From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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.
[1913 Webster]
2. Clumsy; awkward; unlucky; insincere; sinister; malicious;
as, a left-handed compliment.
[1913 Webster]
The commendations of this people are not always
left-handed and detractive. --Landor.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
{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.
[1913 Webster] Left-handedness
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
left-handed
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}]
|
