down over time. It hits you over the head with a two-by-four. On a daily basis." -- NYT Online, "A Day (Gasp) Like Any Other," 10/6/08 Oct 16, 2008