Dictionary

4-4-2 en · NOUN

Etymology

In each sense, from a grouping of things in sets of four, four, and two: in football, players in certain positions; on locomotives, wheels in certain positions; in the car model, four barrels (of carburetion), four gears (of the manual transmission), and dual exhausts.

Meanings

1. A popular football formation with 4 defenders, 4 midfielders and 2 strikers.
   • They fielded an imposing 4-4-2.
   • England's formation was a rigid 4-4-2 against a Norway side of surprisingly limited ambition and on one of the rare occasions James Milner got in the action he forced a save from Jarstein. 2012 May 26, Phil McNulty, “Norway 0-1 England”, in BBC Sport:
2. Under the Whyte notation system, a type of steam locomotive that has a two-axle leading truck, two powered driving axles and a one-axle trailing truck; any instance of that type.
   • Down the high iron sped a huffing 4-4-2.
   • This group of 30 0-8-0’s came from Baldwin between July and October 1948 and were given road numbers 255 to 284 (C/N 74024 to 74053) pushing aside several 4-4-2’s in the 275-284 bracket in the process. 1965, Philip Shuster, Eugene L. Huddleston, Alvin F. Staufer, C & O power: steam and diesel locomotives of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, 1900-1965, page 16:
   • While not, perhaps, the handsomest of 4-4-2 tanks, as they had a rather large proportion of their driving wheels exposed, they proved very useful locomotives, doing yeoman work on suburban trains around London and Birmingham, and later on numerous rural routes. 1951 March 14, David R. Webb, “British 4-4-2 Tank Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 152:
3. A model of the former Oldsmobile make; any instance of that model.
   • Down the drag strip screamed a custom-tuned 4-4-2.

Forms

Coordinates

4-4-0 · more at Whyte notation § Wheel arrangement names

Hypernyms

Oldsmobile · car · automobile · muscle car · locomotive · vehicle · formation

Synonyms

Atlantic