Four-speed
noun, slang
noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Having four forward speeds. attributive, uncountable
"My car has a four-speed transmission. It is not as efficient as my daughter's five-speed."
- 2 A transmission that has four forward speeds (it might or might not be a manual transmission); (metonymic) a vehicle with such a transmission. countable, uncountable
"four-speed manual"
- 3 A transmission that has four forward speeds (it might or might not be a manual transmission); (metonymic) a vehicle with such a transmission.; A manual transmission with four forward speeds; (metonymic) a vehicle with such a transmission. countable, historical, informal, specifically, uncountable
"A: Was your dad's Mustang a four-speed? B: No, it was an automatic."
Example
More examples"My car has a four-speed transmission. It is not as efficient as my daughter's five-speed."
Etymology
The sense specific to a manual transmission came from an era when manual transmissions in passenger cars were usually four-speeds but automatics were usually three-speeds or two-speeds.
More for "four-speed"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.