Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having four feet; four-footed.
- adjective Walking on four feet.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Quadruped or four-footed; especially, going on all fours, or adapted or restricted to that mode of progression: as, the quadrupedal shape; quadrupedal locomotion.
- noun A quadruped.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Zoöl.) Having four feet; of or pertaining to a quadruped.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Walking onfour feet .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective having four feet
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word quadrupedal.
Examples
-
Now we have the possibility that the chimps and gorillas may actually be on their way from a bipedal ancestor to a quadrupedal descendant!
October 21st, 2009 m_francis 2009
-
Food for myself and the various quadrupedal residents of my house has been procured.
Archive 2010-03-01 Kat Howard 2010
-
The sight of the armored, snorting, quadrupedal intruder, eyes bloodshot and nostrils flaring in the moonlight, gave even the belligerent Krasvin pause.
The Lives of Felix Gunderson Sugu Althomsons 2010
-
Food for myself and the various quadrupedal residents of my house has been procured.
For a certain value of getting things done Kat Howard 2010
-
They are often seen mocking the second group, which treats their dogs as quadrupedal, slobbery people.
INSIDE OF A DOG ALEXANDRA HOROWITZ 2009
-
Chimpanzees, which are mostly quadrupedal, do not show these vertebral adaptations.
-
And of course, wherever you go out of doors, your quadrupedal pal can follow.
Robert Rodi: Mad Cow by Moonlight: Mucca Pazza Enchants Evanston 2009
-
While still quadrupedal omnivores, the range of body types and sizes among dogs is extraordinary.
INSIDE OF A DOG ALEXANDRA HOROWITZ 2009
-
Could anyone really believe that a quadrupedal animal would give birth to an animal with three limbs, one of which was a leg adapted for bipedalism, and then have to wait to fro the second leg to ‘evolve’ whatever that would mean in that context?
-
While still quadrupedal omnivores, the range of body types and sizes among dogs is extraordinary.
INSIDE OF A DOG ALEXANDRA HOROWITZ 2009
chained_bear commented on the word quadrupedal
I know the word quadruped, but for some reason I never thought of it in an adjectival way. Usage:
"Stephen... looked back to the boulder to estimate the orang-utang's ordinary unhurried quadrupedal speed over a moderate slope."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Thirteen Gun Salute, 229
March 5, 2008