hand-mill 
as distinguished from those driven by steam, 
water, or other power; specifically, a quern 
(as in the extract). 
Flour from the handinills grinding with constant sound. 
L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, p. 200. 
hand-mirror (hand'mir"qr), . A small mir- 
ror for the toilet ; a hand-glass. 
Don't expect your husband to be pleased if you give him 
an ivory backed hand-mirror. 
Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 162. 
hand-mold (hand'mold), . 1. A small mold 
managed with the hand. 
lie mellid so the matall with the hand-malde. 
Richard the Redeless, ii. 155. 
Specifically 2. The mold in which hand-made 
type is cast. It has a lip to receive the metal 
which runs into the mold containing the matrix. 
E. H. Knight. 
hand-money (hand'mun"i), . Same as ear- 
nest-money. 
hand-mortar (hand'm6r"tar), n. A hand-fire- 
arm having a very short barrel with a caliber 
of from 2 to 3 inches, mounted upon a stock 
fitted either for the shoulder or for holding 
under the arm, and having a match-lock, a 
flint-lock, or a wheel-lock, according to its 
epoch. This weapon was used for throwing small hand- 
grenades, but seems not to have been in very general use. 
hand-orchis (hand'or'kis), . One of the com- 
monest species of European orchids, Orchis ma- 
culata : so called from the resemblance of the 
flower to a hand. [Eng.] 
hand-organ (hand'6r"gan), n. A portable bar- 
rel-organ, both the barrel and the bellows of 
which are worked bv a hand-crank. By shifting 
the position of the barrel, different tunes may be played. 
The pipes are usually of two or three sets or stops : a dia- 
pason, a flute, and often a coarse-toned reed-stop. 
hand-paper (haud'pa"per), )i. 1. Paper made 
by hand, as distinguished from that made by 
machinery. 2. A particular make of paper 
well known in the English Record Office: so 
called from its water-mark (jy *), which has 
been used since the fifteenth century. Brewer. 
hand-pegger (hand' peg *er), n. A portable 
shoe-pegging machine : so called to distinguish 
it from the fixed-power tools. The crank is turned 
by one hand, while the machine, which is held in the 
other, is moved around the edge of a shoe-sole fixed to a 
bench. 
hand-plant (hand'plaut), n. Same as hand- 
flower-tree. 
hand-planter (hand'plan"ter), n. A hand-ma- 
chine for planting seeds. 
hand-play (hand'pla), n. [After AS. haiul- 
plega, < hand, hand, + plega, play.] Inter- 
change of blows in a hand-to-hand encounter. 
See sword-play. 
The hard hand-play of Cattle. 
Pall Mall Gazette, May 2, 1884. 
hand-post (hand 'post), n. A finger-post; a 
guide-post. 
hand-pot (haud'pot), n. A kind of lobster-pot. 
hand-press (hand'pres), n. A press worked by 
hand, in distinction from one moved by steam- 
power, etc. 
hand-promise (hand'prorn"is), n. A solemn 
form of betrothal requiring common consent 
to revoke it, usual among the Irish peasantry. 
When one of the parties to a hand-promise dies without 
having been released, or without having released the 
other, the survivor, in presence of witnesses, grasps the 
hand of the deceased, repeating a special form of words 
recalling the promise. Also called hand-and-word. 
Few would rely on the word or oath of any man who 
had been known to break a hand-promise. 
Carleton, Traits and Stories, Going to Maynooth. 
hand-pump (hand 'pump), n. 1. A pump 
worked by hand. 2. Formerly, in locomotive 
engines, a pump placed at the side of the fire- 
box, worked by a hand-lever when the engine 
stood with steam up. This pump has been 
superseded by injectors, etc., driven by the 
machinery of the locomotive. 
hand-punch (hand'punch), n. A punch with a 
cutting-tube for perforating leather or paper, 
for the insertion of eyelets, the punching of 
tickets, or for other purposes. E. H. Knight. 
hand-quill (hand'kwil), . In ornith., one of 
the large feathers which grow on the hand, 
manus, or pinion of a bird ; one of the primary 
remiges ; a primary. 
hand-rackle (hand'rak'l), a. Rash in strik- 
ing; hasty. [Scotch.] 
hand-rail (hand'ral), n. A rail or railing rest- 
ing on balusters or uprights, or otherwise sup- 
ported and fixed, serving as a guard and sup- 
port on the edge of a stair, a gallery, a plat- 
form, etc.; a rail to hold by Back of a hand- 
rail. See backi. Body hand-rail, an iron bar on the 
2700 
ends of passenger-cars, for the passengers to take hold of 
in getting on or off. 
hand-railing (haud'ra/ling), . Same as hand- 
rail. 
hand-rufft (hand'ruf ), n. Aruffie for the wrist. 
hand-running (hand'run'ing), adv. In imme- 
diate succession ; without break ; consecutive- 
ly : as, to win ten games at cards hand-running. 
