HANDLE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Handle

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/hˈændəl/ Listen

verb

Handle v. t. (past & past part. handled; pres. part. handling)

1.

To touch; to feel with the hand; to use or hold with the hand. "Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh." "About his altar, handling holy things."

2.

To manage in using, as a spade or a musket; to wield; often, to manage skillfully. "That fellow handles his bow like a crowkeeper."

3.

To accustom to the hand; to work upon, or take care of, with the hands. "The hardness of the winters forces the breeders to house and handle their colts six months every year."

4.

To receive and transfer; to have pass through one's hands; hence, to buy and sell; as, a merchant handles a variety of goods, or a large stock.

5.

To deal with; to make a business of. "They that handle the law knew me not."

6.

To treat; to use, well or ill. "How wert thou handled being prisoner?"

7.

To manage; to control; to practice skill upon. "You shall see how I will handle her."

8.

To use or manage in writing or speaking; to treat, as a theme, an argument, or an objection. "We will handle what persons are apt to envy others."

To handle without gloves. See under Glove. (Colloq.)

Handle v. i. To use the hands. "They have hands, but they handle not."

noun

Handle n.

1.

That part of vessels, instruments, etc., which is held in the hand when used or moved, as the haft of a sword, the knob of a door, the bail of a kettle, etc.

2.

That of which use is made; the instrument for effecting a purpose; a tool.

To give a handle, to furnish an occasion or means.

See images of 'Handle'

Etymology of 'Handle'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Handle" Quotes from Famous Books

... perhaps, of the many young ladies who are now practising the very pleasing art of modelling fruits, flowers, &c., in wax, at all suspect the great danger in which they are placed from the poisonous nature of the colouring matter of the wax which they handle so unsuspectingly. The white wax, for instance, contains white lead; the green, copper; the yellow, chrome yellow and vermilion—strong poisons all; while many other kinds of wax are equally poisonous, and, therefore dangerous. There are very many persons who are ...

— The Royal Guide to Wax Flower Modelling • Emma Peachey

... men-at-arms upon the Imperialists, who were pressing the French too closely, when he was himself struck by a shot from an arquebuse, which shattered his reins. "Jesus, my God," he cried, "I am dead!" He then took his sword by the handle, and kissed the cross-hilt of it as the sign of the cross, saying aloud as he did so, "Have pity on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy" (Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam); ...

— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume IV. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

... miracles; it will seem a mere commonplace when I say that all the wonders of the magicians invented by those ingenious oriental poets who wrote the "Arabian Nights" pale before the stupendous facts which you handle in your daily lives. The air has scarcely ceased to vibrate with the utterances of kings and rulers in the older realms when their words are read in the streets of St. Louis and on the farms of Nebraska. The telegraph is too quick ...

— Standard Selections • Various

... been interrupted. Two wine glasses stood ready for wine on a side-table, but a third lay smashed in a star of crystal upon the carpet. A few feet from it lay what looked like a long knife or short sword, straight, but with an ornamental and pictured handle, its dull blade just caught a grey glint from the dreary window behind, which showed the black trees against the leaden level of the sea. Towards the opposite corner of the room was rolled a gentleman's ...

— The Wisdom of Father Brown • G. K. Chesterton

... handle Number Seven in one of his tantrums half so well as Number Five can do it. She can pick out what threads of sense may be wound off from the tangle of his ideas when they are crowded and confused, as they are apt to be at times. She can soften the ...

— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)

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