hand 
of the palm, fingers, and thumb, and fitted 
for grasping objects. The perfect development of 
the hand is found only 
in man : but other 
animals, as monkeys, 
mice, squirrels, opos- 
sums, and other mam- 
mals, possess prehen- 
Bile paws, or hands in 
a broad sense of the 
word. In man the 
fore limb is entirely 
withdrawn from the 
offices of support and 
locomotion, at least 
jn adult life, and is 
devoted to the func- 
tion of prehension, 
for which it is per- 
fectly adapted by the 
mobility of all the 
digits, as well as by 
their respective dif- 
ference in total 
length and in the 
length of their joints, 
and especially by the 
great freedom Of the Bones of Right Human Hand, palmar 
thumb, which can be surface, being the third segment of the 
perfectly apposed to ^VhaVa^es"' c " pus ' " lcta "" 
the fingers collec- 
Hvplvnr tn anvnnp nf sc - scapno'd' '. sennlunar; c, cunei- 
tivelyor to any one Of forra . i pisi f orm . ,_ trapezium; t,, tra- 
them. Anotherimpor- nezoid; m. magnum; .unciform; these 
tant point in the per- being the carpal bones, in two series, 
faction of a hand is its F'Sl^iSS' 1 a ' stal : m ', u > '" *= first 
ptinahilitvnf nnninlpto to the fifth 'netacarpals, constituting 
CapaDlllly 01 complete ,,. metacarpus; Pi to f,. the 14 pha- 
pronation and supina- langes. 
tion, a movement of 
rotation following the motion of the radius about the ulna, 
by which the palm may be brought uppermost, when the 
hand is supine, or turned downward, when the hand is 
prone. None of the pronator or supinator muscles actually 
reach the hand, which simply carries out the movement 
of the radius. In the human hand there are 27 bones, 
namely, 8 carpals or wrist-bones proper, 5 metacarpals, 
and 14 phalanges, 3 to each of the four fingers and 2 to the 
thumb. The muscles which actuate the hand are numer- 
ous : they consist of several carpal extensors and flexors ; 
several "long" common and special extensors and flexors 
of the digits, those of the thumb being most numerous 
and highly specialized ; and certain "short" muscles con- 
fined to the palm, as those of the base of the thumb. (See 
cut under imuoit.) In most mammals which have hands 
in this sense the structure and composition of parts are 
similar, the anatomical differences being slight in com- 
parison with the degrees of physiological adaptation to 
prehension, or functional efficiency. 
In his lin:i he baar a myghty bowe. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 108. 
The fyngres fourmen a ful hande to purtreye or peynten 
Keruynge and compassynge as crafte of the fyngres. 
Piers Plowman (B), xvil. 169. 
In colour like the fingers of a hand 
Before a burning taper. Tennyson, Holy Grail. 
The Gorilla's hand is clumsier, heavier, and has a thumb 
somewhat shorter in proportion than that of man; but 
no one has ever doubted its being a true hand. 
Huxley, Man's Place in Nature, p. 108. 
2. In anat., technically, the terminal segment 
of the fore limb of any vertebrate above fishes, 
consisting of three divisions, the carpus, meta- 
carpus, and phalanges; the manus: the cor- 
relative of the pes of the hind limb. In this 
sense the term Jiand isused irrespective of modi- 
fications in structure or function. See manus, 
and cut under pinion. 3. The end of any limb 
which grasps, holds, or clings, as the hind foot 
of a monkey, a bat, an opossum, etc. Specifi- 
cally (a) In falconry, the foot of a hawk. (6) In the 
manage, a horse's fore foot, (c) In entom., the tarsus of 
the anterior leg : a term used by old writers, and corre- 
sponding to the manus of Kirby. (d) In crustaceans, the 
chelate claw, or chela, technically called manus. See cut 
under chela. 
4. A measure of four inches; a palm: used 
chiefly in measuring the height of horses : as, 
a .horse 14 hands high. 5. Side; part; direc- 
tion, to either right or left: used both literally 
and figuratively: as, on the one hand or the 
other. 
He with a graceful pride. 
While his rider every hand survey'd, 
Sprung loose. 
Dryden, Conquest of Granada, i. 1. 
The ambassador walked on foot, with two country Chris- 
tians on one hand, and Gentil his French servant on the 
other. Bruce, Source of the Nile, II. 608. 
6. The mode of using the hand; touch; hence, 
skill in doing something with the hands, as con- 
trolling a horse by drawing upon the bit with 
the reins. 
Many will flsh for the Gudgeon by hand, with a running 
line upon the ground, without a cork, as a Trout is fished 
for : and it is an excellent way, if you have a gentle rod, 
and as gentle a hand. I. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 171. 
A friend of mine has a very fine hand on the violin. 
Addison. 
Her hair was cut and dressed by the best hand, her 
clothes put on with care. 
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, i. 
The hand for crust which is denied to many cooks and 
cannot be learned. Encyc. Brit., XII. 197. 
