Contents

English

Most common English words: though « get « eyes « #151: hand » young » place » give Wikipedia has articles on: Hand

Etymology

Old English hand, from Proto-Germanic *xanđuz (cf. Frisian/Dutch/German/Swedish hand (Hand)), from *xenþanan (compare Old Swedish hinna 'to gain', Gothic frahinþan 'to take captive, capture'), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱent- 'to grasp' (compare Latvian sīts 'hunting spear', Ancient Greek kentéō 'prick').

Picture dictionary
palm wrist thumb index finger middle finger ring finger pinky (little finger)

Click on labels in the image
arm

Pronunciation

Noun

hand (plural hands)

  1. That part of the fore limb below the forearm or wrist in a human, and the corresponding part in many other animals; manus; paw. See manus.
  2. That which resembles, or to some extent performs the office of, a human hand; as,
    (a) A limb of certain animals, as the foot of a hawk, or any one of the four extremities of a monkey.
    (b) An index or pointer on a dial; such as the hour or minute hand of a clock
  3. In long measure, two different lengths:
    • (obsolete) Three inches, not to be confused with; and,
    • Four inches, a hand’s breadth, used in measuring the height of horses.
  4. A side; part, camp; direction, either right or left.
    • On this hand and that hand, were hangings. — Exodus 38:15
    • The Protestants were then on the winning hand — John Milton
  5. Power of performance; means of execution; ability; skill; dexterity.
    • He had a great mind to try his hand at a Spectator. — Joseph Addison
  6. (archaic) Actual performance; deed; act; workmanship; agency; hence, manner of performance.
    • To change the hand in carrying on the war. — Edward Hyde Clarendon
    • Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by my hand. — Judges 6:36
  7. 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; as,
    an old hand at speaking.
    • A dictionary containing a natural history requires too many hands, as well as too much time, ever to be hoped for. — John Locke
    • I was always reckoned a lively hand at a simile. — William Hazlitt
  8. An instance of helping.
    Bob gave Alice a hand to move the furniture.
  9. Handwriting; style of penmanship; as,
    A good, bad or running hand. Hence, a signature.
    • I say she never did invent this letter; This is a man’s invention and his hand — Shakespeare, As You Like It, IV-iii
    • Some writs require a judge’s hand — Burril
    • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
      I found written on the other side, in a very good, clear hand, this short message...
  10. Personal possession; ownership; hence, control; direction; management; — usually in the plural.
    • Receiving in hand one year’s tribute. — Knolles
    • John Milton, Albinus
      ...found means to keep in his hands the government of Britain.
  11. That which is, or may be, held in a hand at once; as
    (a) (gaming, chiefly card games): The set of cards held by a player.
    (b) (Tobacco Manufacturing): A bundle of tobacco leaves tied together.
  12. Applause.
    Give him a hand.
  13. Agency in transmission from one person to another; as,
    to buy at first hand, that is, from the producer, or when new; at second hand, that is, when no longer in the producer’s hand, or when not new.
  14. The feel of a fabric; the impression or quality of the fabric as judged qualitatively by the sense of touch.
    This fabric has a smooth, soft hand.'
  15. (obsolete) Rate; price.
    • Business is bought at a dear hand, where there is small dispatch. — Francis Bacon
  16. Each of the pointers on the face of an analog clock, which are used to indicate the time of day.
  17. (firearms) The small part of a gunstock near the lock, which is grasped by the hand in taking aim.
  18. The collective noun for a bunch of bananas.

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; as, to give, or take, the hand; to give the right hand
(d) Contract; — commonly of marriage; as, to ask the hand; to pledge the hand.

Quotations

Meronyms

Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun hand

See also

Appendix:English collective nouns

Verb

to 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; as
    he handed them the letter.
  2. (transitive) To lead, guide, or assist with the hand; to conduct
    to hand a lady into a carriage.
  3. (transitive) (obsolete) To manage; as, I hand my oar. — Matthew Prior
  4. (transitive) (obsolete) To seize; to lay hands on. — Shakespeare
  5. (transitive) (rare) To pledge by the hand; to handfast.
  6. (transitive) (nautical) To furl; — said of a sail. — Totten
  7. (intransitive) (obsolete) To cooperate. — Massinger

Derived terms

Translations

to give, pass or transmit with the hand
to lead, guide, or assist with the hand
  • Swedish: ledsaga, hjälpa
  • Vietnamese: giúp vi(vi), đỡ vi(vi)
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
  • Guaraní: me'ẽ
  • Tupinambá: me'eng

References

Anagrams

Dutch

Etymology

Proto-Germanic *xanđuz

Pronunciation

Noun

hand f. (plural handen, diminutive handje, diminutive plural handjes)

  1. (anatomy) hand of a human or other simian

Derived terms

French

Pronunciation

Noun

hand m (usually uncountable)

  1. (informal) handball
    On va jouer au hand, tu veux venir?
    We're going to play handball, you want to come?

