two by two
In pairs, one alongside another.
“The children filed out of the classroom two by two.”
“The animals enter the small wooden boat two by two.”
“The guide asked us to walk two by two so nobody would get lost in the crowded market.”
“The flight attendants instructed the passengers to exit the plane two by two to ensure the narrow aisle remained clear for everyone.”
“The procession moved two by two through the cathedral doors, each pair matched by height, the whole line advancing with the slow deliberation of a rehearsed ceremony.”
The phrase comes from the Flood narrative in Genesis 7, where Noah gathers the animals into the ark. In verse 9 they come to him two and two, male and female, so that each kind survives the coming deluge.
The image of paired creatures filing aboard the ark became one of the most reproduced scenes in Western art and children's storytelling, and the orderly, rhythmic pairing lodged in the language.
In modern English to go two by two simply means to move in pairs — a line of schoolchildren, soldiers, or dancers advancing side by side, one couple after another.
Genesis after Eden: Noah and the flood, Babel, Sodom, and the patriarchs.
- 01
Tower of Babel (idiom)
A grand, over-ambitious project that collapses into confusion and a breakdown in communication.
- 02
Sodom and Gomorrah (idiom)
A place or scene of extreme wickedness, vice, and moral ruin.
- 03
a pillar of salt (idiom)
The fate of someone who cannot stop looking back at the past instead of moving forward.
- 04
Jacob's ladder (idiom)
A link between the earthly and the heavenly, or by extension a long, steep climb.
- 05
a coat of many colors (idiom)
A conspicuous mark of favouritism that stirs up envy in others.
- 06
old as Methuselah (idiom)
Extremely old; ancient.
Last updated July 29, 2026