two-by-four

two-by-four

1. measuring two inches by four inches
2. (by extension) small or cramped

two-by-four (plural two-by-fours)

1. (construction) A length of lumber having a cross section of two inches by four inches, or in the case of dimensional lumber three and a half inches by one and a half inches.
2. (slang) Synonym of Tijuana Bible (“kind of pornographic comic book”)
   • 2008, Barry Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln in the Post-Heroic Era, page 354:

     […] the movie plot of Superman II, in which Superman and Lois Lane work up to a sexual liaison (which was seen before 1960 only in “two by fours” and similar pornographic comic strips.).

• four by two, four-by-two