: the terminal part of the vertebrateforelimb when modified (as in humans) as a grasping organ : the body part at the end of the arm of a human, ape, or monkey
holding a pair of scissors in his hand
She put her hands over her eyes.
(2)
: the forelimb segment (such as the terminal section of a bird's wing) of a vertebrate higher than the fishes that corresponds to the hand irrespective of its form or functional specialization
b
: something resembling a hand: such as
(1)
: an indicator or pointer on a dial
the hands of a clock
(2)
: a character ☞ used to direct particular attention (as to a note or paragraph) : fist, index
(3)
: a cluster of bananas developed from a single flower group
(4)
: a branched rootstock of ginger
(5)
: a bunch of large leaves (as of tobacco) tied together usually with another leaf
c
: a part serving the function of or resembling a hand: such as
Noun These gloves will keep your hands warm. She put her hands over her eyes. He sat quietly with his hands folded in his lap. Do you need a hand? Verb was happy to hand her grandmother's cookie recipes to the parish ladies to put in their cookbook the clerk handed her the receipt See More
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Not the least of the Queen’s innumerable duties was to act as a unifier-in-chief, and, with the removal of her guiding hand, divisions can only deepen. Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 10 Sep. 2022 Jennifer Coolidge is trying her hand at the housing market. Glenn Garner, Peoplemag, 10 Sep. 2022 Darren Barkins back to wearing a wrap on his left hand.oregonlive, 10 Sep. 2022 Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said Lewis had what appeared to be a vape pen in his hand during the shooting. Cole Behrens, USA TODAY, 10 Sep. 2022 What's more, to truly test how pigmented the product is, Persico recommends applying the blush to your hand. Lauren Dana Ellman, Allure, 10 Sep. 2022 Shannon Bream first tried her hand at journalism at the age of 30 after having earned a law degree. Brian Steinberg, Variety, 9 Sep. 2022 Her touch was cool as her hand moved up under his shorts to where the elastic of his pants met his skin. Adam Begley, The Atlantic, 9 Sep. 2022 There was no indication on this video that there was anything in his hand or any reason for this officer to use deadly force.ABC News, 9 Sep. 2022
Verb
Bootleg plays are when a quarterbackpretends to hand the ball off but keeps it and runs with it.The Enquirer, 8 Sep. 2022 As the season went on after that game, basically Coker’s job was to hand the ball to Derrick Henry. Ben Flanagan | Bflanagan@al.com, al, 24 Aug. 2022 The Dodgers will start LHP Andrew Heaney (1-0, 0.64 ERA), while the Royals will hand the ball to RHP Brad Keller (6-12, 4.45 ERA). David Smale, ajc, 13 Aug. 2022 Trevor Stephan and James Karinchak each threw a scoreless inning to hand the ball to Emmanuel Clase in the ninth. Paul Hoynes, cleveland, 6 Aug. 2022 Tennessee recruit Alex Stanwich, who homered against him for Lincoln-Way East earlier in the game, or potentially hand the ball over to a reliever. Steve Millar, Chicago Tribune, 28 May 2022 Hachimura is forced to hand the ball off to Ish Smith, who Green switches to. C.j. Holmes, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 Mar. 2022 Before Connette could even decide whether to hand the ball off to running back Josh Snead or keep it himself, Donald burst through the line, wrapped Connette and Snead in his meaty arms and tossed both to the ground for a four-yard loss. Mike Digiovanna, Los Angeles Times, 8 Feb. 2022 Most teams in such a position run a screen, a quick throw at or behind the line of scrimmage, or hand the ball off and take whatever the defense concedes.New York Times, 9 Jan. 2022
Adverb
And putting money in people’s pockets goes hand-in-hand with social distancing policies, by defraying some of the costs of closing non-essential businesses, which in turn threatens the reliable paychecks of thousands of workers. Ben Adler, The New Republic, 13 Apr. 2020 The two phenomena go hand-in-hand: The Arctic Oscillation is positive because the polar vortex is strong. Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 19 Feb. 2020 The developments come a day after the managers hand-delivered the articles of impeachment, adopted by the House in December, to the Senate after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., signed them in a historic engrossment ceremony.NBC News, 16 Jan. 2020 One shop sold stuffed toys made to look hand-woven, as if a wry old local was out back sewing Ewok dolls.BostonGlobe.com, 13 Sep. 2019 His vision is carried on by three generations of his family who hand-pick grapes to make homemade wine. Verna Gates, al, 19 Sep. 2019 Food that’s healthy for people and healthy for the environment go hand-in-hand. Anne Schamberg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8 Oct. 2019 For the next election, all of L.A. County will be ditching the previous system where voters hand-marked ballots for a system where computers will aid in the marking process. Lila Seidman, Glendale News-Press, 3 Oct. 2019 Half the fun is perusing the lengthy cocktail list, designed to look hand-scrawled and presented in a small binder. Paul Hodgins, Daily Pilot, 25 Sep. 2019 See More
Word History
Etymology
Noun, Verb, and Adverb
Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German hant hand
First Known Use
Noun
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)