quadrumviraten.
/kwɒˈdrʌmvᵻrət/, U.S. /kwɑˈdrəmvərət/, /kwɑˈdrəmvəˌreɪt/ A ruling or leading group of four; a group of four prominent or powerful people.
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society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > a company or body of persons > [noun] > of specific number
quadrumvirate1752
sixteensome1979
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > four > [noun] > group of four > persons
quadrivirate1654
quatrumvirate1684
partie carrée1693
quadrumvirate1752
quartetto1771
quartet1814
quartumvirate1840
square party1851
quattuorvirate1856
foursome1926
1653 J. Rogers Tabernacle for the Sun 156 All over the world in all Nations and Kingdoms on the Earth, must be governed by a Quadrumvirat, i. e. Four Patriarks.
1752 H. Fielding Covent-Garden Jrnl. 4 June 2/2 This Quadrumvirate..called themselves The Wits.
1790 By-stander 38 A quadrumvirate appeared almost at the same time.
1856 tr. Napoleon I Confid. Corr. II. xxiii. 348 It cannot possibly be for the interest of Sweden that this Quadrumvirate should take possession of the whole of Europe.
1923 Contemp. Rev. Feb. 151 He [sc. Mussolini] formed a quadrumvirate..to whom he entrusted full powers.
1958 P. Kemp No Colours or Crest viii. 155 Colonel Fiqri Dine,..one of the original quadrumvirate of chiefs that had helped Zog in his early days of power.
1996 Eng. Today Oct. 2/1 A member of the formidable quadrumvirate, which produce The Longman Grammar of Contemporary English.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1653