all fours: Meaning and Definition of

all' fours'

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. all four limbs or extremities; the four legs or feet of an animal or both arms and both legs or both hands and both feet of a person: The cat rolled off the ledge but landed on all fours.
  2. Also calleda game for two or three players or two partnerships in which a 52-card pack is used, the object being to win special scoring values for the highest trump, the lowest trump, the jack, the ace, the ten, and the face cards.
  3. I had to go on all fours to squeeze through the low opening.
    1. in conformity with; corresponding exactly with.
    2. (of a person) on the hands and feet, or the hands and knees:I had to go on all fours to squeeze through the low opening.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.