haudcops 
handcopst, [ME. , also hnndcops; < AS. hand- 
cops, a shackle for the hand, a manacle, < Inutil, 
hand, + cops, pi. eopsas, also written cosp (== 
OS. kosp, in comp. litho-kosp, limb-shackle), a 
fetter, shackle, also in comp. Jot-cops, foot- 
shackle, su-nr-cops, neck-shackle.] A shackle 
for the hand; a manacle; a handcuff. 
handcraftt (hand'kraft), n. [< ME. handcraft, 
< AS. hantlcraft, a manual occupation (= OS. 
handcraft, strength of hand, = Dan. haandkraft 
= Sw. handicraft, hand-power), < hand, hand, + 
craft, strength, power, skill, trade: see hand 
and craft 1 . Hence later handicraft.] Skilled 
labor with the hands ; manual occupation. See 
handicraft. 
handcraftsmant (hand 'krafts* man), n. A 
handicraftsman. Swift. 
handcuff (hand'kuf), 'n. [Usually in pi. hand- 
cuffs, a mod. adaptation of ME. handcops, sub- 
stituting cuffs (cf. liaiidicuffs, fisticuffs) for obs. 
cops: see handcops.] A shackle or fastening 
for the hand, 
consisting of a 
divided metal 
ring placed 
about and lock- 
ed upon the 
wrist ; a mana- 
cle. Handcuffs 
are used in pairs, Handcuffs 
one for each wrist, 
the two being connected by a short chain or jointed bar. 
handcuff (hand'kuf), v. t. [< handcuff, .] To 
manacle ; restrain by or as if by placing hand- 
cuffs upon the wrists. 
If he cannot carry an ox, like Milo, he will not, like Milo, 
be handcuffed in the oak by attempting to rend it 
W. Hay, On Deformity, p. 26. 
hand-director (hand'di-rek"tor), n. Same as 
hand-guide. 
hand-drop (hand'drop), n. A popular name for 
paralysis of the extensor muscles of the hand, 
such as is produced by lead-poisoning ; wrist- 
drop. 
handed (han'ded), a. [< hand + -ed?.] 1. Hav- 
ing hands ; provided with hands. 
I ne'er saw two maids handed more alike. 
Middleton, Chaste Maid, L 1. 
An other [strange creature) there is with a naturall 
purse vnder her belly, wherein she putteth her young : it 
hath the body of a Fox, handed and footed like a Monkie. 
Purchan, Pilgrimage, p. 816. 
2. Having a hand characterized in some speci- 
fied manner: used especially in composition: as, 
right-handed, left-handed, empty-handed, full- 
handsd, etc. 
What false Italian 
(As poisonous tongued as handed) hath prevail'd 
On thy too ready hearing? Shak., Cymbeline, iii. 2. 
Nor those ham-handed breakers of the glebe. 
Tennyson, Princess, ii. 
3. Having the hands joined. [Bare.] 
Into their inmost bower 
Handed they went. Milton, P. L., iv. 739. 
4. Done by hand in a specified way ; also, done, 
used, played, etc., by a specified number of 
hands : as, cross-handed or open-handed rowing ; 
a doable-handed game ; a two-handed sword ; a 
four-handed piece of music. 
But that two-handed engine at the door 
Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more. 
Milton, Lycidas, 1. 130. 
Handelian (han-del'i-an), a. l< Handel, the 
common E. form of Handel (see def.), + -ia.] 
Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Ger- 
man musical composer George Frederick Han- 
del (Handel) (1685-1759). 
Crotch's Palestine emulated Handelian precedent, and 
stood for long alone as a native production. 
Encyc. Brit., XVII. 100. 
hander (hau'der), . 1. One who hands or 
transmits ; one who conveys. 
They would assume, with wondrous art, 
Themselves to be the whole, who are but part, 
Of that vast frame the church ; yet grant they were 
The hanilfrx down, can they from thence infer 
A right f interpret? Di-yden, Religio Laici, 1. 361. 
2. One who seconds a pugilist. [Prov. Eng.] 
3. In composition, something pertaining to 
or performed with the hand specified: as, a 
vight- or lett-hander (a blow with the right or 
left hand). 4f. A handle. Nares. 
One seeing a jugge without a hander, and willing to 
breake a jeast on it, said that the jugge had beene in the 
pillary. Qratice Ludentes (1638), p. 156. 
handfastt (hand'fast), v. t. [< ME. handfasten, 
-fi-sten, pledge, betroth, < Icel. handfesto, con- 
clude a bargain by shaking hands, pledge, be- 
2703 
hand-grip 
troth, < Icel. huutl, hand (= AS. and E. hand), + 
I'i'slii, fasten, confirm, pledge, betroth, = ME. 
fatten, fasten, K. /</../',. AS. only in dcriv. 
handfcestnung : sec kantffcutmg.'] 1. To take 
or hold with the hand ; hold securely or firmly ; 
grasp. 
