a. 1. With the hand turned backward; as, a backhanded blow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Indirect; awkward; insincere; sarcastic; as, a backhanded compliment. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Turned back, or inclining to the left; as, backhanded letters. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. & adv. (Sport) Stroked with a backhand{ 2 }; as, a backhanded drive. [ PJC ]

n. State of being backhanded; the using of backhanded or indirect methods. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A backhanded blow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Having bare hands. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. See Chandler. ] 1. A candlestick, lamp, stand, gas fixture, or the like, having several branches; esp., one hanging from the ceiling. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Fort.) A movable parapet, serving to support fascines to cover pioneers. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. to perform a chandelle, as of an airplane. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Aeronautics) an abrupt climbing turn made by an airplane, in which the plane's momentum is used to achieve a higher than normal rate of climb, without stalling the aircraft. [ PJC ]

a. Covetous; penurious; stingy; closefisted. -- Close"hand`ed*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

a. 1. Having two hands. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Deceitful; deceptive. Glanvill. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. having acquired or gained nothing; as, the returned from the negotiations empty-handed.
Syn. -- unrewarded. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. carrying nothing in the hands. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Fair or impartial; unbiased. “Evenhanded justice.” Shak. -- E"ven*hand`ed*ly, adv. -- E"ven*hand`ed*ness, n. Froude. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Close-handed; close-fisted; covetous; avaricious. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Early; timely; seasonable. “Forehanded care.” Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Beforehand with one's needs, or having resources in advance of one's necessities; in easy circumstances; as, a forehanded farmer. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Formed in the forehand or fore parts. [ 1913 Webster ]

A substantial, true-bred beast, bravely forehanded. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Having four hands; quadrumanous. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Requiring four “hands” or players; as, a fourhanded game at cards. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Open-handed; liberal; given or giving freely or liberally; as, a freehanded host. [ wns=2 ]
Syn. -- big, bighearted, bounteous, bountiful, handsome, giving, liberal, openhanded. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

2. same as freehand. [ wns=1 ]
Syn. -- free, freehand, unguided, untraced. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. not skillful in physical movement especially with the hands; clumsy; bungling; -- also used metaphorically of actions; as, ham-handed governmental interference.
Syn. -- bumbling, bungling, butterfingered, handless, heavy-handed, left-handed. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. With hands joined; hand in hand. [ 1913 Webster ]

Into their inmost bower,
Handed they went. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having a peculiar or characteristic hand. [ 1913 Webster ]

As poisonous tongued as handed. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Handed is used in composition in the sense of having (such or so many) hands; as, bloody-handed; free-handed; heavy-handed; left-handed; single-handed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who hands over or transmits; a conveyer in succession. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having hard hands, as a manual laborer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hard-handed men that work in Athens here. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. same as ham-fisted.
Syn. -- bumbling, bungling, butterfingered, ham-fisted, ham-handed, handless, left-handed. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. unjustly harsh or domineering; as, incensed at the government's heavy-handed economic policies.
Syn. -- harsh, roughshod. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Overbearing; oppressive; arbitrary; violent; as, a high-handed act. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having the hands horny and callous from labor. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having large hands. (Fig.): Taking, or giving, in large quantities; rapacious or bountiful. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Having the left hand or arm stronger and more dexterous than the right; using the left hand and arm with more dexterity than the right. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Clumsy; awkward; unlucky; insincere; sinister; malicious; as, a left-handed compliment. [ 1913 Webster ]

The commendations of this people are not always left-handed and detractive. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Having a direction contrary to that of the hands of a watch when seen in front; -- said of a twist, a rotary motion, etc., looked at from a given direction. [ 1913 Webster ]

Left-handed marriage, a morganatic marriage. See Morganatic. --
Left-handed screw, a screw constructed to advance away from the observer, when turned, as in a nut, with a left-handed rotation. An ordinary wood screw is right-handed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a person who uses the left hand with greater skill than the right; a left-handed{ 1 } person.
Syn. -- lefty, southpaw. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } n. The state or quality of being left-handed; awkwardness. [ 1913 Webster ]

An awkward address, ungraceful attitudes and actions, and a certain left-handiness (if I may use the expression) proclaim low education. Chesterfield. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. (Naut.) Not having a full complement of men; as, a vessel light-handed. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. having a metaphorically delicate touch. heavy-handed [ WordNet 1.5 ]

the translation is . . . light-handed . . . and generally unobtrusive. New Yorker.

a. Having white, delicate hands. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. same as offhand and off-the-cuff.
Syn. -- ad-lib, extemporaneous, extemporary, extempore, offhand, off-the-cuff, unpremeditated, unrehearsed. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. Without, or seeming to be without, plan or method; casual.
Syn. -- casual, offhand. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Employing one hand; as, the one-hand alphabet. See Dactylology. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Generous; liberal; munificent. -- O"pen-hand`ed*ness, n. J. S. Mill. [1913 Webster]

adj. performed with the arm moving above the shoulder; overhand{ 2 }; -- of methods of throwing, especially in baseball. Contrasted with underhand and sidearm.
Syn. -- overarm. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } a. or adv. Having hands red with blood; in the very act, as if with red or bloody hands; -- said of a person taken in the act of homicide; hence, fresh from the commission of crime; as, he was taken red-hand or red-handed. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Using the right hand habitually, or more easily than the left. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having the same direction or course as the movement of the hands of a watch seen in front; -- said of the motion of a revolving object looked at from a given direction. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) Having the whorls rising from left to right; dextral; -- said of spiral shells. See Illust. of Scalaria. [ 1913 Webster ]

Right-handed screw, a screw, the threads of which, like those of a common wood screw, wind spirally in such a direction that the screw advances away from the observer when turned with a right-handed movement in a fixed nut. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or quality of being right-handed; hence, skill; dexterity. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;, &unr_;, anything hollowed + &unr_;, &unr_;, a man: cf. F. scaphandre. ] The case, or impermeable apparel, in which a diver can work while under water. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Short of, or lacking the regular number of, servants or helpers. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having but one hand, or one workman; also, alone; unassisted. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. By oneself; alone; unassisted. [ PJC ]

a. Left-handed; hence, unlucky. [ Obs. ] Lovelace. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Parsimonious; sparing; niggardly. [ R. ] -- Strait"-hand`ed*ness, n. [R.] [1913 Webster]

a. Said of games or contests where three persons play against each other, or two against one; as, a three-handed game of cards. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Having two hands; -- often used as an epithet equivalent to large, stout, strong, or powerful. “Two-handed sway.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Used with both hands; as, a two-handed sword. [ 1913 Webster ]

That two-handed engine [ the sword ]. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Using either hand equally well; ambidextrous. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Underhand; clandestine. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Insufficiently provided with hands or workers; short-handed; sparsely populated; obsolete in this sense, short-handed or understaffed being the preferrred term. [ 1913 Webster +JG ]

Norway . . . might defy the world, . . . but it is much underhanded now. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an underhand manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Having the anterior limbs or hands adapted for flight, as the bats and pterodactyls. [ 1913 Webster ]