/tooh"buy fawr', -fohr', -beuh-/ , adj.
1. two units thick and four units wide, esp. in inches.
2. Informal. lacking adequate space; cramped: a small, two-by-four room.
3. Informal. unimportant; insignificant: Theirs was a petty, two-by-four operation.
n.
4. a timber measuring 2 by 4 in. (5 × 10 cm) in cross section, when untrimmed: equivalent to 1 5 / 8 by 3 5 / 8 in. (4 1 / 2 × 9 cm) when trimmed.
[ 1880-85, Amer. ]