1. two by four - Noun
2. two by four - Adjective
(chiefly Canada, US) A length of sawn wood of cross section approximately 2 inches by 4 inches, most often employed as structural framing lumber (dimension or dimensional lumber).
(chiefly Canada, US, dated) A small, modest building.
Alternative form of two-by-four (“kind of pornographic comic book”)
measuring two inches by four inches
(by extension) small or cramped
(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.
(slang) Synonym of Tijuana Bible (“kind of pornographic comic book”)
Source: en.wiktionary.orgtwo-by-four
Add a two-by-four joist hanger to the exact center of your ledger board. Source: Internet
In time—partly due to Nikita Khrushchev’s 1956 speech enumerating Stalin’s sins (some, not all)—the undismissible facts of what that regime had actually done hit those useful idiots like a two-by-four to the head. Source: Internet
You can use a two-by-four, use a muffler, you can use anything as long as you’ve got that string vibrating.” Source: Internet
Two decades of climbing have made me stiff in ways that only a two-by-four could understand. Source: Internet
You can’t halfway change opinions, you have to hit them in the face with a two-by-four.” Source: Internet
Spend enough time here, and the phrase two-by-four comes up repeatedly. Source: Internet