Learne thou 
To handfast honesty. 
Babees Hook (E. E. T. S.), p. 84. 
Then hand-fast hand, and I will to my book. 
Greene, 1'riar Bacon and Friar Bungay. 
shaped or claw-shaped column of stamens in the flowers. 
These are large and monochlamydeous, witli the calyx 
colored bright red within. The tree is an object of su- 
perstitious veneration to the inhabitants of Mexico, who 
long supposed that a single tree near Tolnca, mentioned 
in early Mexican history, was the only one in existence. 
It is now cultivated from slips. Also called hand-tree, 
hand-plant, and manita. 
hand-fly (hand'fli), . The fly on a casting-line 
which is nearest the angler's hand. 
hand-footed (hand'fut"ed), a. Having feet like 
, ,- hands; chiropod. 
2. To join together by or as if by the clasping hand-fork (hand'fork) n. A gardeners' three- 
of hands; make fast; bind; specifically, to be- tined fork with a short handle. 
tl , oth hand-frame (hand'fram), n. A kind of hand- 
If a damsel that is a virgin be handfasted [authorized barrow used in iron fdries, etc. 
version, "betrothed "J to any man. A monster cup supported on an iron hand-frame. 
Deut. xxii. 23 (Coverdale's trans.). Hew York Tnbune, Dec. 2, 18,9. 
Auspices were those that handfasted the married con- handful (hand'ful), n. [< ME. handful, handful, 
pie ; that wished them good luck ; that took care for the < ^8. handfull (= G. haudvoll = Icel. handfullr = 
dowry. B. Jonson, Notes on his Masques of Court. 
We list not to handfast ourselves to God Almighty, to 
make ourselves over to him by present deed of gift ; but 
would fain, forsooth, bequeath ourselves to him a legacy 
in our last will and testament. 
Abp. Bancroft, Sermon on the Fire of London, 1666. 
3. In some partsof Scotland, formerly, to many 
provisionally by the ceremony of joining hands, 
ilandfasting was a simple contract or agreement under 
which cohabitation was permitted for a year, at the end of 
which time the contract could either be dissolved or made 
permanent by formal marriage. Such marriages, at first 
probably not intended to be temporary, are supposed to 
have originated in Scotland from a scarcity of clergy, and 
have existed at times in other countries. 
We Border-men are more wary than your inland clowns 
of Fife and Lothian ; ... we take our wives, like our 
horses, upon trial. When we are handfasted, as we term 
it, we are man and wife for a year and a day that space 
gone by, each may choose another mate, or, at their plea- 
sure, may call the priest to marry them for life and this 
we call handfaiting. Scott, Monastery, xxv. 
handfastt (hand'fast), a. [Cf. Sw. handfast = 
Dan. haandfast, a., strong, stout. In defs. 2 and 
3, short for handfasted.] 1. Having a close 
hand; close-fisted. Davies. 
Some will say women are covetous: are not men as 
handfast f Breton, Praise of Vertuous Ladies, p. 57. 
2. Bound by pledge, promise, or contract ; espe- 
cially, betrothed, or united as if by betrothal. 
A vyrgine made htmdfatt to Christ 
Bp. Bale, English Votaries, i. fol. 63 b. 
3. In Scotland, formerly, joined in provisional 
wedlock. 
. haandfuld), < hand, hand, + full, full: see 
-//.] 1. As much as the hand can grasp or 
contain. 
I hail rather have a handful or two of dried peas. 
Shak., M. N. D., iv. 1. 
Two lianilfuls of white dust, shut in an urn of brass ! 
Tennyson, Lotos Eaters (Choric Song). 
2f. A unit of length equal to four inches; a 
hand. 
Goliah, nam'd of Oath, . . . 
This huge Colossus, than six cubits height 
More by a handful. Drayton, David and Goliah. 
Here stalks me by a proud and spangled sir, 
That looks three liandfuls higher than his foretop. 
B. Joneon, Cynthia's Revels, iii. 4. 
3. A small quantity or number; a little. 
He that hath a handful of devotion at home shall have 
his devotion multiplied to a gomer here. 
Donne, Sermons, iv. 
Set me to lead a handful of my men 
Against an hundred thousand barbarous slaves. 
Fletcher, Bonduca, ii. 1. 
All that tread 
The globe are but a handful to the tribes 
That slumber in its bosom. Bryant, Thanatopsis. 
4. As much as one can hold or manage ; full 
employment. [Colloq.] 
Being in possession of the town, they had their handful 
to defend themselves from firing. Raleigh. 
With her prodigious energy, quickness, and intelligence 
she could never be idle ; but, let her mistress have been 
what she might, Doris must have been a "handful." 
Nineteenth Century, XXH. 834. 