[Colloq.] 
hand-sail (hand'sal), n. A sail managed by 
the (that is, one) hand. 
The seamen will neither stand to their hand-sails, nor 
suffer the pilot to steer. Sir W. Temple. 
hand-sale (hand' sal), n. [< hand + sale. Cf. 
liiiinlsel.'] A sale made or confirmed by mutual 
shaking of hands : an ancient custom in north- 
ern Europe. BlacTcstone. 
hand-saw (hand'sa), n. A saw to be used with 
the hand. Also called arm-saw. 
My buckler cut through and through, my sword hacked 
like a handsaw. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., 11. 4. 
All the world to a hand-sawt, a thousand to one ; al- 
most certain. Dairies. 
'Tis all the world to a handsaw but these barbarous Ras- 
cals would be so ill-manner d as to laugh at us as conn 
dently as we do at them. Cotton, Scarronides, Pref. 
To know a hawk from a hand-saw [orig., it is sup- 
posed, to know a hawk from a hernshaw, hand-saw being 
a humorous or blundering perversion], to be able to dis- 
criminate fairly well : used numerously. 
I am but mad north-north-west : when the wind is south- 
erly, 1 1, i/'r a hawk from a hand-saw. 
Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 
handsaw-fish (hand'sa-fish), . A fish, Alepi- 
(or Caulopns) ferox or borealis, a spe- 
Handsaw-fi&h {AUpidosauritsferox'i. 
cies of the family Alepidosaurida; ; any alepi- 
dosaurid; a lancet-fish. [Pacific coast, U. S.] 
hand's-breadth (handz'bredth), n. Same as 
liandbreadth. 
hand-Screen (hand'skren), . A small screen 
used to protect the face and head from the heat 
of a fire or of the sun. In the middle ages and later 
the fan in its various forms and the fly-flapper answered 
this purpose. The modern hand-screen is usually shaped 
like a fan of the sort not capable of being closed, and is 
made of silk or paper stretched on a light frame. Those 
of the eighteenth century are often very elaborate and 
delicately painted. 
handscrew (hand'skro), . An engine for rais- 
ing heavy timbers or weights; a jack. 
handseaxt, . [AS. handseax, -sex, -sees, < hand, 
hand, -I- seax, a sword : see Saxon.] The small- 
er war-knife of the Celtic nations. 
handsel, hansel (hand'sel, han'sel), n. and a. 
[< ME. hansel, hanseU, hansele, hanselle, hansale, 
hansal, hansel, < AS. handseten (once), a delivery 
into the hand (L. mancipatio), = Icel. handsal, 
usually in pi. handsol, "the transference of a 
right, duty, bargain, duty to another by joining 
hands" (Cleasby and Vigfusson), = Sw. handsol 
= Dan. handsel, a handsel, earnest ; < AS. hand, 
hand, + selen, sylen, a giving (equiv. to Icel. sal, 
a sale, bargain, > E. sale), < sellan, syllan, give : 
see sell 1 . Cleasby and Vigfusson take hand to 
refer to the custom of concluding a bargain by 
shaking hands; but this appears to be merely 
incidental, delivery into the hand being the 
orig. notion.] I. n. A gift or token of good 
fortune or good will ; especially, a New- Year's 
gift; an earnest or earnest-penny; a sale, gift, 
or delivery which is regarded as the first of a 
series; the first money taken in the morning 
in the way of trade; the first earnings of any 
one in a new employment or place of business ; 
the first money taken in a shop newly opened ; 
the first present sent to a young woman on her 
wedding-day, etc. [Archaic.] 
handsome 
luellis pricious cane y non fynde to selle 
To sende you, my souerein, this newe yeres morowe. 
"Wher-for lucke and good hanttseUe 
Jly hert y sende you. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 38. 
Bring him a sixpenny bottle of ale ; they say a fool's 
liaiulsel is lucky. Ii. Jonson, Bartholomew fair, ii. 1. 
'Twas my first hansel and propine to Heaven : 
And as I laid my darling 'neath the sod, 
Precious His comforts once an infant given, 
And offered with two turtle-doves to God ! 
Mrs. Stuart Menteath, James Melville's Child. 
