Adjacent Words

Left-handed definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LEFT-HAND'ED, a.
1. Having the left hand or arm more strong and dextrous than the right; using the left hand and arm with more dexterity than the right.
2. Unlucky; inauspicious; unseasonable. Obs.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: using or intended for the left hand; "left-handed golfers need left-handed clubs"; "left-handed scissors" [ant: ambidextrous, right-handed, two-handed]
2: (of marriages) illicit or informal; "in Colonial America left-handed marriages between Frenchmen and Indians were frequent"
3: (of marriages) of a marriage between one of royal or noble birth and one of lower rank; valid but with the understanding that the rank of the inferior remains unchanged and offspring do not succeed to titles or property of the superior [syn: morganatic, left-handed]
4: rotating to the left [syn: levorotary, levorotatory, left-handed]
5: ironically ambiguous; "a left-handed compliment"
6: lacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands; "a bumbling mechanic"; "a bungling performance"; "ham-handed governmental interference"; "could scarcely empty a scuttle of ashes, so handless was the poor creature"- Mary H. Vorse [syn: bumbling, bungling, butterfingered, ham-fisted, ham-handed, handless, heavy-handed, left-handed]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 14th century 1. using the left hand habitually or more easily than the right; also swinging from left to right <a left-handed batter> 2. relating to, designed for, or done with the left hand 3. morganatic 4. a. clumsy, awkward b. insincere, backhanded, dubious <a left-handed compliment> 5. a. having a direction contrary to that of the hands of a watch viewed from in front ; counterclockwise b. having a spiral structure or form that ascends or advances to the left <a left-handed rope> 6. having or being the L-form molecular structure • left-handed adverb • left-handedly adverb • left-handedness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 using the left hand by preference as more serviceable than the right. 2 (of a tool etc.) made to be used with the left hand. 3 (of a blow) struck with the left hand. 4 a turning to the left; towards the left. b (of a racecourse) turning anticlockwise. c (of a screw) advanced by turning to the left (anticlockwise). 5 awkward, clumsy. 6 a (of a compliment) ambiguous. b of doubtful sincerity or validity. 7 (of a marriage) morganatic (from a German custom by which the bridegroom gave the bride his left hand in such marriages). Derivatives: left-handedly adv. left-handedness n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Left-handed Left"-hand`ed, a. 1. Having the left hand or arm stronger and more dexterous than the right; using the left hand and arm with more dexterity than the right. 2. Clumsy; awkward; unlucky; insincere; sinister; malicious; as, a left-handed compliment. The commendations of this people are not always left-handed and detractive. --Landor. 3. Having a direction contrary to that of the hands of a watch when seen in front; -- said of a twist, a rotary motion, etc., looked at from a given direction. Left-handed marriage, a morganatic marriage. See Morganatic. Left-handed screw, a screw constructed to advance away from the observer, when turned, as in a nut, with a left-handed rotation. An ordinary wood screw is right-handed.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Someone who is left-handed uses their left hand rather than their right hand for activities such as writing and sports and for picking things up. There is a place in London that supplies practically everything for left-handed people. ? right-handed ADJ • Left-handed is also an adverb. My father thought that I'd be at a disadvantage if I wrote left-handed.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Judg. 3:15; 20:16), one unable to use the right hand skilfully, and who therefore uses the left; and also one who uses the left as well as the right, ambidexter. Such a condition of the hands is due to physical causes. This quality was common apparently in the tribe of Benjamin.