on all fours
21
3.4
- idiom
:
a cuatro patas
- During the obstacle course, the participants were instructed to move on all fours through the tunnel.
- crawl on all fours
- get on all fours
- walk on all fours
If you would I Oh my God, I am a feline landing on all fours ready to prowl.
- If you would I Oh my God, I am a feline landing on all fours ready to prowl.
- Like do you think I could, I could, I could run faster than you on all fours.
- I'll never forget in middle school being at some assembly and a kid had I got down on all fours behind me and someone pushed me.
- And there's nothing better than seeing your homie down on the ground on all fours, begging to be lifted up, begging to be revived.
- I fall on all fours, convulsing, hysterical, hysterically crying, shaking on the floor.
- They did an X-ray to confirm it, whereas if I'd given birth on all fours, that never would have happened.
- He said he'll be walking on all fours and bleeding like a sheep.
- But you've evidently evolved well to to run on all fours.
Examples
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Crawling babies went about on all fours until, of their own accord, they uprighted themselves.
Fiction book (1998) -
Charlie crawls on all fours through the gravel at the side of the road.
Fiction book (1991) -
Crawl around on all fours.
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And, you know, the first lesson with this certain teacher, we're on all fours pretending to be a cat.
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Finally, after an hour, they arrived at the top, climbing slowly and on all fours.
Fiction book (1992) -
I'd get on all fours and bark like a dog.
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So along with my mum and John and our Nana who arrived was a little furry thing on all fours scurrying along.
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I fall on all fours, convulsing, hysterical, hysterically crying, shaking on the floor.
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The child crawled on all fours, mimicking the movements of a puppy.
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He dropped to the floor and began to crawl on all fours to avoid being seen.
Antonyms
How Low
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally describes being positioned 'on' all four limbs; a learner who knows 'on', 'all' and the numeral 'four' can compose this meaning by standard spatial and counting logic. Cross-linguistic equivalents (e.g. Spanish 'a cuatro patas', French 'à quatre pattes') make the construction predictable and immediately interpretable.
Etymology
On all fours comes from the simple image of getting down on your hands and knees so your body touches the ground in four places. That's why it means 'with your hands and knees on the ground, like an animal with four legs'.