Most trades-people have a particular esteem for what 
they call Handsel : that is to say, the first money they re- 
ceive in a morning ; they kiss it, spit upon it, and put it 
in a pocket by itself. 
Misson, Travels in England (trans.), p. 130. 
Handsel Monday, the first Monday of the new year, 
when it was formerly usual in Scotland for servants, chil- 
dren, and others to ask for or receive presents or handsel. 
II. . Used or employed for the first time ; 
newly acquired or inherited. [Scotch.] 
handsel, hansel (hand'sel, han'sel), v. t. [< 
ME. handsellen (in pp. i-hondgald St. Juliana, 
p. 7) (the alleged AS. *hand#yllandoe8 not exist), 
after Icel. handsala (also handselja, conform- 
ing to the orig. verb), make over, deliver; from 
the noun : see handsel, .] To give handsel to ; 
use or do for the first time ; try as for luck. 
Ravished with desire to hansell her new coach. 
Marstim, Jonsun, and Chapman, Eastward Ho, II. 1. 
Coming home to-night, a drunken boy was carrying by 
our constable to our new parr of stocks to hansel them, 
being a new pair, and very handsome. 
Pepys, Diary, I. 404. 
Young Faith Snowe was toward to keep the old men's 
cups aflow and handsel them to their liking. 
R. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, xiv. 
No expression was ever yet used which some one had 
not to handsel. F. Hall, Mod. Eng., p. 35. 
handsellert, hansellert, . One who gives or 
offers handsel. 
hand-shake (hand'shak), n. A shake of the 
hand: as, a cordial hand-shake. [Colloq.] 
hand-shaking (hand'sha'king), n. A shaking 
of hands in friendly greeting. 
Hogg was received by Eliza Westbrook, who smiled 
faintly upon him in silence, and by Harriet, radiant and 
blooming as ever, with much cordial handshaking. 
E. Dowden, Shelley, I. 310. 
handsmootht(hand'smoTH),a<fo. Flatly; with- 
out difficulty; completely. 
His si .1. 1 i. .n i s, . . . ,-i nlainly with all their might assail- 
ing the campe of then- enemies, wonne it, and beate it 
downe hande ttmoothe. 
Udall, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 313. 
The charge being giuen, certaine vnarmed Tartars <fc 
Lithuanians were slaine hands-mooth. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 147. 
handsome (hau'sum), a. [Early mod. E. also 
handsom ; < ME. hundsom, handxum, hansum, 
easy to handle or use (=D. handsaam, tractable, 
serviceable, = G. dial. haiidxam, convenient, 
favorable); < hand, hand, + -some. For the de- 
velopment of sense from 'handy, dexterous,' to 
' beautiful,' cf . the similar development of pret- 
ty from AS. pro-tig, pnettig, tricky : see pretty.'] 
If. Easy to handle or use ; handy; ready; con- 
venient. 
But in making them [engines of war] hereunto, they 
have chief respect that they be both easy to be carried, 
and handsome to be moved and turned about. 
Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Robinson), U. 10. 
For a thief It [the Irish cloak] is soe handsome, as it may 
seeme it was first invented for him. 
Spenser, State of Ireland. 
He is very desyrus to serve yo r Grace, and seymes to me 
to be a very handsome man. 
Oresham, quoted in E. Lodge's Illus., I. 178. 
2. Agreeable to the eye or to correct taste; 
pleasing in proportions and aspect; having 
symmetry or harmony of parts ; well formed 
and well attired, equipped, or arrayed: as, a 
handsome person or face ; a handsome building ; 
a handsome display. 
Make yourself handsome, Montague ; 
Let none wear better clothes ; 'tis for my credit. 
Beau, and Fl., Honest Man's Fortune, v. 1. 
I can look a whole day with delight upon a handsome 
picture. Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, ii. 9. 
It is well knowne to be a matter of lesse skill and lesse 
labour to keepe a Garden handsome then it is to plant it 
or contrive it. Milton, On Del of Humb. Remonat. 
The church has two handsom towres & spires of stone, 
and the whole fabric is very noble and venerable. 
Evelyn, Diary, May 6, 1644. 
3. Graceful in manner; marked by propriety 
and ease; becoming; appropriate: as, a Ita nil- 
some style ; a handsome delivery or address. 
Sound your pipes now merrily, 
And all your handsome sports : sing 'em full welcomes. 
Fletcher (and another'!), Prophetess, v. 3. 
Cyrus made a handsome prayer upon the tops of the 
mountains, when by a 1'untasm he was warned of his ap- 
proaching death. Jer. Taylor, Holy Dying, iv. 9. 
