Word of the Day

: April 15, 2012

four-flush

verb FOR-FLUSH

What It Means

: to bluff in poker holding a four flush; broadly : to make a false claim : bluff

four-flush in Context

We found an old newspaper article in which a candidate promised he would never "four-flush" or mislead voters.

"Royal is a not quite legal lawyer, four-flushing his way around New York, long separated from his wife and three children…." - From a review by Stanley Kauffman in The New Republic, December 31, 2001

Did You Know?

The term "four-flush" comes to us from stud poker. In that game, a player is dealt one card face down and four cards face up, with betting taking place each time a face-up card is dealt. A four-card flush - that is, all four cards of the same suit - is worthless in poker; it takes five cards to make a flush. A player who has four cards of the same suit showing is in a good position to bluff. Pretending to hold a flush with four cards showing - ''four-flushing'' - came to be a skill among gamblers, one so common that the term spread to everyday use to describe the actions of one who makes false or dishonest claims.