Word.ws English Dictionary

on all fours

on all fours phrase: on one's hands and knees.

Phrase

on all fours

  1. (idiomatic) On one's hands and knees.
    • A bulky form was seen rising aft, and began marching on all fours with the movements of some big cautious beast.1897, Joseph Conrad, chapter 3, in The Nigger Of The ‘Narcissus’
    • He was on all fours, with three children on his back, riding him for a horse.1916, Elbert Hubbard, “Johannes Brahms”, in Little Journeys Vol. 14: Great Musicians
  2. (idiomatic, often) In a manner which is similar in nature or effect to something else; consistent.
    • The paternal longing ran on all fours with her own desire.1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, chapter 39, in The Woodlanders […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
    • While he brought the ink to the bedside, I read the form and found it on all fours with what he had said.1919, Jefferson Carter (aka Stanley John Weyman), “V The Swamp Fox”, in Madam Constantia

on all fours meaning in Tamil and Bengali

on all fours in Tamil

கைகளாலும், முழங்கால்களினாலும் தவழ்ந்து செல்லுதல், தன்மையிலும், விளைவிலும் மற்றொன்றைப் போலவே இருப்பது, ஒரு வழக்கின் சட்ட விவகாரங்கள், மற்றொரு வழக்கை ஒத்திருப்பது

on all fours in Bengali

সংগতিপূর্ণ

Forms of on all fours

alternative formon all-fours

Questions about on all fours

What does on all fours mean?
On all fours means on one's hands and knees.
What is on all fours in Tamil?
On all fours in Tamil is கைகளாலும், முழங்கால்களினாலும் தவழ்ந்து செல்லுதல், தன்மையிலும். See On all fours meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is on all fours?
On all fours is a phrase.

Words near on all fours in the dictionary

  1. on again off again
  2. on again, off again
  3. on air
  4. on alert
  5. on all counts
  6. on all fours
  7. on all hands
  8. on all-fours
  9. on an empty stomach
  10. on an equal footing
  11. on an impulse

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on all fours (page history and authors); on all fours (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); on all fours (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-on all fours.ogg.

Cite this entry: “on all fours.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_all_fours. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.