2700 
A jockey must therefore, more than any other civilian 
rider, have a hand for all sorts of horses, and in the case 
of two or three year olds a very good hand it must be. 
Encyc. Brit., XII. 199. 
Riding with very severe bits, the cow-boy has necessarily 
a very light hand. W. Shepherd, Prairie Experiences, p. 35. 
7. Performance; handiwork; workmanship. 
Bessus, the king has made a fair hand on 't ; he has ended 
the wars at a blow. Beau, and Fl., King and No King, i. 1. 
Arborets and flowers 
Imborder'd on each bank, the hand of Eve. 
Milton, P. L., Ix. 438. 
8. Manner of acting or performance ; mode of 
action. 
As her majesty hath received great profit, so may she, 
by a moderate hand, from time to time reap the like. 
Kacon. 
9. Agency; part in performing or executing; 
active cooperation in doing something. 
The word of the Lord, which he spake by the hand of 
his servant Ahijah the prophet. 1 Kl. xiv. 18. 
Speak all good you can devise of Caesar, . . . 
Else shall you not have any hand at all 
About his funeral. Shak., J. C., Ill 1. 
It costs you no effort, while you are about it, to have a 
hand in a dozen different reigns. 
T. B. Aldrich, Ponkapog to Pesth, p. 191. 
Of his [Dunstan's] political work indeed we know little, 
but we can hardly mistake his hand in the solemn procla- 
mation which announced the king's crowning at Kingston. 
J. R. Omen, Conq. of Eng., p. 275. 
10. Possession; power; rule; control; au- 
thority : commonly in the plural. 
This Contree and Lond of Jerusalem hathe ben in many 
dyverse Naciounes Hondes. Mandeville, Travels, p. 74. 
Sacraments serve as the moral instruments of God, ... 
the use whereof is in our hand*, the effect in his. 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity. 
The theatre, in proper hands, might certainly be made 
the school of morality ; but now, I am sorry to say it, peo- 
ple seem to go there principally for their entertainment 1 
Sheridan, The Critic, i. 1. 
No difference existed, or indeed could exist, between 
the position of the various classes of persons under the 
//and of a House Father. 
W. E. Hearn, Aryan Household, p. 91. 
11. In card-playing : (a) The cards held by a 
single player. 
I must complain the cards are ill shuffled till I have a 
good hand. Sur(ft, Thoughts on Various Subjects. 
An Ace of Hearts steps forth ; the King unseen 
Lurk'd in her hand. Pope, R. of the L., III. 98. 
I have a difficult hand to play in this affair. 
Sheridan, School for Scandal, Iv. 3. 
(6) A single round at a game, in which all the 
cards dealt at one time are played. 
The odd trick at the conclusion of a hand. Dickens. 
A saint in heaven would grieve to see such hand 
Cut up by one who will not understand. 
Craobe, The Borough. 
(c) One of the players. In whist the eldest hand or 
elder hand is the player sitting next the dealer in the or- 
der in which the cards are dealt ; the second hand is the 
one playing next after the leader in any trick ; the third 
hand is the one after him ; and the fourth hand is the last 
of all. (<j) A game at cards. 12. In her., the 
representation of a human hand, usually couped 
at the wrist. The blazon always specifies dexter or 
sinister, appaumee or reversed. Compare badge uf Ulster, 
under badgei, and see cut under appaumee. 
13. Something resembling the hand in shape or 
appearance, as in having five or more divisions 
(fingers), or in use, as in pointing, etc. Specifi- 
cally (a) A palmate form of ginger. See the quotation. 
Ginger is known in commerce in two distinct forms, 
termed respectively coated and uncoated ginger, as having 
or wanting the epidermis. For the first, the pieces, which 
are called "races " or hand*, from their irregular palmate 
form, are washed and simply dried in the sun. 
Encyc. Brit., X. 60a 
(b) One of the groups, formed of one or two rows of the 
fruit arranged athwart the main stem of the bunch, into 
which a bunch of bananas or plantains naturally divides. 
A hand may contain from 8 to 20 separate fruits. 
From the top and center of the plant [banana] the fruit 
appears, and consists of a stock on which are from four 
to twelve clusters called hands. 
U. S. Cons. Rep., No. Ixv. (1886), p. 216. 
(c) A bundle or head of tobacco-leaves tied together, with- 
out being stripped from the stem. 
Hands or small bundles of from six to twelve leaves [of 
tobacco]. Encyc. Brit., XXIII. 425. 
(d) Five things sold together, as five oranges or five her- 
rings, (e) A figure like a hand used on sign-posts, etc., to 
indicate direction, or in print (as 5T) to call attention to a 
particular sentence or paragraph ; an index. (/) An in- 
dex of a clock, watch, or dial of any kind, pointing out its 
divisions ; a pointer : as, the hour- and nmmta-hands of a 
clock. 
Half-way up the stairs it stands, 
And points and beckons with its hands 
From its case of massive oak. 
Longfellow, Old Clock on the Stairs. 
