four-handed

[ fawr-han-did, fohr- ]

adjective

1. involving four hands or players, as a game at cards:

   Bridge is usually a four-handed game.

2. intended for four hands, as a piece of music for the piano.
3. having four hands, or four feet adapted for use as hands; quadrumanous.

four-handed

adjective

1. (of a card game) arranged for four players
2. (of a musical composition) written for two performers at the same piano

Derived Forms

• ˌfour-ˈhandedly, adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of four-handed¹

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

She played a four-handed Mozart duet with President Harry S Truman, performed at President John F Kennedy's inauguration and was recognised by President Ronald Reagan as the first American woman to celebrate a 50-year concert career.

From BBC

In 1914, Debussy supervised Henri Büsser in creating two new versions of the work — one for orchestra and another for four-handed piano, to which I’ve grown quite attached.

From Washington Post

Unsurprisingly, Daub, who has written books on Wagner and four-handed piano playing, is more rigorous than Andreessen when it comes to critical analysis.

From New York Times

This four-handed masterpiece for a piano duo shimmers on the surface while its depths stall and surge — a fitting match for the shifting temperament of the piece, including the little trills that dart like dragonflies into the largo.

From Washington Post

You’ll likely have two people working on you at a time—a technique known as “four-handed dentistry”—in order to speed up the procedures and control the amount of spit that gets into the air.

From Slate