quadrumanous

American  

[kwo-droo-muh-nuhs] / kwɒˈdru mə nəs /

adjective

1. four-handed; having all four feet adapted for use as hands, as monkeys.

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quadrumanous British  

/ kwɒˈdruːmənəs /

adjective

1. (of monkeys and apes) having all four feet specialized for use as hands

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quadrumanous Scientific  

/ kwŏ-dro̅o̅′mə-nəs /

1. Having four feet and using all four feet as hands, as primates other than humans do. The big toes as well as the thumbs of quadrumanous species are opposable.

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Etymology

Origin of quadrumanous

1690–1700; < New Latin quadrumanus, equivalent to Latin quadru- quadru- + -manus, adj. derivative of manus hand ( cf. manual)

Example Sentences

The girls marched past progressively tougher words, from heroine, blossom and dentifrice to operose, miscible and quadrumanous.

From Time Magazine Archive

But the apes can grasp with the hind-foot as well as the fore, and so were regarded as quadrumanous.

From The Evolution of Man — Volume 2 by Haeckel, Ernst Heinrich Philipp August

Moreover, man is not truly quadrumanous; for he has not, like the monkeys, an almost equal facility in using the fingers of his feet, and of seizing objects with them.

From Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution His Life and Work by Packard, A. S. (Alpheus Spring)

He supposes that a race of quadrumanous apes gradually acquired the upright position in walking, with a corresponding modification of the feet and facial angle.

From Evolution, Old & New Or, the Theories of Buffon, Dr. Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck, as compared with that of Charles Darwin by Butler, Samuel

In dealing with the suggestion that man differs from the apes in being bimanous, while the apes are quadrumanous, Huxley first explained and discussed what the exact differences between hands and feet are.

From Thomas Henry Huxley; A Sketch Of His Life And Work by Mitchell, P. Chalmers (Peter Chalmers)