four-handed, a.
1. Having four feet which resemble the hands of a man; quadrumanous.
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 249 Animals of the monkey kind..From this general description of four-handed animals, we perceive what [etc.]. 1833 Tennyson Poems 3 When, in the darkness over me, The fourhanded mole shall scrape. 1846 Owen Brit. Fossil Mammals & Birds 3 Arboreal Mammalia of the four-handed order. |
2. Suitable for four persons. Also, rarely, of a piece of pianoforte music: Adapted for four hands (Fr. à quatre mains), i.e. two players; a duet.
| 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 217 If we could both have won—if it had been four-handed cribbage, and she my partner. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xxix, We'll make a four-handed game of it, and take in Groves. 1885 Pall Mall G. 20 Mar. 5/2 Among those who are wedded to their first love of normal chess, the four-handed game does not gain much favour. |