This Isobelwas but hand-fast with him, and deceased hand-gallop (hand' gal "up), M. A slow, jog- 
before the marriage. Pitscotlie, Chron. of Scotland, p. '2(i. ging gallop, in which the bridle-hand holds the 
handfastt (hand'fast;, n. [< hand + fasft, . in torse m check. 
lit. sense. In def. 3, < handfast, t'.] 1. Grip; 
grasp ; hold. 
But the ground underfoot being slipperie.with the snow 
on the side of the hill, theyr handfast fayled. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, III. 04. 
And can it be that this most perfect creature, 
This image of his Maker, well-squar'd man, 
Should leave the handfast that he had of grace, 
To fall into a woman's easy arms? 
Beau, and Ft., Woman-Hater, iii. 1. 
2. Custody; power of confining or keeping; a 
holding on security or bail. 
If that shepherd be not in hand-fast, let him fly. 
Shak., W. T., iv. 3. 
3. A pledge, promise, or contract ; especially, 
betrothal. 
Here, In Heaven's eye and all Love's sacred powers, 
I knit this holy handfast, and with this hand 
The heart that owes this hand. 
Beau, and Ft., Wit at Several Weapons, v. 1. 
handfastingt (hand 'fas-ting), n. [Verbal n. of 
handfast, v. Cf. AS. handfasstnung (= Icel. 
handfestning, the act of striking hands in pledge 
or confirmation, = Sw. handfastning = Dan. 
Ovid, with all his sweetness, has as little variety of 
numbers and sound as he ; he is always upon a hand-gal- 
lop, and his verse runs upon carpet ground. Dryden. 
And, sure enough, Mrs. Mayfleld was seen in her hat 
and habit, riding her bay mare up at a hand-gallop on the 
grass by the roadside. 
C. Reade, Clouds and Sunshine, p. 5. 
hand-gear (hand'ger), n. In a steam-engine, 
the mechanism used for working the valves by 
hand; the starting-gear. 
used for covering, protecting, and forwarding 
plants. 2. A small mirror that may be con- 
veniently held in the hand. 3. Naut., a half- 
minute or quarter-minute sand-glass used to 
measure time in running out the log-line. 
hand-gout (hand'gout), n. Gout in the hands; 
chiragra. In the extract the word is used in 
humorous allusion to "greasing the palm"with 
money. 
But now, sir, 
My learned counsel, they must have a feeling ; 
They 11 part, sir, with no books, without the hand-gout 
Be oiled ; and I must furnish. 
B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, iii. 1. 
haandfaistning, in early Dan. law the stipula- hand-grenade (hand'gre-nad"), n. Milit., a 
tion to be given by the king at his coronation), 
<hand, hand, +fcestnung, fastening.] Betrothal 
small spherical or cylindrical iron shell, about 
three inches in diameter, filled 
or provisional marriage by joining hands. See with powder, lighted by means 
t jj*,.* . o rn\~:~a~, vj.. ..,..1, T -e _ a 3 AL_^ - i* 
handfast, r., 3. [Chiefly Scotch.] 
handfastlyt (hand'fast-li), adv. By a pledge 
or contract. 
The which if the Scottes would most holilie and hand- 
fastlie promise, the English would foorthwith depart with 
a quiet armie. Holinshed, Hist. Scotland, an. 1546. 
handfish (hand'fish), n. A pediculate fish of 
the family Antennariidce. 
hand-flail (hand'flal), n. Milit., a variety of 
the war-flail (see flail, 2) meant to be wielded 
with one hand. It was sometimes entirely of 
bronze or iron. 
hand-float (hand'flot), . See/oo<, 9 (c). 
handflower-tree (hand'flou"er-tre), n. A large 
tree of Mexico and Central America, Cheiroste- 
mon platanoides, belonging to the natural or- 
der BtVretMaOea. It takes its name, as does the ge- 
nus, which contains only this species, from the hand- 
of a" fuse, and thrown by 
hand. Hand-grenades were much 
used in the British naval service 
throughout the eighteenth century, 
especially in repelling attacks from 
boats. They are notably serviceable 
in the defense of works, in dealing 
with an enemy at close quarters, 
when he cannot be covered by the 
guns or by musketry on the ban- 
quettes. Ketchum's hand-grenade 
is a small oblong percussion-shell which is exploded by 
means of a plunger on striking the object against which 
it is thrown. 
hand-grip (hand'grip), n. [< ME. hand-gripe, < 
AS. lifind-f/ripe = D. handgreep, grasp, =OHG. 
hantgrif, G. handgriff, grasp, handle, hilt, = 
Dan.' haandgreb = Sw. handgrepp, handle, hilt.] 
1. Seizure with the hand ; grip. 2. A handle; 
a hilt. 
Hand-grenade of the 
15th century. (From 
Viollet-le-Duc's "Diet, 
du Mobilier francais.") 
