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View synonyms for two-by-four

two-by-four

[ too-bahy-fawr, -fohr, -buh- ]

adjective

  1. two units thick and four units wide, especially in inches.
  2. Informal. lacking adequate space; cramped:

    a small, two-by-four room.

  3. Informal. unimportant; insignificant:

    Theirs was a petty, two-by-four operation.



noun

  1. a timber measuring 2 × 4 inches (5 × 10 centimeters) in cross section, when untrimmed: equivalent to 1 5/8 × 3 5/8 inches (4.5 × 9 centimeters) when trimmed.

two-by-four

noun

  1. a length of untrimmed timber with a cross section that measures 2 inches by 4 inches
  2. a trimmed timber joist with a cross section that measures 1 1 2 inches by 3 1 2 inches
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of two-by-four1

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85
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Example Sentences

What about the law against the IRS smacking Tea Party-type nonprofits over the head with a two-by-four?

"None of your pin-head two-by-four shysters that you see here in the East," exclaimed Mr. Sleighter.

As if in answer to his name, Bonfire appeared, red-faced and breathless, holding a short two-by-four in his hand.

Using the two-by-four as a fulcrum, he began levering the door upward and outward.

I say, Phil, should this two-by-four go in with the big side out, or the narrow?

It's a crime for a girl with your looks to be pounding the keys in a two-by-four canning factory in a jerk Maine town.

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two-body problemtwo can play at that game