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four-handed

[fawr-han-did, fohr-]
adjective
  1. involving four hands or players, as a game at cards: Bridge is usually a four-handed game.
  2. intended for four hands, as a piece of music for the piano.
  3. having four hands, or four feet adapted for use as hands; quadrumanous.
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Also four-hand [fawr-hand, fohr-] /ˈfɔrˌhænd, ˈfoʊr-/ (for defs 1, 2).

Origin of four-handed

First recorded in 1765–75
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for four-handed

Historical Examples

  • We shot a good deal of game—quadruped, four-handed, and feathered.

    On the Banks of the Amazon

    W.H.G. Kingston

  • So they went and made a four-handed game with two of the girls.

  • We are going over to the Lewinsohns for four-handed rummy and then a rarebit.

    Local Color

    Irvin S. Cobb

  • They've started a four-handed game of pool in the billiard room.

    The Zeppelin's Passenger

    E. Phillips Oppenheim

  • Julia performed some four-handed pieces on the piano with her mother.

British Dictionary definitions for four-handed

four-handed

adjective
  1. (of a card game) arranged for four players
  2. (of a musical composition) written for two performers at the same piano
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Derived Formsfour-handedly, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012