Dictionary

handgrip en · NOUN

Etymology

From Middle English hand grip, handegrip, from Old English handgripe (“handgrip”), from Proto-West Germanic *handugripi (“handgrip”), equivalent to hand + grip. Cognate with Dutch handgreep (“handgrip, grasp”), German Handgriff (“handgrip, grasp, handle, hilt”), Danish håndgreb (“handgrip”), Swedish håndgrepp (“handgrip, handle, hilt”).

Meanings

1. A handle; the portion of a handle that the hand occupies.
   • Near-synonym: grip
   • On a motorcycle, you work the clutch by squeezing a lever on your left handgrip, and you operate the shift lever with your left foot. 2005, Shirley Duglin Kennedy, The Savvy Guide to Motorcycles, →ISBN, page 30:
   • As well as demonstrating operating facilities, full-size car body models are used for experimenting with new types of interior finish, systems of lighting, positioning of route diagrams and advertisements, and the best form of windscreens at doorways, and the height and location of handgrips and handrails. 1951 October, “Models Assist Rolling Stock Design”, in Railway Magazine, page 647:
   • The machine has some handgrips and steps built into its frame.
2. A covering (often rubber or foam) on a handle, designed to allow the user a more comfortable or more secure hold on the handle.
   • He wrapped some fabric tape around the rubber handgrips to make them less slippery.
   • Each cane consists of three parts: (1) the handle (which may or may not be covered by a rubber handgrip), (2) the shaft, and (3) the base (which is usually ... 1994, Verolyn Bolander, Karen Creason Sorensen, Joan Luckmann, Sorensen and Luckmann's basic nursing: a psychophysiologic approach, →ISBN, page 837:
3. A handshake; a way of gripping hands with another person.
   • There are also "secret" signs and handgrips, which initiates are never supposed to reveal lest they suffer a fate worse than death. 1988 March 11, Cecil Adams, “The Straight Dope”, in Chicago Reader:
   • They use a certain handgrip as a wordless shibboleth.
4. The ability to grip something with a hand.
   • Scientists have found that handgrip strength is a surprisingly effective proxy measure for overall musculoskeletal health.
   • The patient's handgrip is also tested for muscle strength. 1988, M.J. Viljoen, L.R. Uys, General nursing: a medical and surgical textbook, Part 1, →ISBN, page 138:
   • handgrip strength
5. A grasp or grip.
   • The captain of evil discovered himself in a handgrip harder than anything he had encountered in any man on the face of the earth. 1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 25:
   • “I heard that this youngster had the strength of thirty men in his handgrip!” 1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 25:

Forms

Hypernyms

grip

Relateds

handlebar · handygripes

Synonyms

grip

Translations (8)

de Handgriff (1. handle) · pl uścisk dłoni (3. handshake) · pl rączka (1. handle) · bg ръкостискане (3. handshake) · pl uchwyt (1. handle) · es empuñadura (1. handle) · es empuñadura (2. covering) · bg дръжка (1. handle)