Word.ws English Dictionary

clue-by-four

clue-by-four noun: a notional weapon used to knock sense into the clueless.

Noun

clue-by-four (plural clue-by-fours)

  1. (figuratively, humorous, informal) A notional weapon used to knock sense into the clueless.
    • If I think they're a jerk who's using a march to show how cool and open minded they are, I pull out the ol' clue by four.1993, anonymous author, “Re: Recent Events from the Horseman”, in alt.sex.bondage (Usenet)
    • Nah... I'm not gonna waste a good clue-by-four on someone with no brain...1998, TCurryFan, Re: Carlos and Ashley?, alt.fan.power-rangers, http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.power-rangers/msg/46e0bac76b6c462d?dmode=source&hl=en
    Synonyms:
    cluestick, cluebat

Examples of clue-by-four in a sentence

  • Sometimes the magic "clue-by-four" is so obvious that even your oblivious rock-headed uncle picks up on it.2003, Willow Polson, The Veil's Edge: Exploring the Boundaries of Magic, page 152:
  • We also keep a traditional clue-by-four and a training brick.2025 February 26, AngryCod, “Comment on 'When Marketing decided to touch the database'”, in r/talesfromtechsupport, Reddit, retrieved 01...

Synonyms of clue-by-four

Forms of clue-by-four

pluralclue-by-fours
alternative formclue by four

Origin of clue-by-four

Blend of clue + two-by-four.

Questions about clue-by-four

What does clue-by-four mean?
Clue-by-four means a notional weapon used to knock sense into the clueless.
How do you use clue-by-four in a sentence?
Sometimes the magic "clue-by-four" is so obvious that even your oblivious rock-headed uncle picks up on it.
What part of speech is clue-by-four?
Clue-by-four is a noun.
What is the plural of clue-by-four?
The plural of clue-by-four is clue-by-fours.

Words near clue-by-four in the dictionary

  1. clue cards
  2. clue in
  3. clue stick
  4. clue sticks
  5. clue up
  6. clue-by-four
  7. clue-by-fours
  8. cluebat
  9. cluebats
  10. cluebie
  11. cluebies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: clue-by-four (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-clue-by-four.wav.

Cite this entry: “clue-by-four.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clue-by-four. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.