hand

English Online Dictionary. What means hand‎? What does hand mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English hond, hand, from Old English hand (“hand, side (in defining position), power, control, possession, charge, agency, person regarded as holder or receiver of something”), from Proto-West Germanic *handu (“hand”), from Proto-Germanic *handuz (“hand”) (compare Dutch, Norwegian Nynorsk, Swedish hand, German Hand, West Frisian hân), of uncertain origin. Perhaps compare Old Swedish hinna (“to gain”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰-𐌷𐌹𐌽𐌸𐌰𐌽 (fra-hinþan, “to take captive, capture”); and Latvian sīts (“hunting spear”), Ancient Greek κεντέω (kentéō, “prick”), Albanian çandër (“pitchfork, prop”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: hănd, IPA^(key): /hænd/
• Rhymes: -ænd

Noun

hand (plural hands)

1. The part of the forelimb below the forearm or wrist in a human, and the corresponding part in many other animals.

   Meronyms: index finger, middle finger, palm, pinky, ring finger, thumb

   • Using her hands like windshield wipers, she tried to flick snow away from her mouth. When she clawed at her chest and neck, the crumbs maddeningly slid back onto her face. She grew claustrophobic.

2. That which resembles, or to some extent performs the office of, a human hand.
   1. A limb of certain animals, such as the foot of a hawk, or any one of the four extremities of a monkey.
   2. An index or pointer on a dial; such as the hour and minute hands on the face of an analog clock, which are used to indicate the time of day.
3. In linear measurement:
   1. (chiefly in measuring the height of horses) Four inches, a hand's breadth.

      • Boxer was an enormous beast, nearly eighteen hands high, and as strong as any two ordinary horses put together.

   2. (obsolete) Three inches.
4. A side; part, camp; direction, either right or left.
   • Exodus 38:15:

     On this hand and that hand, were hangings.

   • 1950, Bertrand Russell, acceptance speech for Nobel Prize in Literature

     I maintain, however, on the one hand, that there are few occasions upon which large bodies of men, such as politics is concerned with, can rise above selfishness, while, on the other hand, there are a very great many circumstances in which populations will fall below selfishness, if selfishness is interpreted as enlightened self-interest.

5. Power of performance; means of execution; ability; skill; dexterity.
   • The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.

6. An agent; a servant, or manual laborer, especially in compounds; a workman, trained or competent for special service or duty; a performer more or less skillful.
7. An instance of helping.
8. Handwriting; style of penmanship.
   • I have sometimes known a poet in danger of being convicted as a thief, upon much worse evidence than the resemblance of hands hath been held to be in the law.
9. A person's autograph or signature.

10. Personal possession; ownership.
11. (usually in the plural, hands) Management, domain, control.
    • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Luke 1:1

      Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us […]
12. That which is, or may be, held in a hand at once.
    1. (card games) The set of cards held by a player.
       1. A round of a card game.
    2. (tobacco manufacturing) A bundle of tobacco leaves tied together.
    4. (collective) The collective noun for a bunch of bananas.
13. Applause.
    • 2013, Tom Shone, Oscar nominations pull a surprise by showing some taste – but will it last? (in The Guardian, 11 January 2013)[4]

      Also a big hand for Silver Linings Playbook, an exuberant modern screwball comedy we had, in an unseemly fit of cynicism, deemed "too entertaining" for Academy voters.

14. (historical) A Native American gambling game, involving guessing the whereabouts of bits of ivory or similar, which are passed rapidly from hand to hand.
15. (firearms) The small part of a gunstock near the lock, which is grasped by the hand in taking aim.
16. A whole rhizome of ginger.
17. The feel of a fabric; the impression or quality of the fabric as judged qualitatively by the sense of touch.

18. (archaic) Actual performance; deed; act; workmanship; agency; hence, manner of performance.
    • Judges 6.36:

      Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by my hand.

19. (archaic) Agency in transmission from one person to another.

20. (obsolete) Rate; price.

Synonyms

• (part of the arm below the wrist): manus (obsolete), paw (of some animals)

Usage notes

Hand is used figuratively for a large variety of acts or things, in the doing, or making, or use of which the hand is in some way employed or concerned; also, as a symbol to denote various qualities or conditions, as,

(a) Activity; operation; work; — in distinction from the head, which implies thought, and the heart, which implies affection.

