English

Alternative forms

• fullhanded

Adjective

full-handed ‎(comparative more full-handed, superlative most full-handed)

1. Carrying something, especially something valuable, such as a gift.
   • 2014, E. W. Hornung, Raffles: Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman, ISBN 1480407763:

     He was not only carrying a candle to put the finishing touch to him as a target; he had dispensed with coat and waistcoat downstairs, and was at once full-handed and unarmed

   • 1926, Joseph Alexander Altsheler, The Masters of the Peaks: A Story of the Great North Woods, ISBN 1465537686:

     By night we'll all be back at this spot, full-handed or empty-handed, as it may be, but full-handed, I hope.

   • 1898, Bram Stoker, Miss Betty:

     Had it so been, then for sure the robber had not got off full-handed or without a fight for it.

2. Wealthy, having all that is needed.
   • 1870, William Henry Gray, A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Drawn From Personal Observation and Authentic Information, ISBN 1465518479:

     Mr. Beers came to the country full-handed, with a handsome competency to commence any business he might choose, independent of missionary patronage.

   • 2014, Anthony Trollope, Lady Anna, ISBN 1609779681:

     She will be the same to me whether she comes full-handed or empty. But when she is my wife her property shall be my property, and when I die there shall be no such abomination as an eldest son.

   • 1904, Reports of Selected Civil and Criminal Cases Decided in the Court of Appeals of Kentucky, Volume 51:

     ...the defendant had been, all the time, since the date of the note sued on, full-handed, in easy circumstances, and able to pay all his debts.

3. Enthusiastic and generous.
   • 1852, Charles Reade & Tom Taylor, Masks and Faces (play):

     Have we not the theatre, its triumphs, and full-handed thunders of applause?

   • 1882, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Tiresias and Other Poems (dedication to Edward FitzGerald):

     Which cast it, that large infidel Your Omar; and your Omar drew Full-handed plaudits from our best

   • 1911, Journal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers:

     The welcome extended by our brother society to those of our Society who were present exceeded in cordiality and completeness the expectations of those who knew that there would be a warm and full-handed reception, and nothing was lacking in the perfection of arrangements for the meetings and for the comfort and pleasure of our members and their ladies.

   • 1853, Charlotte Bronte, Villette:

     By every vessel he wrote; he wrote as he gave and as he loved, in full-handed, full-hearted plenitude.

4. Using the palm of the hand and/or broad gestures.
   • 2015, Soraya, The Wooden Rose, ISBN 1326166700:

     A spit on the palm and a full-handed slap was a deal but if only fingertips slapped then the bargaining would continue.

   • 2014, John D. MacDonald, The End of the Night, ISBN 1471911632:

     As they passed Shack he reached out and gave Helen a massive, full-handed pinch on the buttock and winked at me with relaxed, expansive good cheer.

   • 1964, Keith Laumer, The Great Time Machine Hoax:

     Genie swung a full-handed slap that sent the gaudily dressed cop staggering back.

   • 2012, John Douillard, The Encyclopedia of Ayurvedic Massage, ISBN 1583946942, page 112:

     The circular strokes on the joints; long, full-handed strokes over the long bones

   • 1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:

     Then Manuel touched the jangling, jarring little machette to a queer tune, and sang something in Portuguese about "Nina, innocente!" ending with a full-handed sweep that brought the song up with a jerk.

5. Having people that fill all positions.
   • 2007, Mike Caro, Caro's Most Profitable Hold'em Advice, ISBN 1580424619:

     All that was about what you should do in a full-handed hold 'em game when you're the small blind versus a big blind. But, suppose instead that the game is two-handed from the get go.

   • 1984, Marvin J. Fine, Systematic Intervention with Disturbed Children, ISBN 9401163294:

     The switches go in either direction around the triangle, and a player may find himself playing as many as three positions in a full-handed game.

   • 1900, Joshua Slocum, Sailing Alone Around the World:

     So in the first hour of my lone voyage I had proof that the Spray could at least do better than this full-handed steamship, for I was already farther on my voyage than she.

6. Complete; fully qualified or fully equipped.
   • 2014, Charles S. Bryan, Asylum Doctor: James Woods Babcock and the Red Plague of Pellagra, ISBN 1611174910:

     He regarded his younger brother as a “full-handed man of practice” and himself merely “a supported theorist.”

   • 2013, Clara Barton, A Story of the Red Cross, ISBN 1782872817:

     It was a new and sorry sight for our full-handed American farming men to see those poor, hard Asiatic hands trying, by main strength, to break the tough straw or pull it by the roots.

   • 2014, Robert Stanek, In the Service of Dragons Boxed Set, ISBN 1627161465:

     She had, after all, learned from the same master he had although matched daggers offered no reach compared to a full-handed sword.

   • 1908, American bankruptcy reports - Volume 18, page 205:

     It seems to be a full-handed failure. The bankrupts must have a good deal of the values remaining in their hands.

Adverb

full-handed ‎(comparative more full-handed, superlative most full-handed)

1. With full hands; bearing valuables or gifts.
   • 2014, Edward Tyas Cook, The Life of Florence Nightingale vol. 2 of 2:

     On this occasion the minister came full-handed. He told her, first, as appears from her notes and letters, that he had definitely decided to appoint a Sanitary Committee at the India Office. He read out the list of names;

   • 1864, United States Christian Commission, for the Army and Navy Volume 2:

     The want met in this case was that of a delegate to go full-handed from the home to the field, who should in due time return again to the home with pledges from the absent ones;

2. As a wealthy person, having all that is needed.
   • 1907, Ambrose Bierce, The Moonlit Road:

     One does not remember one's birth -- one has to be told. But with me it was different; life came to me full-handed and dowered me with all my faculties and powers.

   • 1893 January, Edith Wharton, “Experience”, in Scribner's Magazine:

     O, Death, we come full-handed to they gate, Rich with strange burden of the mingled years

3. Generously and whole-heartedly
   • 1879, Albert Williams, A Pioneer Pastorate and Times: Embodying Contemporary Local Transactions and Events, page 184:

     By the promptings of religious instinct and principle, our churches have been built and our asylums founded, and charity full-handed has bestowed her lavish gifts upon the unfortunate.

   • 1903, Henry James, The Ambassadors:

     Art deals with what we see, it must first contribute full-handed that ingredient;

4. With the entire hand.
   • 2013, Gardner, Smart and Smarter, ISBN 1135055971:

     Can scribble, grasping crayon full-handed and awkwardly.

5. Fully staffed or with all positions filled.
   • 2014, Mary Boykin Chesnut, Mary Chesnut's Diary, ISBN 1420949799:

     But if we must run, who are left to run? From Bull Run they ran full-handed. But we have fought until maimed soldiers, women, and children are all that remain to run.

   • 1903, The Labour Gazette - Volume 3, page 110:

     ...though in the case of the bakers and confectioners at Winnipeg, the shops and factories concerned are running full-handed and most of the employees affected have obtained employment elsewhere.

6. In a complete and fully-formed manner.
   • 1922, North Carolina Education - Volume 17, page 3:

     Language is also elemental: at the tender dawn of childhood, it enters life with laughing eyes and prattling lips; at maturity's noon, it moves full-handed and deep-voiced in all the concerns of men;

Antonyms

• empty-handed