14. One who is engaged in some particular 
manual employment, as in a factory or on a 
ship; a workman or workwoman. 
hand 
In going round the island I saw only two iron mines 
which are not now worked, because in Cyprus they want 
hand* to cultivate the ground. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 229. 
I am sure that he is the last man in England who would 
desire that the working men in England should continue 
to remain in reality what they are in name the mere 
hands of workshops, without having their heads full of 
trained intelligence to guide their work. 
Nineteenth Century, XXIV. 333. 
15. A person as acting in any way or doing 
any specified thing: as, a good hand at a bar- 
gain; all hands gave assistance. 
At Parma the theatre is esteemed the finest in the world ; 
and in Palazzo del Glardino are fine paintings by many 
great hands. Pocucke, Description-of the East, II. ii. 209. 
The whole design 
And enterprise is lost by it : all hands quit it 
Upon his fail. B. Jonsm, Catiline, iii. 1. 
By all hands I have been informed that he was every 
way the finest gentleman in the world. 
Steele, Spectator, No. 109. 
16. Style of penmanship; handwriting; chi- 
rography. 
Here is the indictment of the good lord Hastings ; 
Which in a set hand fairly is engross'd. 
Shak., Eich. III., iii. 6. 
The envelope contained a sheet of elegant, little hot- 
pressed paper, well covered with a lady's fair, flowing hand. 
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, p. 100. 
17t. A sign-manual ; a signature. 
Aut. The ballad is very pitiful. . . . 
Dor. Is it true too, think you 1 
Aut. Five justices' hands at it. Shak., W. T., Iv. 3. 
They sent their agents up and down the country to get 
hamis to this petition. 
Winthrop, Hist, New England, II. 358. 
18f. Terms; conditions; rate; price. 
Time is the measure of business, as money ls of wares ; 
and business is bought at a dear hand where there is small 
dispatch. Bacon, Dispatch (ed. 1887). 
They [farmers at the Cape of Good Hope] have not an 
opportunity of buying things at the best hand, but must 
buy of those that live at the Harbour. 
Dampier, Voyages, I. 635. 
19. A round of applause: as, he did not get a 
hand to-night. [Theatrical cant.] 20. Pledge 
of marriage made by or for a woman; betrothal 
or bestowment in marriage. 
Jerome. But, Louisa, are you really married to this mod- 
est gentleman '; 
Louisa. Sir, in obedience to your commands, I gave him 
my hand within this hour. Sheridan, The Duenna, iii. 7. 
At the Burgundian court Siegfried wins the hand of 
Kriemhild. Encyc. Brit., XVII. 475. 
21. In some uses, a handle. See handle. 22. 
A shoulder of pork. [Eng.] 
Flitches of bacon and hands (i. e., shoulders of cured 
pork, the legs or hams being sold, as fetching a better 
price) abounded. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, iv. 
23. In Anglo-Saxon hist., protection conferred 
by one in power or by the general community. 
Every man of the folk lay in "the folk's hand"; and, 
wrong-doer as he might be, it was only when the hand was 
opened, and its protection withdrawn, that the folk could 
suffer him to be maimed or slain. 
J. B. Green, Conq. of Eng., p. 22. 
[Hand Is much used in composition, in reference to some- 
thing made or done or to be managed or worked by hand, as 
/iand-barrow, hand-bell, hand-loom, hand-sstw, etc.. or to 
that which is at hand, as Aandmaid, etc.] A cool hand, 
a person not easily abashed or daunted ; one who performs 
some difficult or audacious action coolly and deliberately. 
Aff bands. See a/. A heavy hand, severity or op- 
pression. A helping hand, ready and cheerful assis- 
tance or cooperation. 
Captain Heath, to encourage his Men to their labour, 
kept his watch as constantly as any Man, tno' sickly him- 
self, and lent an helping Hand on all occasions. 
Dampier, Voyages, I. 626. 
A high hand. See high. A light hand, gentleness; 
moderation. All hands. See all. A side hand t, aside- 
hand t, at or to one side. 
In to the feld he goth among them all, 
And founde hyiii ther aside hand of the prese, 
And furth with all told hym the hoole processe. 
Generydet (E. E. T. S.\ 1. 2825. 
A slack hand, idleness; carelessness. A Strict hand, 
severe discipline; rigorous government. At or In any 
handt , on any account ; at any rate ; at all events ; by any 
means; at all hazards. 
O, for the love of laughter, hinder not the humour of his 
design : let him f etch off his drum in any hand. 
Shak., All's Well, iii. 6. 
Hear for your health then, but, at any hand, 
Before you judge, vouchsafe to understand. 
B. Jonson, New Inn, Prol. 
At first hand, from the producer, or new ; directly from 
the source: as, goods were bought at first hand. At 
hand, (a) Within reach ; near by ; present. 
Signior, the gallants and ladies are at hand. 
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, v. 2. 
(b) Near in time ; not distant. 
The day of Christ is at hand. 2 Thes. ii. 2. 
The Westerly Monsoon was at hand, which would oblige 
us to shelter somewhere in a short time. 
Dampier, Voyages, I. 308. 
