four

between you (and) me and the bedpost and between you and me and these four walls

Fig. a somewhat affected way of signaling that you are about to tell a secret. Alan: What's wrong with Ellen these days? She seems so touchy. Jane: Between you and me and the bedpost, I've heard that her boyfriend is seeing someone else. Jill: How much did you get for your used car? Jane: Well—between you and me and these four walls—five thousand dollars.

See also: and, bedpost

four sheets in the wind and four sheets (to the wind)

intoxicated. (See comments at three sheets in the wind.) She's not just tipsy. She's four sheets! After only three beers, Gary was four sheets to the wind.

See also: sheet, wind

from all corners of the world and from the four corners of the earth

Fig. from all places in the world. People came from all corners of the world to attend the conference.

See also: corner, world

on all fours

on one's hands and knees. I dropped a contact lens and spent an hour on all fours looking for it. The baby can walk, but is on all fours most of the time anyway.

sixty-four-dollar question

Fig. the most important question; the question that everyone wants to know the answer to. Who will win? Now, that is the sixty-four-dollar question. Now for the sixty-four-dollar question. What's the stock market going to do this year?

See also: question

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a four-letter word

a short word that is extremely rude The player was suspended after using a variety of four-letter words in front of the umpire.

See also: word

be scattered to the four winds  (literary)

if a group of things or people are scattered to the four winds, they are sent to different places which are far away from each other Homes were destroyed and families were scattered to the four winds.

See also: scatter, wind

the four corners of the earth/world

every part of the world Wedding guests arrived from the four corners of the world.

See also: corner, earth

the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question  (informal) also the million-dollar question (informal)

an important or difficult question which people do not know the answer to So will she marry him or not? - that's the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question.

See beg the question, call into question, pop the question

See also: question

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on all fours

with both hands and both knees on the ground I got down on all fours to look for her contact lens.

the four corners of the earth also the four corners of the world

every part of the world The giant company plans to bring coffee and soft drinks to the four corners of the earth.

Related vocabulary: to the four winds

See also: corner, earth

to the four winds

in all directions It would be a disaster if we allowed all that know-how to be scattered to the four winds.

Related vocabulary: the four corners of the earth

See also: wind