Synonyms

Old English

Etymology

Proto-Germanic *xanđuz

Noun

hand f.

  1. hand

Swedish

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *xanđuz, cognate with Danish hånd, Norwegian hand.

Pronunciation

Noun

Inflection for hand Singular Plural
common Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Base form hand handen händer händerna
Possessive form hands handens händers händernas
  1. (anatomy) hand; the body part
    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.

 

The above information uses material from Wiktionary and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Some facts may not have been fully verified for accuracy. [Disclaimers]
This page was last archived by our server on Mon Jul 26 23:31:54 2010. [ refresh local cache ]
Displaying this page or its contents does not use any Wikimedia Foundation's resources.
The owners of this site proudly support the Wikimedia Foundation.

[Hide]▼
'Hand' News
Florida teen loses hand in alligator attack - Los Angeles Times (blog)
latimesblogs.latimes.com
Florida teen loses hand in alligator attack - Los Angeles Times (blog)
Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:52:27 GMT+00:00
in alligator attack Los Angeles Times (blog) A Florida teenager was attacked by an alligator and had his left hand torn off when swimming in a popular neighborhood canal. Tim Delano, 18, of Golden ... Florida Teen Loses Hand in Brutal Alligator Attack ABC News 10-foot gator bites off man's hand in Fla. canal The Associated Press Alligator chomps off teenager's hand Herald Sun The Sun  - MiamiHerald.com  - MiamiHerald.com
Google News Search: hand,
Thu Jul 29 06:06:44 2010
'Hand' Images
Hand
media-content.flixya.com.s3.amazonaws.com
Hand
375px x 500px | 102.20kB

[source page]



Yahoo Images Search: hand,
Mon Jul 19 14:39:07 2010
'Hand' Blogs
Mike Sheridan's Lot Take My Hand Iron Leg
ironleg.wordpress.com
Mike Sheridan's Lot Take My Hand Iron Leg

funky16corners

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:03:21 GM

As soon as I got to the next red light, I grabbed the sleeve and see that the tune in question is (as previously mentioned) 'Take My . Hand. ' by Mike Sheridan's Lot, and proceed to replay the song at least five times until I reached my ...

Google Blogs Search: hand,
Mon Jul 19 04:14:26 2010
'Hand' Answers
What is the probability that a hand has at least one suit without an honor card?
Q. 2.A hand consists of 13 cards selected at random and without replacement from the ordinary deck of 52 cards. A hand contains a spade honor card if it contains at least one of the ace of spades, king of spades, queen of spades, or jack of spades. Analogous definitions hold for containing a heart honor card , diamond honor card, and club honor card. What is the probability that a hand has at least one suit without an honor card?
Asked by keanan page - Mon May 10 15:19:33 2010 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments

A. Write (i,j) for the binomial coefficient i!/(j!(i-j)!), pronounced "i choose j". (i) Given a suit, hands without honor cards from it are (52-4,13) in number. (ii) Given a pair of suits, hands without honor cards from either suit are (52-2 4,13) in number. (iii) Given a triple of suits, hands without honor cards from any of them are (52-3 4,13) in number. (iv) Hands without any honor cards at all are (52-4 4,13) in number. It follow from (i)--(iv) and the inclusion--exclusion principle that hands without honor cards from one or more suits are (4,1) (52-4,13) - (4,2) (52-2 4,13) + (4,3) (52-3 4,13) - (4,4) (52-4 4,13) in number. Calculate this as (4,1) (48,13) - (4,2) (44,13) + (4,3) (40,13) - (4,4) (36,13) = 4 192,928,249 [cont.]
Answered by Euler - Wed May 12 01:27:31 2010

Yahoo Answers Search: hand,
Thu Jul 29 09:33:09 2010
[Hide]▲