Quaternary

[cema]

noun: the cardinal number that is the sum of three and one
adjective: coming next after the third and just before the fifth in position or time or degree or magnitude


They must be kidding me. Why not just say "four" and "fourth"?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

"The cardinal number that is the sum of three and one" is the definition of "four". What's your concern?

[a7sharp9.livejournal.com]

Not necessarily, strictly speaking. In the world of Peano axioms, 4 is the successor of 3. Addition is introduced later, and only then by definition x+1=x'.

[a7sharp9.livejournal.com]

So, in a sense the second definition (for adjective) is better.

[cema.livejournal.com]

Did they have to add the "just before the fifth" part?

[(Anonymous)]

I implied "the (dictionary) definition".

Indeed, Cema got confused by a "branch chasing" optimization that used to be rare in paper dictionaries for reasons of space scarcity, but this is no more an issue in the online case.

Having "foo: noun, see bar" is an online dictionary must not be tolarated anymore.