His hand will be against every man. — Genesis 16:12

(b) Power; might; supremacy; — often in the Scriptures.

With a mighty hand . . . will I rule over you. — Ezekiel 20:33.

(c) Fraternal feeling; for example to give, or take, the hand; to give the right hand

(d) Contract; — commonly of marriage; for example to ask the hand; to pledge the hand

Derived terms

Translations

See hand/translations § Noun.

See also

Appendix:English collective nouns

Verb

hand (third-person singular simple present hands, present participle handing, simple past and past participle handed)

1. (transitive) To give, pass, or transmit with the hand, literally or figuratively.

2. (transitive) To lead, guide, or assist with the hand; to conduct.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To manage.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To seize; to lay hands on.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

5. (transitive, rare) To pledge by the hand; to handfast.
6. (transitive, nautical, said of a sail) To furl.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Totten to this entry?)

7. (intransitive, obsolete) To cooperate.

Derived terms

Translations

References

• hand in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Dahn, Danh, NADH, dahn, hDNA

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Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch hand.

Noun

hand (plural hande, diminutive handjie)

1. hand

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Danish

Pronoun

hand

1. Obsolete spelling of han (“he”)

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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch hant, from Old Dutch hant, from Proto-West Germanic *handu, from Proto-Germanic *handuz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɦɑnt/
• Hyphenation: hand
• Rhymes: -ɑnt

Noun

hand f (plural handen, diminutive handje n)

1. hand of a human or other simian

Derived terms

Descendants

• Afrikaans: hand

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French

Etymology

Clipping of handball. Compare foot from football.

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /ɑ̃d/

Noun

hand m (uncountable)

1. handball

Synonyms

• handball

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Middle English

Etymology

From Old English hand

Noun

hand (plural hands)

1. Alternative form of hond (“hand”)

Descendants

• English: hand

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Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• hånd

Etymology

From Old Norse hǫnd, from Proto-Germanic *handuz

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /han/, [hɑn]
• Homophones: han, hann
• Rhymes: -ɑn

Noun

hand f or m (definite singular handa or handen, indefinite plural hender, definite plural hendene)

1. (anatomy) a hand

Derived terms

Related terms

• hanske (“glove”)

References

“hand” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse hǫnd, from Proto-Germanic *handuz. Akin to English hand.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɑnd/, /hɑnː/
• Homophones: han, hann (in some dialects)
• Rhymes: -ɑn

Noun

hand f (definite singular handa, indefinite plural hender, definite plural hendene)

1. (anatomy) hand

Derived terms

Related terms

• hanske (“glove”)

References

“hand” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Old English

Alternative forms

• hond

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *handu, from Proto-Germanic *handuz. Compare Old Frisian and Old Saxon hand, Old High German hant, Old Norse hǫnd.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /xɑnd/, [hɑnd]

Noun

hand f (nominative plural handa)

1. hand

Declension

Derived terms

• handbōc
• handġewrit

Descendants

• Middle English: hond, hand
  • English: hand
  • Scots: hand, haund
  • Yola: hoane

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Old Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhand/

Noun

hand f

1. Alternative form of hond

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Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *handu, from Proto-Germanic *handuz. Compare Old Frisian and Old English hand, Old High German hant, Old Norse hǫnd.

Noun

hand f

1. hand

Declension

Descendants

• Middle Low German: hant
  • German Low German: Hand
  • Westphalian:

    Westmünsterländisch: Hand

    Ravensbergisch-Lippisch: Hand

  • Plautdietsch: Haunt

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Old Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse hǫnd, from Proto-Germanic *handuz.

Noun

hand f

1. hand
2. direction
3. behalf
4. sort, kind

Declension

Descendants

• Swedish: hand

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Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish hand, from Old Norse hǫnd, from Proto-Germanic *handuz. Cognate with Danish hånd, Norwegian hand, English hand and German Hand.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hand/

Noun

hand c

1. (anatomy) hand

   Han tjatade jämt om att hon måste tvätta händerna.

   He was always nagging on her to wash her hands.

2. (card games) hand; the set of cards held by a player

   Hon fick en bra hand, och satsade högt.

   She was dealt a good set of cards, and placed a high bet.

Declension

Related terms

References

• hand in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)