four-handed

[fawr-han-did, fohr-]

adjective

involving four hands or players, as a game at cards: Bridge is usually a four-handed game.

intended for four hands, as a piece of music for the piano.

having four hands, or four feet adapted for use as hands; quadrumanous.

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for four-handed

Historical Examples of four-handed

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.
Dr. Jolliffe's Boys
Lewis Hough
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.
Led Astray and The Sphinx
Octave Feuillet

British Dictionary definitions for four-handed

four-handed

adjective

(of a card game) arranged for four players

(of a musical composition) written for two performers at the same piano

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