Dictionary

behand en · VERB

Etymology

From be- (“off, away”) + hand, modelled after behead.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To remove the hand or hands from; cut off one's hand or hands.
   • Notice the bronze hands over the fireplace. A person sentenced to be "behanded" might by law commute the punishment by paying a certain sum, and presenting a bronze hand marked with the name, crime, etc. 1909, Theodore L. Flood, The Chautauquan - Volumes 53-54 - Page 55:
   • The pit burial in a Cahokia mound of four beheaded and behanded men "could easily be personifications of the four beheaded, sacred ears of corn in a similar ritual" (Brose and Greber 1979, 264). 2004, Susan C. Power, Early Art of the Southeastern Indians:

Forms