quadruped, n. (a.)
(ˈkwɒdruːpɛd)
Also 7–8 -pede.
[ad. L. quadrupēs, -ped-is, four-footed, a four-footed beast, f. quadru- quadru- + pēs foot.]
1. An animal which has four feet. (Usually confined to mammals, and excluding four-footed reptiles.)
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 104 Quadrupedes, Volatills and Fishes..have distinct and prominent organs of motion, legs, wings, and fins. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 2 The knees or flexure of his fore legs forwards (as in most quadrupeds). 1728 Morgan Algiers I. ii. 21 Quadrupedes of the Serpentine Breed. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 105 The arms of men but very little resemble the fore feet of quadrupedes. 1833 J. Rennie Alph. Angling 25 In quadrupeds, the ear is nearly as large in the young as in the full grown animal. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 123 The fishes, upon which nearly all the aquatic quadrupeds almost entirely subsist. |
| Comb. 1870 Lubbock Orig. Civiliz. vi. (1875) 258 If..we compare..serpent worship with quadruped-worship..we shall find that it has no exceptionally wide area. |
b. Applied
spec. to the horse:
cf. quad n.4| 1660 Bond Scut. Reg. 7 Even I..can hardly restrain the unbridled fierceness of the Quadrupedes. 1755 Young Centaur vi. Wks. 1757 IV. 253 Others, with Swift..look on the noble quadrupede as superior to the man. 1868 G. Duff Pol. Surv. 220 The long straggling line of soldiers..with their quadrupeds and baggage. |
2. attrib. or as adj. Four-footed.
| 1741 Watts Improv. Mind. i. xvi. §2 (1) The cockney, travelling into the country, is surprised at many actions of the quadruped and winged animals. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 622 Learn we might, if not too proud to stoop To quadruped instructors. 1834 H. Caunter Orient. Ann. vi. 65 This herd of quadruped giants was only at a short distance from us. 1848 Carpenter Anim. Phys. 68 The Mammalia are for the most part quadruped. |
b. Belonging to, connected with, or appropriate to four-footed animals.
| a 1835 M{supc}Culloch Attributes (1843) II. 21 The Kangaroo labours under an invention which is an infringement upon the general simple and effectual one for quadruped motion. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Montaigne Wks. (Bohn) I. 346, I do not press the scepticism of the materialist. I know the quadruped opinion will not prevail. |
3. A verse of four feet.
rare—1.
| 1800 W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. I. 328 The French..make no difference between an anapaestic quadruped and a six-foot iambic. |
Hence (or directly from stem of L.
quadrupēs)
quaˈdrupedan,
† quadrupeded,
† quadruˈpedial,
† -ˈpedian,
quadruˈpedic,
quadruˈpedical adjs. = quadrupedal.
ˈquadrupedism, the fact of being a quadruped.
quaˈdrupedous a., quadrupedal (Bailey
Vol. II, 1731).
| 1806 Edin. Rev. IX. 37 The human character may undergo strange mutations from *quadrupedan sympathy. |
| 1542 Boorde Dyetary xvi. (1870) 272 So great murren or syckenes to any *quadrypedyd beste. 1709 Brit. Apollo II. No. 64. 2/2 Quadrupeded Brutes. |
| 1700 Moxon Math. Dict. 136 *Quadrupedial Signs. |
| 1647 App. Almanak for 1386, 74 Aries, Taurus, Leo, Sagittarius, and Capricorn, are called bestial or *quadrupedian signes, having representation of four-footed creatures. |
| 1888 Daily News 26 June 9/1 The episcopal bacon which..roams, *quadrupedic, among the potato beds. |
| 1824 Dibdin Libr. Comp. 681 Devoured or mutilated by (apparently) some hungry *quadrupedical animal. |
| 1834–43 Southey Doctor cxcix. (1862) 530 Among the Mahometans also, *quadrupedism is not considered an obstacle to a certain kind of canonisation. |