Beast with two backs

Making the beast with two backs is a <a href="/facts/Euphemism/S3j2eHnU">euphemistic</a> metaphor for two persons engaged in <a href="/facts/Sexual_intercourse/okjwpVnB">sexual intercourse</a>. It refers to the situation in which a couple—in the <a href="/facts/Missionary_position/prMhpBzc">missionary position</a>, on their sides, kneeling, or standing—cling to each other as if a single creature, with their backs to the outside.
In English, the expression dates back to at least <a href="/facts/William_Shakespeare/ohI96JTv">William Shakespeare</a>'s <a href="/facts/Othello/Jvq9NLa4">Othello</a> (Act 1, Scene 1, ll. 126–127, c. 1601–1603):

<blockquote>I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.</blockquote>
The earliest known occurrence of the phrase is in <a href="/facts/Rabelais/F647TEM5">Rabelais</a>'s <a href="/facts/Gargantua_and_Pantagruel/3lNc1JhS">Gargantua and Pantagruel</a> (c. 1532) as the phrase la bête à deux dos. <a href="/facts/Thomas_Urquhart/UwDnWHlK">Thomas Urquhart</a> translated <a href="/facts/Gargantua_and_Pantagruel/3lNc1JhS">Gargantua and Pantagruel</a> into English, which was published posthumously around 1693.

<blockquote>In the vigour of his age he married Gargamelle, daughter to the King of the Parpaillons, a jolly pug, and well-mouthed wench. These two did oftentimes do the two-backed beast together, joyfully rubbing and frotting their bacon 'gainst one another.</blockquote>

Beast with two backs open-in-new

Beast with two backs