英和和英

形容詞

two-by-four

1. Measuring two inches by four inches.
2. (by extension) Small or cramped.

名詞

two-by-four (plural two-by-fours)

1. Alternative spelling of two by four
   • 2025 March 9, Andrew Roth, quoting Keith Kellogg, “‘They brought it on themselves’: a new low in US-Ukraine relations”, in The Observer‎, →ISSN:

     “I think the best way I can describe it is sort of like hitting a mule with a two-by-four across the nose,” he continued

アナグラム

• four by two, four-by-two

別の表記

• two-by-four

名詞

two by four (plural two by fours)

1. (chiefly Canada, US) A length of sawn wood of cross section nominally 2 inches by 4 inches (actual dimensions 1½ × 3½ in modern use), most often employed as structural framing lumber (dimensional lumber).
   • 1959, “Mary Don't You Weep”, performed by Nat King Cole:

     Well, Moses stood on the Red Sea shore, And smote the water with a two by four

   • (Can we date this quote?), “Linin' Track”, performed by Lead Belly:

     Moses stood on the Red Sea shore, smotin' that water with a two by four

2. (chiefly Canada, US, dated) A small, modest building.
   • 1930, George, Ira Gershwin, “But Not for Me”:

     He'll plan a two by four / But not for me.

3. (slang) Synonym of Tijuana Bible (“kind of pornographic comic book”).
   • 2008, Barry Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln in the Post-Heroic Era, page 354:

     […] the movie plot of Superman II, in which Superman and Lois Lane work up to a sexual liaison (which was seen before 1960 only in “two by fours” and similar pornographic comic strips.).

派生語

• clue-by-four

参考

• four by two

アナグラム

• four by two, four-by-two