all fours

English

Etymology

all + fours

Noun

all fours

1. The four legs of a quadruped.
2. The four limbs of a primate.
3. A card game similar to whist.
   • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd:

     'Twas a bad leg allowed me to read the Pilgrim's Progress, and Mark Clark learnt All-Fours in a whitlow.

4. A certain game of dominos.

Related terms

• on all fours

Translations

four legs of a quadruped

• Finnish: raajat (fi) pl
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

four limbs of a primate

• Finnish: raajat (fi) pl
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: четвере́ньки (ru) f pl (četverénʹki), кара́чки (ru) f pl (karáčki)

card game

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}