quadrennial, a. and n.
(kwəˈdrɛnɪəl)
Also (correctly) quadriennial, (7 -ennal).
[ad. L. type *quadrienniāl-is, -ennāl-is: see quadrennium and -al1, and cf. F. quatriennal.]
A. adj.
1. Occurring every fourth year.
| 1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome, Marcus iii. 46 Their Accounts of Time were reckoned by the Quadriennial Returns of the Grand Games. 1847 Grote Greece ii. xxviii. IV. 92 Peisistratus..first added the quadrennial or greater Panathenæa to the ancient annual or lesser Panathenæa. 1880 Times 27 Sept. 8/1 The Archbishop of Canterbury..continuing his quadrennial visitation of his diocese. 1884 Sat. Rev. 7 June 745/2 Its statutes only demanded quadrennial residence. |
2. Lasting for four years.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Quadriennial, of four years. 1727 Bailey, vol. II, Quadrennial, of the Space of four Years. 1881 Daily News 11 Mar. 6/2 Biennial Budgets and quadrennial Parliaments. |
B. n. † a. A period of four years. Obs. rare—1. b. An event happening every four years. c. A fourth anniversary, or its celebration (Cent. Dict.).
| a 1646 J. Gregory Posthuma, De æris et Epochis (1650) 163 The Egyptians called everie daie in the year by the Name of som God..and everie year of their Lustrums or Quadriennals in like manner. 1856 Sat. Rev. 8 Nov. 625/2 The great quadrennial—the Presidential election—is the ‘Derby Day’ of America. |
Hence quaˈdrennially adv., every fourth year.
| 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 626 The senate [of Virginia] chosen quadrennially. 1932 H. G. Wells Work, Wealth & Happiness of Mankind xii. 599 It could go to the country triennially or quadrennially for new blood and the elimination of persons who had become unpopular. 1972 Publishers' Weekly 24 Jan. 62/3 Campaign biographies are quadrennially the cream cheese of publishing. |