Dictionary

weak-handed en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From weak + handed.

Meanings

1. Having or involving hands that are weak or infirm.
   • No more weak-handed handshakes. 2012, Victor Villasenor, Macho!, →ISBN, page 45:
   • It was no weapon for one at all weak-handed. 2014, William Osborn Stoddard, With the Black Prince, →ISBN:
   • He also had a son named Dave who thought milking a pretty tough job, and who imagined he was getting weak-handed and on the way to milker's paralysis. 1914, Hoard's Dairyman - Volume 46, page 744:
2. (broadly) Weak; lacking courage and strength.
   • It is true there is much to be done, and perhaps you are weak-handed; but stick to it steadily, and you will see great effects. 1897, Hezekiah Butterworth, True to His Home: A Tale of the Boyhood of Franklin, →ISBN:
   • Cold Feet was a futile, weak-handed little coward. 2014, Max Brand, Three Who Paid, →ISBN:
   • We have been mealy-mouthed and weak-handed; we have trifled and temporised and the Food has grown and grown. 2013, H.G. Wells, The H.G. Wells Anthology, →ISBN:
   • This flushing out of weak-handed, short-term gold speculators will prove a valuable entry point for those who have felt they missed the gold rush over the last few years. 2014, Wayne Root, The Murder of the Middle Class, →ISBN:
3. (broadly, slang) Weak; lacking courage and strength. ▸ Selling his invested position(s) in reaction to ephemeral signs of a downturn.
4. (obsolete) Understaffed
   • Owing to various stoppages occasioned by the necessity of procuring supplies of wood, a duty of peculiar difficulty in the weak-handed condition of the vessel, she did not reach the open sea until the 29th. 1842, Sylvanus Urban (pseud. van Edward Cave.), Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle:
   • With this heroic resolution, he put himself into the hands of the Zamorin with a retinue of only twelve men, being unwilling to leave the ships weak-handed for the sake of an unavailing and empty parade of attendance. 1812, David Macpherson, The history of the European commerce with India, page 15:
   • We were now very weak-handed; three men, besides Mr. Bedwell who was still an invalid, being ill, considerably reduced our strength 1827, Phillip Parker King, Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia, Performed Between the Years 1818 and 1822:
   • He felt himself so weak-handed with only Robinson, who might leave him, and a shepherd lad he had just hired. 2014, Charles Reade, Delphi Complete Works of Charles Reade:
5. (obsolete) Poor; impoverished.
   • Should he be weak-handed (poor), he is compelled to be content with what is termed girdling, which consists in cutting the bark, thereby, of course, killing the trees, and he afterwards clears away the underwood, which is seldom considerable. 1906, University of Cincinnati Studies - Volume 2, page 61:

Forms

Deriveds

weak-handedness

weak-handed en · ADV

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From weak + handed.

Meanings

1. (qualifier:shooting) With gun held in hands that are not braced to strengthen the grip.
   • Let's face it, while there is obvious benefit to range shooting, standing at the fifteen-yard line at a barricade shooting three shots strong-handed and three shots weak-handed just does not equate to the elements the officer will experience if he or she is involved in a tactical encounter containing moving multiple suspects and lethal threat. 2014, Lawrence N. Blum, Force under Pressure, →ISBN:
   • And if the targets require you to make really awkward leans from your freestyle position, don't ever rule out the possibility of engaging the targets strong-handed or even possibly weak-handed. 2012, Brian Enos, Practical Shooting, Beyond Fundamentals, →ISBN:
   • Its cold hammer-forged barrel is beyond accurate, and the ergonomic grip is all it takes to stay steady in awkward shooting positions or when shooting weak-handed. 2012, Jennifer Pearsall, Gun Digest Illustrated Guide to Modern Firearms, →ISBN, page 87:
2. In a weak-handed manner.
   • Beginning there weak-handed is not the thing to do. 1838, Methodist Episcopal Church. Missionary Society, Annual Report, page 54:

Forms